On the State of Academic Freedom in Iraq

Abstract

Iraq higher education faces a host of challenges, some spurred by the 2003 war and others by more recent developments. Following a general trend of deteriorating freedoms, Iraqi academics in the social sciences and humanities face new policies from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research that prohibit them from studying any politically sensitive topics and from engaging meaningfully in developments in the country. The ministry itself was recently controlled by the Sadiqoun political party, which is affiliated with Asaib Ahl Al-Haq, an armed group designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US Department of State, a designation that raises further challenges to international collaboration for Iraqi scholars. Compounding this, and particularly for political scientists, is political party interest in co-opting professors and departments to groom subservient party cadres.