Here’s another interesting history lesson about Mesopotamia.
It turns out that despite all the current pessimism about the possibility of representative government in Iraq, it is not being created there for the first time. The latest archaelogical discoveries and research suggest that early Sumerian cities were governed as popular assemblies — all free adult males convened in assembly to make major decisions, apparently unanimously, and particularly to choose magistrates. They chose kings to conduct critical religious rituals related to agriculture and to supervise the increasingly extensive irrigation systems (but were they really public goods?), plus war-kings to lead the city-state into battle. Eventually the appointed offices became lethargic bureaucracies, “as all do” my book charmingly puts it, and the kings began to assert permanent authority and sought to ensure heritary dynasties.
So representative government may have been born in ancient Iraq, while also being lost there. You can look at the precedent either way. I think it might be useful for modern-day Iraqis and their allies to honor the ancient traditions and reference them when making current decisions.
