Where Now for Iraq ? Lessons from Sudanese Legal

This paper has been written during an internationally problematic period culminating in the use of military force to bring about disarmament in Iraq. The regime change that has come about as a consequence of this was arguably a central aim of the military operation. After the fall of Sadam Hussein’s government many suggestions have been made as to the nature such a change should take. One model mooted, prior to the war, at a conference of religious, political and military ex-leaders from the region held in London on 14 December 2002 was a system of subsidiary governance. More recently, reporters have speculated about what would happen next, many considering that some form of shared governance might be one way forward. It is certainly clear that the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair intends to form a government made up of Iraqi people. After a continued period of Anglo-Egyptian rule, Sudan was left to establish its own government. Reflection on how the legal regime of Sudan grew out of this as well as consideration of the reasons for its eventual failure may teach us valuable lessons about how to deal with similar situations.