Davis 385example of Iraqi Kurdistan suggests that we think carefully about the rela-
tionship between civil society and democratization and, by extension, the
relationship between the notion of the public sphere and its implications
for democratization as well.^3
e problems that the KRG has experienced since 1991 resulted Th
in the creation in 2009 of a new political movement, known as Gorran
[Change]. In the July 2009 KRG Regional Parliament elections, Gorran
organized a vigorous campaign, despite extensive government intimi-
dation and the firing of its candidates from government employment.
Nevertheless, Gorran won 25 of the 110 seats in the KRG regional par-
liament. Along with the 15 seats won by a fellow opposition coalition,
the Reform and Services List, the two movements were able to garner 40
seats in the parliament. In the March 2010 national parliament elections,
Gorran was able to win 8 seats. These developments point to the deep dis-
satisfaction that large numbers of Kurds feel with the KRG political elite
and to a strong desire for democratic change.
e notion of the public sphere has not been conceptually visible Th
because most analyses of Iraqi politics have focused on the behavior of
political elites. The lack of focus on nonelite dimensions of Iraqi politics
and society has not only had the effect of representing political processes
as venal and corrupt, but has obscured the civil society building and
democratic impulses that characterized much of early and mid-twentieth-
century Iraqi politics. It has also tended to obscure the efforts to reconsti-
tute a functioning civil society following the collapse of Saddam Husayn’s
Ba‘thist regime in 2003.
Epistemological and methodological concerns
Its conceptual utility notwithstanding, deploying the concept of the pub-
lic sphere in the Arab and Iraqi context raises two sets of concerns, one
epistemological and the other theoretical and normative. From an epis-
temological perspective, the concept’s Western origins open its applica-
tion and usage to the criticism of ethnocentrism. Put differently, does
a concept derived from the Western historical experience enhance our
ability to understand Arab politics and society? Is the use of the public