Zaid Al-Ali has recently published The Struggle for Iraq’s Future: How Corruption, Incompetence and Sectarianism Have Undermined Democracy (Yale University Press). In The Struggle for Iraq’s Future, Ali provides an Iraqi perspective on the state-building process following the 2003 war in Iraq, detailing the violence, rising sectarianism, and lack of provision of security, healthcare, and electricity. Ali asserts that “the ill-planned U.S. intervention destroyed the Iraqi state, creating a black hole which corrupt and incompetent members of the elite have made their own.” He argues that, despite this period of contention and political instability, Iraqis have retained a strong sense of national identity.
Ali has been a frequent contributor to the Middle East Channel. His most recent articles include “Egypt’s Missed Constitutional Moment” (December 17, 2013), “Egypt’s constitutional morass” (August 23, 2013), and “Another Egyptian constitutional declaration” (June 9, 2013). — C.K.