Decentralization of power in Democratic system is very essential. Why?
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Answer:
A very legitimate fear of many who are wary of federalism is that, in a context of deep ethnic and regional divisions, it can lead to the break-up of the country, as in the former Soviet Union or the former Yugoslavia. These fears are real, but they are based on a mistaken reading of other experiences. Divided countries have disintegrated at crucial moments precisely because they did not develop over time democratic means for the devolution of power that knitted groups together in a more authentic, voluntary, and legitimate political union. When groups are held together in one nation mainly by force and fear, anxious minorities may seek to secede at the first sign of a weakening of central government power. By contrast, when the national government, under the fresh political circumstances that attend the formation of a new democratic system, makes an early and sincere grant of autonomy, the consequence is almost always greater stability and unity, rather than secession. This has been the case in India, Spain, Mexico, and Nigeria, for example. By contrast, countries like Sudan and Sri Lanka have paid a heavy price in civil war and massive violence for the failure to accommodate aspirations for devolution.
I know many Iraqis fear that federalism is just a stalking horse or vehicle for the eventual break-up of the country. As a political scientist who has studied group conflict and institutions to manage conflict in democracies, I sincerely do not believe that will be the case. Federalism—as negotiated and structured by Iraqis in their process of constitution making during the coming year—will provide the means to hold Iraq together permanently, democratically, and peacefully.
As an independent academic who sympathizes with your concerns and aspirations, permit me a final reflection. We in the United States do not wish for a divided or shattered Iraq. There is a strong consensus within the U.S. that Iraq should be a unified and democratic state, and that federalism or devolution of power in some important ways will provide an important means toward those other two goals. Remember that a century and a half ago we in the United States fought a civil war to hold our own country together, around basic principles of democracy, equality, and fairness. We do not wish for other countries and peoples anything less than what we have, at great cost, achieved for ourselves.
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