Iraq’s militias: From guns for hire to checkbooks of power

Iraq’s militias cannot be understood as mere security actors or as simple extensions of regional power politics. Rather, they represent a fully formed political economy that emerged from the wreckage of the state and evolved into a cross-border network of interests. This network is not governed by ideology or loyalty, but by the logic of the market.  Iraq’s militias are no longer part of the chaos; they have become its very architecture. From the moment they appeared as parallel forces to the state, it was clear that they were not founded on doctrine or political vision, but on the vacuum left by collapsing institutions. Starting as mercenaries carrying out sectarian killings and kidnappings, they grew into networks feeding on institutional […]