Iraqi Kurdistan’s Statehood

Aspirations: A Political Economy

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IRAQI
KURDISTAN’S
STATEHOOD
ASPIRATIONS
A Political Economy Approach

MET ANWAR ANAID

EMEL ELIF TUGDAR
Middle East
Today
 Middle East Today

Series Editors
Fawaz A. Gerges
Department of International Relations
London School of Economics
London, UK

Nader Hashemi
Center for Middle East Studies
University of Denver
Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
The Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War, and
the US invasion and occupation of Iraq have dramatically altered the
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a critical body of first-rate scholarship that reflects the current political
and social realities of the region, focusing on original research about
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and the Muslim Brotherhood; and the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Other
themes of interest include Iran and Turkey as emerging pre-eminent
powers in the region, the former an ‘Islamic Republic’ and the latter an
emerging democracy currently governed by a party with Islamic roots;
the Gulf monarchies, their petrol economies and regional ambitions;
potential problems of nuclear proliferation in the region; and the chal-
lenges confronting the United States, Europe, and the United Nations in
the greater Middle East. The focus of the series is on general topics such
as social turmoil, war and revolution, international relations, occupation,
radicalism, democracy, human rights, and Islam as a political force in the
context of the modern Middle East.

More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14803
 Anwar Anaid · Emel Elif Tugdar
Editors

Iraqi Kurdistan’s
Statehood Aspirations
A Political Economy Approach
Editors
Anwar Anaid Emel Elif Tugdar
Department of Politics and Department of Politics and
International Relations International Relations
University of Kurdistan Hewler University of Kurdistan Hewler
Erbil, Iraq Erbil, Iraq

Middle East Today

ISBN 978-3-319-93419-8 ISBN 978-3-319-93420-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93420-4

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 Contents

1 Introduction 1
Anwar Anaid and Emel Elif Tugdar

Part I Theoretical Framework of Political Economy

in Iraqi Kurdistan

2 The Nature of Political Economy Challenges

of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq 9
Anwar Anaid

3 Compatibility of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s

Institutions and Economic Development Within Iraq 27
Fahrettin Sümer and Jay Joseph

Part II Sectorial and External Approaches to Political

Economy in Kurdistan Region

4 Perspectives of an Independent Energy Export Policy

of Iraqi Kurdistan 57
Gülistan Gürbey and Caner Yildirim

v
vi    Contents

5 Technology Management and Policy of Kurdistan

Region of Iraq 87
Nabaz Khayyat

6 Kurdistan’s Democratic Developments Amid a Rentier

Oil Economy 99
Ari Mamshae

7 Public Sector Reforms in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq:

Tackling the Socially Constructed Barriers to Change 125
Jay Joseph and Fahrettin Sümer

8 Conclusion 155
Anwar Anaid and Emel Elif Tugdar

Index 161
 Notes on Contributors

Anwar Anaid holds the position of Associate Professor and Dean of

School of Social Science at the University of Kurdistan Hawler. He holds
a Ph.D. from the University of Sydney (Australia) in Government and
International Relations and B.A. (Hons) majoring in Politics and IR
with a second major in Economics from the University of New South
Wales (Australia). His research agenda has a focus on political economy
of Middle East.
Gülistan Gürbey is Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Freie
Universität Berlin, Germany. Her main research interest lies in the areas
of peace and conflict studies, international protection of minorities, de
facto states, illiberal democracies and foreign policy with special regional
focus on Turkey, Kurdistan, Cyprus, Germany, European Union. She
is the author of several books and articles on Kurdish politics, Turkish
domestic and foreign policy, and the Cyprus conflict. She is the co-ed-
itor of Between State and Non-state. Politics and Society in Kurdistan-
Iraq and Palestine. New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2017; (with Ferhad
Ibrahim) of The Kurdish Conflict in Turkey. Obstacles and Chances
for Peace and Democracy. New York/Frankfurt: St. Martin’s Press
and LIT Verlag, 2000. Among her recent publications are: “Kurds in
Turkey”, in: The Kurds: An encyclopedia, ABC Clio USA, forthcoming;
“The effects of the Islamist advance in Iraq on the Kurds”. In Orient.
German Journal for Politics, Economics and Culture of the Middle East,
Berlin, 2014; “The Role of Turkey: Secular Statehood and Islam”.

