All Policy Analysis by Azhar Al-Rubaie

The deterioration of public health in oil extraction cities requires tangible actions to end the suffering of the affected people by providing specialized treatment centers funded by the social benefits from petroleum profits.

Despite claiming to defend free speech, the Iraqi government is increasingly targeting critics and protestors with arrests and lengthy jail sentences.

Violent protests broke out after al-Sadr announced his withdrawal from Iraqi politics, but this is unlikely to be the end of al-Sadr's political maneuvering.

10 months after Iraqi elections, intra-Shia feuding between the Sadrist movement and the Coordination Framework has led to several public demonstrations but few viable solutions.

The EU’s welcome of Ukrainian refugees has galvanized other migrants trapped in Lithuania to demand equal treatment as refugees of war.

The explosion that rocked Basra on Tuesday may prove a harbinger of greater instability throughout the country in the post-elections period.

With a sizable number of independents in Iraq’s next parliament, young Iraqi MPs are hoping to push the Iraqi government to finally deliver on their protest demands from 2019.

Protestors in Iraq are using the "Who Killed Me" hashtag to call out militia influence in the Iraqi government and demand greater protection for demonstrators.

On August 27, the government of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi formed a committee to investigate major cases of corruption in Iraq, acknowledging the ongoing frustration among Iraqis with the rampant corruption that has plagued the country.

With neighboring Iran one of the most severely affected areas of coronavirus, Iraqi authorities are also confirming rising infections and deaths despite closing the border between the two states.

On the streets of Baghdad, protesters are still mulling over the U.S. air raid on Friday morning that killed General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC’s) Quds Force near Baghdad international airport along with nine others, including Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis.

In early October, deadly protests calling for an end to pervasive corruption, improvement of basic services, and further job opportunities swept through the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and several other Iraqi cities.

With protests originally sparking in July 2018, Basra continues to experience sporadic demonstrations.