SOCIAL AND POLITICAL INSTABILITY AND THE RELATIONSHIP TO EDUCATIONAL REFORM IN KURDISTAN

Formal education can be a mechanism for increasing social tolerance, political transparency and cultural integration; thus, a discussion of the relationship between political and social instability and resultant struggle with comprehensive educational reform in Kurdistan is timely. This chapter, written by the two university presidents of the only American-style not-for-profit institutions in Kurdistan/Iraq, narrates the challenges the authors face in bringing high-quality education to a region of the world confronting civil unrest, continual violence and economic turmoil.