IRAQ

Iraq

Abstract

Purpose: To shed light on the political economy aspect of post-conflict business management challenges in Iraq and illustrate how bad governance and economic mismanagement has devastated a country once endowed with abundant natural and human resources.

Design/methodology/approach: The wealth of heritage, culture, and economy that Iraq enjoyed is highlighted. The paper presents a brief overview of economic mismanagement, corruption, and political blunders of Saddam Hussein's regime, which led to sapping the country of its wealth and degraded its human resources. In view of that, the political impediments to the reconstruction process are outlined.

Findings: The paper reveals that the years of oppressive, myopic, and self-serving policies of Saddam Hussein's regime have incapacitated Iraq and its people. Income per capita in 2003 was less than 15 percent of its value in 1980 and Iraq's debt amounted to about 600 percent of national output. The paper also indicates that international, regional, and local politics has been the primary hindrance to Iraq's reconstruction and development.

Originality/value: If history is any guide, the peoples of all non-democratic and corrupt regimes throughout the world ought to heed the lessons imparted by the Saddam's model of governance, that is, sustainable economic development and improving the standards of living can best be attained through democratic and participatory governance.

Table of contents

Abstract2

Table of contents4

Introduction4

Specific challenges to Iraq5

Recent Developments8

Challenges and opportunities9

Current Issues Affecting Management in Iraq11

Cross Cultural issues in Iraq13

Import and Export statistics14

Iraqi Oil Production16

Importance of Iraqi Oil to the U.S.16

Businesss Recommendation In Iraq18

Best method of Entry19

References20

Appendix22

Iraq

Introduction

Iraq is an emblematic case of a nation's fall off from glory to wretchedness, from wealth to hardship, and from strength to vulnerability. It is a typical model of how corrupt, oppressive, myopic, and self-serving regimes can bring a thriving society to ruins. After reaching relatively high standards of living, registering high economic growth rates, and accumulating sizable foreign financial assets, Saddam's regime caused per capita income in Iraq to go lower than that on India or China three decades ago, reversed the good fortunes of the economy, depleted its foreign reserves, and left the country moaning under debt of over $120 billion, representing more than 600 percent of national output and in excess of 700 percent of foreign exchange earnings.

In the first section, the paper sheds some light on Iraq's past glory and outlines the main contributions of that region to civilization. Secondly, a brief overview of the country's change of fortunes under Saddam Hussein's regime will be presented. The third section, examines the economic and security developments under the American reign in Iraq since the toppling of Saddam's atrocious regime. Then, the paper explores the current challenges confronting Iraq its future opportunities, before concluding with some remarks.

Specific challenges to Iraq

Iraq, with the size of the State of California and a population of about 25 million people, celebrates a rich wealth of heritage, history, tradition, and culture with a cherished past as early as 4000 BC. Its present territory expands on what was known as Mesopotamia, often called the “cradle of civilizations,” the earliest of which ...