International Commercial Arbitration in Iraq: Commercial Law Reform in the Face of Violence

No one in Iraq underestimates the size of the challenges faced by a state still living with the trauma of thirty-five years of dictatorship, war, and ongoing sectarian violence.The establishment of peace and security within the country remains the essential task for Iraq’s leadership and the key to Iraq’s future. But even as Iraq struggles to reach a political settlement, which will allow lasting security to be achieved, developments continue to occur with respect to the commercial legal infrastructure of the state. Significant changes to Iraq’s legal institutions have occurred since the end of U.S.-led occupation, and with those changes have come some real changes in Iraq’s legal culture.There is much work yet to do for Iraq in order to establish the kind of legal system which will meet its aspirations and provide a solid environment for increased commerce, but as this article sets out, with respect to international commercial arbitration in particular, much already has been done to shake off at least some of the shackles of the past.