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Epilogue

Who Decides?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2026

Nida Alahmad
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
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Summary

The Epilogue tells the story of how a 2024 proposal to amend the Iraqi family law (Personal Status Law (PSL)) came to pass in early 2025 and outlines the objections to it in the context of this book’s main thesis about how and why state consolidation matters. The Epilogue highlights the main objections to the amendment, coming from Iraqi critics, which are focused on the social justice implications of introducing a legal structure wherein an authority is granted decision-making power over an aspect of public life that is parallel to, and outside of, the state’s authority. Critics see this as a canonization of state fragmentation and the underlying ethno-sectarian power-sharing arrangement on which it rests. The epilogue illustrates through this political and legal contestation the connections that run through sites of state fragmentation, attempts to consolidate a political order, historical legacies of state consolidation, and social justice. What the PSL story suggests is that who decides on public life is consequential to the political possibilities of justice.

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  • Epilogue
  • Nida Alahmad, University of Edinburgh
  • Book: State Matters
  • Online publication: 26 February 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009673976.008
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  • Epilogue
  • Nida Alahmad, University of Edinburgh
  • Book: State Matters
  • Online publication: 26 February 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009673976.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Epilogue
  • Nida Alahmad, University of Edinburgh
  • Book: State Matters
  • Online publication: 26 February 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009673976.008
Available formats
×