The Para-Diplomacy of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq and the Kurdish Statehood Enterprise

Dynamics of Saudi Arabia–KRG Relations: From 2003 Iraq War to 2017 Referendum and Beyond

“…Traditional IR theories assume that states are the main actors in international politics (Abbas Zadeh & Kirmanj, 2017, p. 589). However, they are not the sole actors.…”

“…Today, it is difficult to examine world politics and the behaviors of states without taking them (as non-state actors within states) into account. For both the hardline realist approach, which explains non-state actors as tools for state interests and the liberal approach, which considers globalization as a catalyst of these emerging sub-state entities, the non-state actors are important for any analysis of international politics in the twenty-first century, regardless of whether it is a regional government, translational trade body, or parallel actors within the state (Abbas Zadeh & Kirmanj, 2017, p. 589).…”

“…Baumann and Stengel (2013, p. 489) define non-state actors as “autonomous actors in world politics” which play a significant role in the foreign policymaking of states they are part of; like the KRG. Pearlman and Cunningham (2011, p. 3) define non-state actors as “an organized political actor not directly connected to the state but pursuing aims that affect vital state interests.” According to Naim (2014, p. 97), who observes a decline of power among principal actors of the system, non-state entities, like the KRG, tend to enjoy a “de facto foreign policy.” Since its establishment, the KRG has formulated its own foreign policy, fostered diplomatic relations independent of the government in Baghdad, and even signed international deals, acting beyond the scope of a usual federal region as a de facto state (Abbas Zadeh & Kirmanj, 2017, p. 588). Charountaki (2018, p. 11) emphasizes that the KRG as a non-state actor that has operated officially on a regional and international level since 1992 reveals a unique example of a non-state actor that influences the regional balance of power.…”

“…The collapse of the security and military apparatus due to the US invasion set the scene for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to form a more detailed foreign policy and widen its relationships with the international community (Abbas Zadeh & Kirmanj, 2017, p. 588). Although Saudi Arabia’s relations with the KRG began in the post-Saddam period, the relationship intensified in recent years.…”

The bifurcated trajectory of nation formation in Kurdistan: Democratic confederalism, nationalism, and the crisis of capitalist modernity

“…8 8 Such as in working towards a national educational model (Kirmanj, 2017) or the establishment of a diplomatic tradition to represent foreign policy (Abbas Zadeh & Kirmanj, 2017). …”