Good Governance and Oil Resource in Iraq

What is corruption, and how  can it be conceptualised in the Iraqi context? There have been many  theoretical discussions about  the definition of corruption from different perspectives. But most of them have betrayed  over-reliance  on  Western perspectives with  poor targeting of specific  contexts in countries within the Middle East such as Iraq.  Another feature of these definitions is  dissatisfaction with the more theoretical approaches used in earlier decades in literature, and the preference for more practical approaches, involving  primarily political and economic concepts.   In  this stud, I  explore  how the concept of corruption has evolved in contemporary social science, and  after considering six   approaches to the study of corruption (which are not mutually exclusive), I  will argue for a multi-theoretical or composite approach.  The thinking here is that only a composite approach can capture the particular circumstances of contemporary Iraqi political life and the particular challenges that it faces.  In particular, the paper will show why elitism, rent-seeking behaviour,  and clientelism should be central to any compelling definition and analysis of corruption in Iraq.