Iraq has made huge strides in its battle against Islamic State (IS) over the past months. It has done so against the odds given the complete breakdown of the political process in both Baghdad and Erbil. Yet, as it gears up for the all-important battle for Mosul, the ousting of Islamic State (IS) is finally starting to look like a reality.

While this is clearly welcome news, victory in Mosul will not work as a panacea for Iraq. Rather, it will amplify many of the existing problems that have ravaged the country for years, as well as throw up a whole new set of challenges, many of them even more intractable. Iraq’s sectarian and ethnic divisions, chaotic security arena, broken polity and seemingly interminable conflict between Baghdad and Erbil will all need to be dealt with if Iraq is to get back on its feet again. So too will the endless meddling by regional powers. Indeed, how Iraq navigates the aftermath of the Mosul campaign will be crucial to its future as a unified state.

This talk will examine the issues facing Iraq, including the KRG, as it enters what will be its most important battle yet and will discuss whether in the face of all these challenges it will be able to hold itself together.

Speakers

Alison Pargeter - Our Lead expert on Iraq and Kurdistan, Alison has been with Menas for over 10 years, and has followed the country and the wider MENA region for much longer. She is widely published and specialises in political Islam and radicalisation.

She has held positions at universities including the University of Cambridge and King’s College London. She is also a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), as well as being a Senior Associate at Means.

International Organisations she has worked for include the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Ministry of Defence, Department for International Development (DFID), IAEA, NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Freedom House, and other European governments.

Stephen Murray – Stephen is a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills' London office and has over 20 years' experience in the energy industry. He has been involved in a wide range of international energy transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, commodity supply and throughput agreements and the development and financing of major energy projects. He has worked on transactions and projects across multiple jurisdictions including several in Iraq.