Theory and Practice of State Building in the Middle East: A Constitutional Perspective on Iraq and Afghanistan

Abstract

State failure poses a major threat to the established international order. Therefore, the U.S.-led western world has been making efforts to prevent state failure. State-building processes are essential to reaffirm the international order, although the costs of such endeavors can be prohibitive. Constitution making may be an important factor in this process to identify what type of state is being built and desired. In this study, Afghanistan and Iraq state-building and constitution-making processes can be examined to analyze the success of what type of state types are being imposed in the Middle East and North Africa, especially among Islamic countries. The likely outcomes after the recent upheavals in the Arab states may be assessed by this analysis.