In the End, We Are Just Bureaucrats

Shifting State Affects and Bureaucracy in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Bibliographic Data

ID4380232
AuthorsLana Askari (0009-0007-7200-1300, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume43
Issue1
Pages21-41
Publication date2025-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Cambridge Journal of Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-7674 • E-ISSN: 2047-7716
PublisherBerghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3167/cja.2025.430103
OpenAlexW4409363607
LanguageEN
References cited53

This article looks at how, in Iraqi Kurdistan, two parallel bureaucracies impact the everyday life of Kurdish citizens and elicit shifting affects towards the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraqi state. While Kurds previously looked towards the KRG for democratic rule, they now look towards the Iraqi state for fair governance. In this context, the KRG is viewed as a 'mock state': both a trope and a cultural mechanism to manage disillusionment. Being 'just bureaucrats' refers not only to how most Kurds work in the public sector but also to how they feel they cannot benefit from or change the bureaucracies on which they depend. In navigating their desires for an independent Kurdish state and incorporation into a 'better functioning' Iraqi state, Kurdish people feel unrepresented by both governments

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