By Hawre Hasan Hama

Abstract 

The Gorran Movement (‘Goran’) was founded in 2009 to address the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s demand for political and economic reform. Corruption, lack of transparency in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s income and expenditure, the lack of legitimate and active institutions, the existence in political party interference in all sectors of the Kurdish region and the region wide power-sharing agreement between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party has all worked to create a feeling of discontent among the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s residents. In 2009, The Gorran Movement took advantage of this feeling of disenfranchisement in the region to demand a complete change in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s political structure that were built by the  Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Kurdistan Democratic Party. Using this message The Gorran Movement’s first participation in elections saw it become the second biggest political force in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the biggest political party in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s traditional zone of influence by beating the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in the elections. This research divides The Gorran Movement’s conduct and effectiveness into three primary stages; (1) the opposition stage, which can be described as The Gorran Movement’s golden period; (2) the government participation stage after 2013, which can be described as The Gorran Movement’s period of weakness; and (3) the post Nawshirwan Mustafa stage, which can be described as The Gorran Movement’s period of political entrenchment. The central argument of this research is that The Gorran Movement fundamental problem has been that instead of being able to be a catalyst for reform, it became a part of the very issues that it had for many years campaigned against.

 

Download PDF to the report article here