vii
viii    Notes on Contributors

In Governance in the 21st Century. Conflict, Institutional Change, and

Development in the Era of Globalization. Northampton. Massachusetts:
Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011; “The Urgency of Post-nationalist
Perspectives: ‘Turkey for the Turks’ or an Open Society? On the Kurdish
Conflict”. In Turkey Beyond Nationalism. Towards Post-Nationalist
Identities. London/New York: I.B. Tauris 2006.
Jay Joseph is an Assistant Professor at the American University of
Beirut, specializing in corporate sustainability and entrepreneurship. He
is a Master’s in Business graduate from Victoria University of Wellington,
and Ph.D. graduate from the University of South Australia (2017).
Jay has published in change management and leadership, and is pur-
suing several projects concerning corporate sustainability in Australia,
and NGO entrepreneurial support in the Middle East. While working
as a Lecturer at the University of Kurdistan Hewlêr in 2017–2018, Jay
worked on topics concerning broader economic issues within Kurdistan,
which included the conceptualization of economic scenarios follow-
ing the 2017 independence referendum (The British Journal of Middle
Eastern Studies) and labor reforms required to restore the public sector
balance sheet (CRIS Magazine). He currently works with NGOs oper-
ating in the MENA region to evaluate and enhance funding models to
support small businesses; particularly those in post-conflict regions.
Nabaz T. Khayyat is an Engineering Economist, an Assistant Professor
of Economics, and Chair of the Department of Economics and Finance
(University of Kurdistan Hewler-Kurdistan Business School), and a
Dissertation Advisor and a member of External Faculty at the University
of Liverpool, School of Business, UK. Dr. Nabaz has received two
Ph.D.s, first in economics, from Swiss Management University, Zurich,
Switzerland, and a second Ph.D. with an M.Sc. in IT Engineering from
Seoul National University, College of Engineering, South Korea. In his
first Ph.D. thesis, he developed a new model to determine the energy
demand in the industrial sector for South Korea using a relatively new
methodology in the production risk literature. His second Ph.D. Thesis
identified the causal relationship between ICT investment and energy use
and its impact on productivity in the industrial sector. Where he devel-
oped a new productivity model by adding ICT capital as a quasi-fixed
factor of production using again a relatively new methodology called a
dynamic factor demand model.
 Notes on Contributors    ix

Ari Mamshae has an M.A. degree in Public Policy at the Blavatnik

School of Government of University of Oxford and another M.A. in
International Studies from the University of Kurdistan Hewler, where
he also studied his bachelors in Politics and International Relations. Ari
Mamshae has been an executive staffer of President of Kurdistan Region
Masoud Barzani since 2012. He is also a frequent op-ed contributor
to Kurdish media outlets, covering international relations, politics, and
governance issues. He has been cited by Reuters, Washington Post, the
Independent, al-Jazeera, amongst others. His research interest includes
the political economy of natural resources and democracy in Kurdistan
Region of Iraq.
Fahrettin Sümer is a faculty member at the American University of
Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS). He earned his first M.A. degree in Political
Science from Rutgers University and his second M.A. in Economics from
the Moore School of Business of the University of South Carolina. In
2003 he completed his Ph.D. in International Studies, also from the
University of South Carolina. He has published several articles, a book
chapter, and a book titled The Neglected Impact of Non-Economic Factors
on the Development of Financial Crises and Governmental Responses: The
Mexican and Malaysian Cases of the 1990s. He taught multiple inter-
national studies and economics courses in South Carolina and Virginia
before joining AUIS in 2012. His research interests include: causes
and implications of globalization, financial crises and governmental
responses, international political economy, Turkey and the EU, and Iraq
and its neighborhood.
Emel Elif Tugdar holds the position of Visiting Scholar in the Studies
for Women, Gender and Sexuality at Harvard University. She holds
a Ph.D. in Political Science from West Virginia University (USA).
Her research agenda includes ethno-politics, human rights, politics
of gender with a major focus on Middle East, specifically Turkey and
Iraqi Kurdistan. She is the editor of another Palgrave edited volume
Comparative Kurdish Politics in Middle East: Actors, Ideas and Interests.
Caner Yildirim is a graduate student in Otto-Suhr Institute for Political
Science at Freie Universität Berlin. His research agenda has a focus on
Kurdish politics.
 List of Figures

