Political parties and the press in the kurdistan region of Iraq

Tese de doutoramento, Ciência Política (Política Comparada), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, 2018This thesis studies the political system in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), specifically in what is related to the media system and the interplay between both. The research is one of the very first attempts to present comparative study of politics and press in the KRI to understand the dynamics of the media systems and participate in the theoretical discussion of media and politics. A triangulation of methods and different sources are employed, such as qualitative analyses of current and archived laws, party and media documents, as well as personal semi-structured interviews and anonymous questionnaires conducted as part of this research. The framework adopted for studying the case was of the Hallin and Mancini’s (2004, 2012). The attempt was not to fully apply this framework, but to use the variables to help deepen the understanding the KRI media system. The results show that political parallelism is high which explains full party ownership of the media. The interdependence of media and politics is inevitable and one is not able to easily survive without the other. In addition, the journalists do not necessarily meet the professional requirements and being a member of one of the dominant parties which owns the media is sufficient. The state plays an important role in controlling and media related legislations remain mostly on paper rather than being fully implemented. Due to the party ownership, finding a market is the least priority for the majority of the press in the KRI. This thesis employs categories and dimensions used in comparative studies. It uses the theoretical framework developed on the basis of Western cases which makes it possible for a new case to be available on the map of comparative scholars, a case that otherwise would not be studied.Fundação Calouste Gulbenkia