In the End, We Are Just Bureaucrats

Shifting State Affects and Bureaucracy in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4380232
AutoresLana Askari (0009-0007-7200-1300, autor correspondente)
Ano2025
Volume43
Fascículo1
Páginas21-41
Data de publicação2025-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Cambridge Journal of Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0305-7674 • E-ISSN: 2047-7716
EditoraBerghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3167/cja.2025.430103
OpenAlexW4409363607
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas53

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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