Fig. 4.1 Pipeline infrastructure in the KRI and Kirkuk. Territorial

situation before the victory against ISIS and the
referendum; John Roberts, Iraqi Kurdistan Oil and Gas
Outlook (Washington, DC: Atlantic Council, 2016), 5.
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/publications/reports/
iraqi-kurdistan-oil-and-gas-outlook 60
Fig. 6.1 Indexing KRI’s democracy 105
Fig. 6.2 Comparative Middle East democracy performances 108
Fig. 7.1 Contradictions of the KRG public sector reforms 130
Fig. 7.2 Assumptions of public sector employees 135
Fig. 7.3 Dialectically revising public sector assumptions 140

xi
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Anwar Anaid and Emel Elif Tugdar

Two significant events helped the Kurds in Iraq to place themselves at

the center of international public and scholarly attention. Initially, the
Gulf War in the early 1990s made Iraqi Kurds strong coalition partners
against the Saddam regime. This coalition also caused Kurds to take an
official federal status known as the Kurdistan Region represented by the
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) after the Saddam regime was
removed in 2003. After more than a decade, Kurds have been again
in the headlines of international community due to their fight against
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as part of the major partners of
the international coalition. This increasing attention on the Kurds can
be easily seen through the increase in academic and media publications
on their role in regional affairs and international relations. Thus, ques-
tions such as the statehood aspirations of Kurds, independence, and state
building attract more scholarly attention now.

A. Anaid (*) · E. E. Tugdar

Department of Politics and International Relations,
University of Kurdistan Hewler, Erbil, Iraq

© The Author(s) 2019 1

A. Anaid and E. E. Tugdar (eds.), Iraqi Kurdistan’s Statehood Aspirations,
Middle East Today, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93420-4_1
2 A. ANAID AND E. E. TUGDAR

The long-term state building aspirations of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region

entered a new phase with the independent referendum in September
2017. In this edited volume, we aim to address the questions about
statehood aspirations of Kurds in Iraq from a political economy perspec-
tive. We ask several questions, i.e. how far the Iraqi Kurdistan Region
is ready for state building from political economy perspective? How do
different sectors of economy, i.e. oil, agriculture and tourism affect polit-
ical aspirations? How do external relations, specifically with neighboring
states with Kurdish population take part in statehood aspirations from
political economy perspective? Which macro and micro arguments of
political economy are applicable to the region? In a nutshell, this pro-
posed book seeks to explore the internal dynamics of Kurdistan Region
of Iraq (KRI) from a political economy perspective within its own
debates, conflicts, and interests.
The theme of Part 1 is ‘Theoretical Framework of Political Economy
in the Iraqi Kurdistan’. In Chapter 2, Anwar Anaid discusses “The
Nature of Political Economy Challenges of the Kurdistan Region of
Iraq”. According to Anaid in addressing the financial and economic
crisis that the KRI has faced since 2014 the focus has been either eco-
nomic, social or political, not the interrelation between them which is
the focal point of political economy. In this chapter, Anaid attempts to
approach the crisis from a political economy perspective or the relation-
ship between state, economy, and society in the Kurdistan region. By
approaching the crisis from such a perspective, the aim of the chapter
is to provide a theoretical framework that informs the other chapters.
It is argued that the primary cause of the Kurdistan Region’s current
economic challenges is the KRG’s failure to base its initial developmen-
tal policies on a comprehensive and binding political economy model
that could define and promote a healthy relationship between govern-
ment, market, and society in the region. The chapter purposes adopt-
ing a model of political economy that is economically sound, politically
responsible and socio-culturally informed.
Within the context of the theme “Theoretical Framework of Political
Economy in Iraqi Kurdistan”. Fahrettin Sümer and Jay Joseph evaluate
whether the KRI’s political and economic institutions are conducive for
economic development in the region in Chapter 3 titled “Compatibility
of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s Institutions and Economic
Development Within Iraq”. There have been growing economic devel-
opment literatures that point at the importance of having inclusive
 1 INTRODUCTION 3

