Opportunities and Challenges of Establishment of Islamic Government in Iraq After the Victory of Islamic Revolution of Iran

The Islamic Revolution of Iran through reviving Islamic issues led to great cultural developments on the regional level, preparing the grounds for Islamic Awakening movement in the Middle East, North Africa and other regions. The main objective of the present research is to review the impacts of the Islamic Revolution of Iran on Iraq. The main question of the present paper is: what challenges and opportunities appeared with the victory of the Islamic Revolution for establishment of an Islamic government in Iraq? Despite the existence of a number of opportunities such as long joint borders, majority of Shia population in the south of Iraq, deep relations between the clerics and religious scholars of the two countries, the existence of certain limitations such as suppressive policies of the Ba’th regime, lack of unity among the Shia organizations and Ba’th party’s policy of nepotism, prevented the overthrow of the Ba’th regime and establishment of an Islamic government in Iraq in the early years of the victory of Islamic Revolution. Attempts have been made in the present paper to comparatively study the government models of Imam Khomeini and that of Ayatollah Sadr to elaborate the political structure of Iraq and its impact on the stance of Iraqi Shias towards the Islamic Revolution of Iran – through discourse analysis. Also the role of Shia organizations in their unity and solidarity, the economic conditions of the Iraqi Shias as well as the impacts of Iranian economic conditions on stance of Iraqi Shias towards the Islamic Revolution have been studied through a rational approach.