The Role of Oil in Iraqi Politics

OSI's Middle East and North Africa Initiative presented a discussion with Yahia Said, director of OSI's Iraq Revenue Watch (IRW), on the role of oil in Iraqi politics. Julie McCarthy, acting director of OSI's Revenue Watch program, introduced the event.

IRW works to promote accountability in natural resource-rich countries by equipping citizens with the information, training, networks, and funding they need to become more effective monitors of government revenues and expenditures. The goal of IRW is to monitor Iraq's oil industry and public finances, to ensure that they are managed with the highest standards of transparency and that the benefits of national oil wealth flow to the people of Iraq.

Said is also research fellow at the London School of Economics, where he conducts research on transition and conflict. He travels frequently to Iraq to research and campaign on a variety of issues including opening up the political process, national reconciliation and transparency in the oil sector.

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