institutions for sustained economic growth. Inclusive economic insti-

tutions create a level playing field for entrepreneurship and businesses,
provide secure property rights, and enforce contracts. Inclusive political
institutions create a democratic society where various groups and inter-
ests are represented and their demands are expressed through politi-
cal mechanisms; which articulates, reconciles and turns such demands
into policies. In positioning the need for inclusive institutions, we also
explore how various public sector inefficiencies can occur due to short-
comings of bureaucracy, interest groups, and political behaviors within
political and economic institutional structures. Public Choice economic
literatures show that key actors of political processes may engage in eco-
nomically damaging behaviors such as: rent-seeking activities by well-
organized interest groups, short-term political decision making, corrup-
tion around personal electoral gains or rent-extraction from private groups
or public sources, self-interest based income, and prestige and career
decision making from bureaucrats. Thus, society’s resources could be
wasted unless well-designed institutional constraints are established, and
incentives for economically damaging political behavior are eliminated or
reduced. Therefore, a country or region’s institutions, starting from the
constitution, need to be designed in a way that will bring checks and bal-
ances, enhance accountability of bureaucrats and politicians, and bring
transparency in public revenues and expenditure for the public’s scrutiny.
The theme of Part II is ‘Sectorial and External Approaches to Political
Economy in Kurdistan Region’. In Chapter 4 titled “Perspectives of an
Independent Energy Export Policy of Iraqi Kurdistan”, Gülistan Gürbey
and Caner Yildirim explore the prospects for an independent energy
export policy of the KRI and, therefore, deals with the question of how
sustained profitability, legitimacy and stability can be ensured after mak-
ing an inventory of the current situation and portraying the oil dispute
between Erbil and Baghdad, energy policy goals, strategies, and cooper-
ation are presented, as well as challenges and opportunities are critically
examined. In the context of the referendum for independence and sub-
stantial dependence on revenues from oil exports, this article investigates
the economic, legal, political, and security challenges such as the resist-
ance from the central government in Iraq, the freeze of budget payments
to KRG and the fall in oil prices, the inflated state apparatus and attacks
on the pipeline infrastructure. The long-term profitability and stability
of the Kurdish strategy will depend, among other things, on production
and capacity increases on the one hand and building good governance
4 A. ANAID AND E. E. TUGDAR

structures and strengthening internal democratic development on the

other hand. A successful energy export policy would have important
effects on the political economy of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq and the
de facto and aspired de jure independence, respectively.
In Chapter 5, titled “Technology Management and Policy of
Kurdistan Region of Iraq”. Nabaz Khayyat discusses the importance of
upgrading Kurdistan Region industrial structure to be able to generate
more value-added products for maintaining the process of economic
development. Khayyat claims that this process requires advancement in
technological capabilities to employ and engross more urbane technol-
ogies. Thus, this advancement in technological capabilities needed to
build a national innovation system, its activities should include but not
limited to hardware and software purchases, industrial design and engi-
neering activities, employing up to date machinery, equipment and other
capital goods, in-house software development, and finally the ability to
conduct reverse engineering. In addition to this, Nabaz Khayyat shows
the importance of investing in human development in terms of training
and tertiary education, which should be applied in Kurdistan Region for
state building process.
In Chapter 6 titled “Kurdistan’s Democratic Developments Amid a
Rentier Oil Economy”, Ari Mamshae discusses about oil economy. It is
a common understanding that democracy is hard to flourish in oil-rich
countries and in fact, majority of these countries are either authoritarian
or dictatorial. The KRI, whether relying on Baghdad or independently
selling oil to generate revenue, could be all standards called a rentier.
However, unlike other examples of rentier states, there are some demo-
cratic features in the KRI. Although far from perfect, elections are largely
fair and free, freedom of expression and association is high, pluralism and
diversity exists, among others—there has been no coverage of KRI by
the democracy indexes. For that purpose, this chapter will be using the
Economic Intelligence’s Democracy Index methodology to measure it.
It will thereafter look into the reasonable reasons behind the democratic
developments and provide explanation to this outstanding example. This
is the first time in academic publications that both measuring democracy
and studying the democratic developments in Iraqi Kurdistan Region are
done.
In Chapter 7 Joseph and Sümer argue as an oil-rich developing
region, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has characteristically fallen into the
resource curse affecting many oil-rich nations. One such symptom of this
 1 INTRODUCTION 5

