Book Review: The Struggle for Iraq’s Future: How Corruption, Incompetence and Sectarianism Have Undermined Democracy by Zaid Al-Ali

In this book Zaid al-Ali sets out why and how the post-occupation Iraqi government has failed to achieve legitimacy or improve its citizens’ lives, covering how corruption has prevented aid and oil income making a difference to security, healthcare and power. Vivid descriptions of the extent of violence and low quality of life that became part of everyday life in Iraq are remarkable and give the reader a much closer understanding of what Iraqis, especially in Baghdad, have been going through, writes Zeynep Kaya.