Legal Mechanisms for Protecting the Right to Self-Determination: Between Theory and Practice in the Past and Present - The Kurdistan Region of Iraq as a Model

Legal mechanisms for protecting the right to self-determination have gradually evolved over time; however, they remain insufficient, particularly in the Iraqi context, to ensure a necessary balance for peaceful coexistence among society’s components. This shortcoming is evident in the relationship between Arabs and Kurds, highlighting the need to reassess the effectiveness of these mechanisms and develop them in line with the spirit of the social contract embodied in the preamble to the 2005 Constitution.In this context, the study examines the experience of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq as a case study to assess the effectiveness of legal mechanisms related to the right to self-determination, employing a descriptive, analytical, and comparative methodology that integrates theory and practice. The results indicate that successive Iraqi authorities between 1921 and 2003 acted according to partisan and personal considerations rather than robust legal mechanisms. By contrast, the 2005 Constitution marked a qualitative shift through the institutional recognition of the region as a fundamental component of the federal state.Accordingly, the study recommends establishing permanent constitutional and legislative coordination between the federal government and the regional government, thereby strengthening the principle of self-determination and preventing the recurrence of exclusionary and marginalizing policies previously pursued against the Kurdistan Region.