curse is an overinflated and inefficient public sector, which now employs

over half of all adult workers in the region, growing over time for both
political purposes and out of fiscal mismanagement. The public sector
of the KRI now stands as a fiscal burden on the KRG’s central budget,
undermining the region’s ability to build a sustainable employment mar-
ket for the future.
Overall, this edited volume introduces the dynamics and complexities
of the political economy perspective on the statehood aspirations of Iraqi
Kurds. As the Kurdish state building aspirations are conducive to many
factors, i.e. actors, rivalries, alliances, ideologies, interests, this edited vol-
ume seeks to unpack this complex political economy dynamics. In the
end, the book has three major objectives: (1) to introduce scholars of
Comparative Politics, Political Economy and Middle East Studies to
pertinent theoretical approaches regarding the state building of KRI in
Middle East; (2) to advance the understanding of causal mechanisms of
political economy underlying the contemporary Kurdish politics in Iraq;
and (3) to encourage further research that draws on the same models or
modifying them with a focus on particularly stateless nations.
 PART I

Theoretical Framework of Political

Economy in Iraqi Kurdistan
 CHAPTER 2

The Nature of Political Economy Challenges

of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Anwar Anaid

Introduction
The economic crisis that the Kurdistan region in Iraq (KRI) faced after
the ISIS attack on the region in 2014 and further deepened after the
referendum for independence of Kurdistan on 26 September 2017 high-
lighted the region’s structural, socio-political and economic weaknesses.
As a result of this crisis, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
faced a series of economic, financial, political and social challenges. The
KRG had to freeze most of its developmental projects, and it failed to
pay the full salaries of its public employees in a timely manner.
Given the depth and seriousness of the challenges that this small
and young region faced, it was surprising that the KRG remained func-
tional. The brutality and destructiveness of the ISIS attack along with the
war-related expenses, the influx of around two million refugees, a sharp
drop in the oil prices—the region’s main source of income—and the
Federal Government’s budget cuts were strong enough to undermine
even established states under their burden.

A. Anaid (*)
Dean of School of Social Science, University of Kurdistan Hawler, Erbil, Iraq
e-mail: a.anaid@ukh.edu.krd

© The Author(s) 2019 9

A. Anaid and E. E. Tugdar (eds.), Iraqi Kurdistan’s Statehood Aspirations,
Middle East Today, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93420-4_2
10 A. ANAID

The aim of this chapter is to assess the Kurdistan region’s internal

socio-political and economic dynamics and shed light on the weaknesses
in the overall political economy of the region the crisis highlighted. It
is argued that one of the main causes of the economic crisis was the fun-
damental flaws in the KRG’s developmental policies. The KRG had failed
to base such policies on a comprehensive political economy model that
could have promoted a healthy relationship between government, mar-
ket, and society in the region. To address the KRG’s structural weak-
nesses, this chapter suggests adopting a model of political economy
that is economically sound, politically responsible, and socio-culturally
informed.

