KDP-PUK Strategic Agreement and Its Consequences for the Governing System in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Abstract

After years of fighting, disagreements and geographical division, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) signed a Strategic Agreement in 2006, leading to the unification of their different administrations. While the KDP-PUK Strategic Agreement prevented the two ruling parties from engaging in another violent conflict, and established a mechanism for unifying their two different administrations, it also appears to have been ineffective in facilitating the institutionalisation process and institutional stability. This study examines how the KDP-PUK Strategic Agreement shaped the governing system in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) for a decade and identifies the reasons for the poor performance of political institutions. It demonstrates that the governing structure reflected partisan interests following the Strategic Agreement, making it difficult to establish stable and functional political institutions.