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LI Ruiheng | The Evolution of Two-Party Political Structure in Iraqi Kurdistan
Date：2019-09-04 Author：
Author：LI Ruiheng
Department of Arabic Language and Culture, School of Foreign Languages, Peking University
Arab World Studies, Volume 6, Nov. 2018
Abstract:
The establishment of the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party in 1946 laid the foundation of two-party political structure in Iraqi Kurdistan． Under the influence of political，economic and social factors including reforms，urbanization，privatization and Iran-Iraq War，a political structure dominated by the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan began to emerge in the late 1980s，and was continuously strengthened after the Gulf War in 1991 and the Iraq War in 2003． However，social development lagged behind the economic development in the region has given birth to the emergence of political opposition， which posed a challenge to the existing two-party political structure． Through the development of regional situations in the aftermath of the Iraq War，a new pattern of Iraqi Kurdistan’s party politics started to emerge and evolve towards two groups with three power centers and two political philosophies．
Key Words:
Iraq; Kurds; Kurdistan Democratic Party; Patriotic Union of Kurdistan; Party Politics
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