The Focus of Political Economy

Adam Smith, the founding father of political economy, defined it as
the science, which dictates how to increase national wealth. According
to Smith, the primary objective of the political economy is to help peo-
ple to enrich themselves and their state. In Adam Smith’s words, the
political economy is defined as a science that “proposes to enrich both
the people and the sovereign” (Smith 2007, p. 429). To achieve these
ends, Smith advocated for a system of market-based economic policy—
prescriptions and a productivity-enhancing interrelation between state,
market, and society. Smith (2007) argued that an efficient allocation of
resources would require a regulated pursuit of individual self-interest,
through a system of free market enterprise characterized by, among other
things, division of labor, competitive markets, and free trade. In such an
arrangement, a minimalist state protects the legitimate private property
and oversees a responsible functioning of market forces.
Smith’s market-based developmental model has been criticized on
many fronts. Socialist accused Smith’s capitalist class exploitation of
workers. Veblen (2013) criticized the conspicuous consumption of the
upper class, the wastefulness of a market-driven society and large cor-
porations’ tendencies toward the monopolization of the market and the
capturing of the state.
The free market model was later gradually revised and further devel-
oped by scholars such as Alfred Marshal, John Maynard Keynes, and
many others. After the collapse of the Soviet socialist model in the
1990s and the upheavals that followed, the free market model of socio-
economic management came into global prominence. Capitalism was
 2 THE NATURE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY CHALLENGES … 11

hailed victorious; the end of history and the triumph of liberal democra-
cies with their core market values was announced (Fukuyama 1989).
As a very late comer to capitalist modernization, the Kurdistan region
pursued a free market model after its de facto separation from Arab-Iraq
in 1991. The KRG adopted laissez-faire economic policies more seri-
ously after the 2003 Iraq war. Following these events, the Kurdistan
Region entered a transitional stage, with all its related confusion and
inconsistencies.

The Kurdistan Region’s Transition to a Free

Market Economy

Background
The Kurdistan region’s free market-based approach to socio-economic
development after 2003 was in line with the regional and international
trends at the time. The global dominance of a free market system, the
United States’ market-based developmental policy-prescription for Iraq
and the need to attract international investors were the main factors that
drew the KRG toward adopting such policies. To increase its security in
a hostile region, KRG promoted economic and trade links with its pow-
erful neighbors to an extent that Turkey became the KRG’s biggest trade
partner while Iran took the second position. After the 2003 Iraq war, the
region enjoyed a decade of prosperity which was suddenly disrupted by
the attack of ISIS on the Kurdistan region in August 2014.
The region’s brief period of economic prosperity and s­ocio-political
stability occurred in a unique historical context. After the 1991 de facto
separation from the rest of Iraq, the region was widely autonomous in
running its affairs and enjoyed the protection of Allied forces led by
the Americans who had introduced a no-fly zone to protect the Kurds
from the Iraqi Army. From 1991 to 2003, several distinctive factors were
influential in the formation of the Kurdistan Region’s political economy.
In this period, the United Nations imposed sanction on Iraq while the
government of Iraq enacted an additional embargo on the Kurdistan
region. During the 1990s, the border custom income was the main
source of funding for the newly established government in the Kurdistan
Region. In the mid-nineties, in order to alleviate the impact of sanctions
on the Iraqi people, the United Nations introduced an ‘oil-for-food pro-
gramme’ where the Iraqi government could sell its oil in exchange for
12 A. ANAID

food and other basic needs. The introduction of this program reinforced
the already established culture of dependency on the state in the region
and undermined the emerging trends toward self-sufficiency. These
developments took place while some form of market economy was run-
ning in the background. Leezenberg (2003) described the economy of
the Kurdistan Region in this period as follows:

…Both Iraqi Kurdistan and Iraq at large display an uneasy combination of

a neoliberal economy, in which a large part of the welfare of the population
is delegated to the international humanitarian network and a Leninist state
tradition, in which those in power try (but do not necessarily manage) to
monopolize civil society.

