Clientelism and Implementing Social Security Programmes in Post-conflict Iraqi Kurdistan Region investigates social policy in a politically less-developed entity, and examines the mainstream top-down and bottom-up models of policy implementation in light of a detailed study of the Kurdistan Regional Government. In addition, it introduces the innovative “clientelistic model of policy implementation”, a political and preferential tool which utilises a public/nationalistic dichotomy in social welfare provision. The book argues that politicians in the Kurdistan region deal with social policy programmes according to their political preferences, attaching importance to policies on the basis of the way they feel about those social programmes and interest groups concerned. As such, as it stands, policy implementation is subject to interference by politicians and high government officials under the pretext of supporting and monitoring the way such policy is implemented. Through an investigation of the most prominent actors in the implementation of social security programmes, this book demonstrates how beneficiaries of these programmes can themselves become focal points in the implementation process. Indeed, within the Kurdistan Regional Government’s social policy context today, the benefits of social security schemes are being distributed based on the socio-political status of recipients, not on their socio-economic conditions and needs.

This book examines social capital and transition to democracy in Kurdistan. By utilizing the growing literature and Social Capital Theory, the project presents a different perspective on challenges that surrounded the process of transition to democracy in KRI. The work is based on a bottom-up approach as it unpacks the influences of political culture on the establishment of democratic institutions and norms in a conflicting context. The author splits the concept into three main components: trust, social networks and civic engagement and tests them imperially in the context of KRI. The monograph will interest graduate students, researchers and policy makers in the fields of political science, sociology and Middle Eastern Studies.