The project to transform Iraq from an impoverished dictatorship into a prosperous, functioning, multi-ethnic democracy that would act as a role-model to the states of the Arab Middle East will stand as one of the most ambitious political ventures of the modern era. Instead, the Coalition powers that took control of the country in 2003 have become mired in the politics of sect and class, of regional ambition and of religious authority. Having sucked out the centre of the old Iraqi state, they have been unable to establish effective national institutions to take its place, or to bestow a structure upon the political process inside Iraq that allows for peaceful competition for power.This book analyses in detail why the Iraqi polity fractured after the invasion, and the consequences of this fragmentation.