The major shift in the political economy of the Kurdistan region

occurred after 2003 Iraq war. The KRG, which by now had closer link
with the Arab-Iraq, managed to implement some of the American rec-
ommended free market-based developmental policies that the Iraqi fed-
eral government failed to do because of its preoccupation with the bitter
sectarian war that engulfed Iraq from 2005 onward. Under the American
influence who advocated for trade policies, the border custom duties on
the most imported foreign goods were reduced to only five percent. By
far the biggest developmental trigger occurred in 2006 when the KRG
introduced a generous investment law, which attracted a considerable
amount of foreign investment into the Kurdistan region.
At an economic level, the Kurdistan region was rapidly transformed
into a free market economy while politically the region was experi-
menting with democracy. However, as the experience of other coun-
tries suggests, such transition is neither easy nor does it always lead to
a desired optimal outcome. The Kurdistan region was not an excep-
tion. The Kurdish society was unprepared for the radical implemen-
tation of a free market system nor had it achieved the evolutionary
maturity necessary for coping with it. The region had not undergone
any serious prior socio-economic development that could have pre-
pared the groundwork for market-orientated modernization. It had
inherited a quasi-socialist political economy that Iraq—the Kurdistan
region included—had gradually adopted after Iraq became a republic
in 1958. This was followed by decades of a war economy and mobi-
lization of resources for the purpose of war making initially with Iran
and then Kuwait.
 2 THE NATURE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY CHALLENGES … 13

When the Kurdistan region gained a semiautonomous status after

the popular uprising in 1991, its primary goal was survival in a hostile
region. After the 2003 Iraq war, the KRG’s security concerns were still
predominant in its developmental policies. The political and economic
strategies were designed to have harmonizing effects on the Kurdistan
region’s relationships with its powerful neighbors and ‘pleasing’ the
international community rather than following a model of development
that was informed by sound and responsible domestic socio-economic
programs. The Kurdistan region’s policymakers failed to consider the
domestic implications and long-term socio-economic and political conse-
quences of their outwardly focused economic and political policies.
A casual and an unexamined implementation of a free market eco-
nomic model proved problematic. The market economic policies were
followed, without proper localization of the system and the establish-
ment of compatible legal structures policed by the state to support and
restrain private and public sector development. Marketization policies
were followed in the context of an incompatible quasi-socialist socio-
economic and cultural practices inherited from the previous Iraqi regime.
Consequently, the dependency of people on the state and the state on
oil income—the hallmark of rentier state political economy—was further
strengthened.
Obviously, in such an unrestrained and ill-planned economic transi-
tion to a free market, unleashed market forces can undermine the past
without presenting a viable alternative for the future. Predatory practices
can replace competition; the tendency for capturing and monopolizing
of markets would be high. Environment, public health, and national
security become the victim of irresponsible—sometimes criminal1—
profit maximizing organizational and individualistic behavior. In short,
as is normally the case, unless guided otherwise, the business of business
would be to make a profit without necessarily factoring in the social costs
of business operation. An essential feature of the Kurdistan region’s mar-
ket-driven developmental plans were their incompleteness and contextual
inconsistencies—a rushed amalgamation of often ill-conceived policies
that was hastily implemented. There was not adequate political and cul-
tural planning that could support the economic aspect of development.
Consequently, the hurried marketization led to chaotic economic and
cultural development that put the region in a weak position for facing
the challenges the region encountered from 2014 onward and which the
KRG had little control over.
14 A. ANAID

The Nature of the Kurdistan Region’s Current

Political Economy Issues

1. Economics: Free Market and Its Challenges

In a system of free market enterprise driven by profit and private

ownership, economic inequalities are a necessary condition and an
inevitable outcome of the system. These two inherent properties
of the free market economy create incentive for economic activities
and promote competition in the market. While the first is meant to
boost productivity, the latter is supposed to keep up the quality and
lower the prices. However, there is a radical difference between an
income inequality that is the result of an economically productive
class of wealthy people and the emergence of a class, who are pre-
dominantly the clients of an oil-dependent rentier regional state. In a
healthy market economy, it is the productivity of individuals that cre-
ates a genuinely industrious class, not a class of people who lives off a
quasi-rentier state often through questionable practices.2 As a result
of the latter trend there is a large difference in wealth between the
haves and the have nots. Such large inequalities in wealth have created
a class structure that is often criticized by the opposition parties who
see it as the result of widespread corruption and is challenged by the
people of the region.
In the absence of a legal structure that encourages competition, the
tendency toward monopolization is also high, particularly, if there is no
effective separation of political and economic powers. Due to a rapid and
unplanned economic expansion, the authorities have not been able to
cope with negative environmental externalities, which are a byproduct of
legal or illegal production of oil3 and other economic activities. This is
in a context where Kurdistan’s environment was already fragile because
of years of war and conflict and the deliberate past policies of the Iraqi
government. When political loyalty, a system of patronage, influence the
appointment of people to the senior positions in the government and
business, it will undermine people’s trust in the system and its fairness
and will lead to social unrest. It also reduces the efficiency and produc-
tivity in the economy.
 2 THE NATURE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY CHALLENGES … 15

