The corruption and mismanagement of its two ruling parties have brought the region to the brink.
![Protesters gesture during a demonstration at the Azadi (Freedom) Park in the centre of Sulaymaniyah in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on August 22, 2020, [File: AFP/Shwan Mohammed]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/000_1WO3WM.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)

Teaching Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Studies at SOAS University of London
The corruption and mismanagement of its two ruling parties have brought the region to the brink.
![Protesters gesture during a demonstration at the Azadi (Freedom) Park in the centre of Sulaymaniyah in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on August 22, 2020, [File: AFP/Shwan Mohammed]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/000_1WO3WM.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)