WASHINGTON – As Iraqis prepare for their first democratic elections in history, the world's attention is focused on the daunting immediate challenges of establishing and maintaining security in a nation still riven by violence, not to mention the complex mechanics involved in actually holding, monitoring, and counting the votes. But for the elections to fulfill their promise, the Iraqi people must promptly develop long-term plans to rebuild their country and act to ensure that their elected leaders are able to carry out the policies on which they campaigned.
[1]The Institute of Peace assisted nearly 50 Iraqis in undertaking such long-term planning during a recent conflict management training session in Washington, D.C. The Institute's Professional Training Program [2] brought together civil servants from a broad range of ministries to discuss, debate and propose a path forward for their country following the elections. Three Iraqi working groups, each with participants from a mix of ethnic and religious backgrounds, engaged in a free and open discussion that produced long-range plans for the nation. An Institute facilitator helped each group get started, but quickly stepped into the background as the groups set up their own rules and structure.
Each group identified security as fundamental to the achievement of all other national interests. The other primary interests identified by the groups included economic prosperity, full national sovereignty, democracy, national unity, equal rights and rule of law, an educated public, and free media. The groups then debated and developed specific goals to advance each interest, such as ensuring that oil revenues benefit the Iraqi people, conducting free and regularly recurring elections, establishing civil society institutions, and supporting and empowering a free press. Next, they drafted detailed work plans to achieve these goals. For example, one working group produced a four-part work plan for "establishing an educational system that will instill the principles of a federal, democratic, and multi-party system." The plan included specific ideas about developing curricula, capitalizing on the knowledge and perspectives of Iraqis living abroad, establishing parallel public and private school systems, and (a subject of vigorous debate in the group) instituting Kurdish-language education.
The long-range plans were developed in the most recent of five Institute training programs in conflict management, negotiation and mediation skills for Iraqi national security officials. Since March 2004, the Institute has trained 174 officials from ministries of the new Iraqi government with responsibilities for the future security and stability of that nation. Participants in the workshops have included senior civil servants, diplomats, and military officers responsible for professional continuity in such key ministries as Foreign Affairs, Defense, Interior, Planning, Finance and Justice. They are the skilled professionals who will implement the policies of the nation's elected leaders and are critical to the success of democracy. As Secretary of State Colin Powell told participants in May, the Institute's training programs have been extraordinarily valuable for these men and women who will constitute the "human infrastructure" of Iraq's new democracy.
Of the five training workshops for national security officials, the Institute has run two as stand-alone events, and partnered with the National Defense University's Near East-South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA) to conduct the other three programs. In addition to the working groups described above, a typical workshop has included:
One of the most important elements of the Institute's training program was the opportunity it provided to Iraqis to work together in a systematic way. Each group was balanced with respect to gender, professional seniority, and ministry affiliation, with Iraqis of varying ethnic and religious backgrounds randomly distributed. The Iraqis eagerly seized the opportunity to work collaboratively, despite little experience with this approach. "There are real benefits from practicing teamwork," said one. "Debate is essential. We develop democratic tolerance for other opinions," said another. A third participant cited the value of "exposure to other ways of thinking and problem-solving."
The success of the training program will best be measured, however, by the performance of the Iraqi participants when they return home to their ministries. To date, participants in the training program have included the spokesman for the Iraqi Government, the highest-ranking officer in the new Iraqi Army, and the judge who is presiding over the indictment of Saddam Hussein, "Chemical" Ali, and others from the former regime. But all of the participants—from senior dissidents, who have spent years in exile before returning to Baghdad, to young professionals just starting out in public service—have the potential to make a major contribution to rebuilding Iraq.
This national security training program is one of several Institute initiatives for Iraq resulting from a $10 million appropriation received from Congress in late 2003. These initiatives are designed to reduce inter-ethnic and inter-religious violence and hasten stabilization and democratization, thereby reducing the threat to and extent of the U.S. presence in Iraq. To these ends, the Institute has also conducted three training programs for Iraqi political and civil society leaders aimed at promoting inter-group dialogue at a grassroots level. The Institute will conduct future training workshops for Iraqi national security officials in the United States if requested and plans to move the program, including the SENSE simulation, to Iraq as soon as the security situation allows. In addition, the Institute is continuing to identify "lessons learned" in the rebuilding effort as part of the "The Iraq Experience [3]" project, which has already produced a highly-regarded DVD on living and working in Iraq.
This PeaceBriefing was written by Mike Lekson [4], Acting Director of the Institute's Professional Training Program. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Institute, which does not advocate specific policies.
The United States Institute of Peace is an independent, nonpartisan institution established and funded by Congress. Its goals are to help prevent and resolve violent international conflicts, promote post-conflict stability and development, and increase conflict management capacity, tools, and intellectual capital worldwide. The Institute does this by empowering others with knowledge, skills, and resources, as well as by directly engaging in peacebuilding efforts around the globe.
Links:
[1] http://www.usip.org/files/file/iraq_flag_raisingb.jpg
[2] http://www.usip.org/training/index.html
[3] http://www.usip.org/library/oh/iraq.html
[4] http://www.usip.org/specialists/bios/current/lekson.html