2. Social Context: Dependency Culture and Its Consequences

As mentioned earlier, before implementing free market policies, Iraq,

including the Kurdistan region, had not undergone a comprehensive and
genuine process of market-driven modernization, not even something
similar to that of neighboring Turkey and Iran. The hard work ethic,
productivity and greed of its capitalist nature and the legitimization of
consumption as a way of life had not socially integrated. Hence, the pre-
dominant mass social psychology that informs economic attitudes is the
feudal socio-economic organization of the Ottoman era when the peas-
ants’ approach to production was orientated toward the bare efforts for
subsistence and survival. In the Ottoman feudal system the peasantry’s
increased productivity often meant producing more for landlords and the
Ottoman state, each more predatory than the other. For the peasants,
the rational response was to do only as much as to ensure their survival.
After the establishment of the Iraqi state, this mindset was largely
reinforced. British overlords supported the tribal Aghas4 and the land-
lord class, as a check on the power of their appointed King, and rein-
forced a socio-political mechanism that sustained the tribal and feudal
mentality (McDowall 2007, p. 157). During the Ba’athist period, dec-
ades of military rule and militarization exacerbated the problem and
most of the manpower was directed toward warfare rather than the
establishment of a capitalist economic system. During this period the
people who followed the state’s line, were provided with subsistence by
the oil-dependent Iraqi state.
Such a historical socio-cultural orientation is still encouraging people
toward seeking rent from the state and aiming at the economic secu-
rity that comes with it, even if it is at bare minimum subsistence rates.5
The dependency culture institutionalized by years of Ba’athist rule fur-
ther reinforced by around two decades of a nationwide provision of food
rations affected the Kurdish society at all levels. It is estimated that 70%
of KRG income covers the salaries of around 1.4 million people who
receive money from the government.
There is also a considerable number of ghost employees who receive
salaries from the regional government.6 The overall result is the deple-
tion of human capital and a crude and opportunistic pursuit of self-
interest by individuals. These practices hardly contribute to the creation
of a national culture that molds people into responsible and productive
16 A. ANAID

citizens, a process that is central to the healthy operation of a free market

economy and the establishment of a genuine democracy.
The Kurdistan Region’s newly formed class structure is not estab-
lished on firm grounds as well. People have not accepted the emerging
social hierarchies, partially because Kurdistan is still a transitional society,
and partly because the economically dominant class has not been able to
legitimize its position. From a developmental economic perspective, the
problem is twofold: there exists a wealthy class that is not rich as a result
of the outcome of natural productive forces generated through healthy
economic activities. In addition, there is a class of sentimental egalitarians
who do not argue for equality of opportunities but equal distribution of
wealth: the contrast cannot be any greater. These profound disharmonies
suggest future social conflict is on the horizon. In fact, from 2016 to
2018, there were series of demonstrations, teachers’ strikes and popular
unrest predominately in the Sulaimaniah province, in which people asked
the government to provide basic services and pay the public employee’s
salaries.
Many low skilled jobs that can be easily filled with the widely avail-
able regional workforce are occupied by foreign workers. The devel-
oped countries import foreign labor when there is a surplus of jobs, or
the local workforce occupy the high-skilled professions. However, in the
Kurdistan Region, this is not the case, and there are two main reasons for
employing foreign workers. