Kincaid, who directs Lafayette's Meyner Center for the Study of State and Local Government, is formally representing the International Association of Centers for Federal Studies, of which he is the immediate past president, at a large conference of Iraqi academics and government officials held this week in Erbil. The conference is being sponsored by the Forum of Federations, based in Ottawa, Canada, with the cooperation of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq.
“Because Iraq has a federal constitution, it will be important to build a non-partisan academic center capable of conducting research on federalism, fostering the teaching of courses on federalism in Iraqi universities, training government officials to operate a federal system, and recommending policy options for the evolution of Iraq’s federal system,” says Kincaid.
Kincaid hopes that Iraqis will see how federalism can be a powerful political mechanism for establishing national unity while still preserving religious and communal diversity. He admits, though, that establishing a center will be a huge challenge.
“It will have to represent and accommodate the various political forces in Iraq, including the Kurdish, Shia, and Sunni communities,” he says. “Furthermore, federalism is seen as a dangerous idea in some parts of Iraq because it is believed to be a vehicle for fostering separatism and even secession.”
A large portion of Kincaid’s career has been dedicated to furthering federal ideas around the world, and this is the second time he has worked with the Iraqi government.
In September of 2006, Kincaid participated in a conference in Istanbul, Turkey, on “Safeguarding Judicial Independence in a Federal Iraq,” presided over by the chief justice of Iraq’s Supreme Court. As one of five international experts, Kincaid helped 35 Iraqi judges, attorneys, and law professors consider how best to achieve judicial independence and structure a court system in a federal Iraq.
