In 2017, 92% of Kurds voted for independence of Kurdistan from Iraq, but the referendum was not officially recognized on an international level. This move further entrenched long-standing disagreements on many issues, and regarding the long history of the relationship between the Kurds and the modern Iraqi state, researchers have tended to reduce the problem to a national- ideological issue between two sides. However, a deeper look at these unresolved questions, and a reexamination of the Kurdish demands from the perspective of the elites in Kurdistan, may reveal other implications in addition to the national angle.

This study aims to explore these implications, and solutions that have been proposed, to further Kurdish integration within the Iraqi state. This takes into account the failure of the independence project, as a result of the geopolitical realities in the region as well as the lack of a cumulative, regional foundation for establishing a state in Kurdistan.