Government Design and Implementation for the Democratic Republic of Iraq

Government Design and Implementation for the Democratic Republic of Iraq |

Critical Response Paper #3POLI-330 Sum A 2012Prof. N. HurleyD03522367Paul Duer |

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What kind of governmental systems would I formulate and implement if I were advising a new government in Iraq, a country with numerous proven virulent and contentious factions? I would endeavor to design a government led by the majority rule of duly elected representatives of the people. However, the majority's power must be limited by the higher law of a written constitution. If not, people that the majority disliked could lose basic freedoms and opportunities. A constitutional democracy, then, is government by majority rule with protection of minority rights, which would work well for a new Iraq. At the beginning of America’s own short history, “James Madison and other framers of the Constitution feared the new threat to liberty that could come from a tyrannical majority”. (Constitutional democracy, (n.d.)) Throughout modern history, “the threat to liberty came from the unrestrained powers of a king” (Constitutional democracy, (n.d.)), aristocracy, or even an autocracy like Iraq had under Sadam Hussein. Since there are many disparate religious and/or political interest groups to be represented, I would set up the constitutional democracy with a three-branch system much like our own. However, I would establish an independent judiciary, elected in general elections, much like local and state level judges are selected in the U.S. The highest court would be a Constitutional court that would only hear cases pertaining to constitutionally related issues. The Supreme Court would be the highest court of appeal for any non-constitutional type of cases. This would divide the judicial burden on our highest courts caused, in no small part, from them having to take on so many different types of court cases, including appeals in death penalty cases.

For the legislative branch I would have a Congress with...