Following the completion of the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq at the end of 2011, the country has quickly descended into renewed political turmoil. While the coalition government headed by Nouri al-Maliki remains nominally intact, sharp divisions are placing it under unprecedented pressure, threatening political stability and raising fears that the country could be plunged into a new cycle of violence. In this event our two panelists will offer their views on the country’s prospects in the post-American era.

Emma Sky is a visiting Professor at the War Studies Department at KCL.  She left Iraq in September 2010, where she had served for three years as political advisor to General Odierno, the US General commanding all US forces in Iraq. Emma has worked directly for General Petraeus on reconciliation and had been the Governorate Coordinator of Kirkuk for the Coalition Provisional Authority back in 2003/2004.

Dr. Toby Dodge is a Reader in the International Relations Department at the LSE and a Senior Consulting Fellow for the Middle East at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London. His research concentrates on the evolution of the post colonial state in the international system, with his main focus being on Iraq. More specifically he has studied how the application of sanctions to Iraq transformed the state, the descent of Iraq into civil war and the development of American Counter insurgency doctrine and its application to Iraq.

Julien Barnes-Dacey is a Senior Policy Fellow at ECFR. He has had extensive experience in Iraq as editor of Niqash, an Iraqi news website. He has also worked as a journalist in Syria, writing for the Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor and The Financial Times.