Publication

This paper analyzes the interplay of oil politics among Iraq's major communities and the efforts of the 2005-2009 Bush Administration in the US to achieve the passage of a hydrocarbon law. The author finds that while the Bush Administration understood the importance of an oil-revenue-sharing agreement in achieving a political settlement in Iraq, there was a mismatch between the legislation and the strategic objective intended. The paper argues that revenue-sharing may be the only area where the desire of many Arab Iraqis for nationally led governing arrangements and the financial interests of autonomy-minded Iraqi Kurds overlap.