Sustainable Development in Iraq: Challenges and Proposals for Reform

Authors

  • Abdul Wahab M. Jawad AL. Musawi
  • Ibrahim Jasim Jabbar
  • Abbas Makki Hamzah
  • Hanan AL. Musawy
  • Ahmed AL. Zorfy

Abstract

In the past two decades, interest in achieving sustainable development in Iraq has increased as a result of the marked deterioration in the economic situation as well as the international economic changes that have imposed on Iraq not to rely on oil revenues as a major source of national income. There is no doubt that such circumstances have resulted in serious obstacles that hindered the development of effective strategies to achieve sustainable development in it. Accordingly, this paper aims to explore the most prominent challenges facing the reality of sustainable development in Iraq, as well as outline proposals to address these obstacles in a manner that contributes to strengthening the reality of economic development at various levels. The results show that there are four main obstacles facing the implementation of sustainable development strategies in Iraq are the political obstacles, economic obstacles, environmental obstacles, and health and technological obstacles.  A number of methods have been proposed to understand or even manage complex societal transitions towards sustainable development. There are four common approaches to sustainable transitions, i.e. the harmonization of the political and social climate, the adoption of effective economic reforms, and appropriate arrangements for preserving the environment and developing the scientific and educational base. However, there is a lack of studies related to discussing and developing different methods and strategies in this field. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the four most common approaches, and more importantly, it identifies four critical challenges for future studies on methods for achieving sustainable development in Iraq. Thus, these challenges represent an area for future research related to this topic.

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Published

2020-02-17

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Section

Articles