Variegated neo-liberalization, human development and resistance: Iraq in global context

Critics of the concept of human development argue that it has for the most part been easily absorbed into neo-liberalizing frameworks that neglect national, material development and that fail to prioritize the poor and insecure. While those criticisms have some force, more attention needs to be paid to the opportunities for resistance afforded by the fact that neo-liberalization is permeated by self-undermining contradictions and must articulate in hybrid and diverse fashion with existing social forces. When Iraq's human development report, national development plan and poverty reduction strategy are examined, we can see in them elements of resistance to neo-liberalization and evidence of the assertion of development – national and human, material and non-material – as a right. However, in assessing poverty in Iraq as 'very shallow', Iraq's poverty reduction team demonstrated that resistance to neo-liberalization and the neglect of the poor will require struggles with Iraqi as well as global actors.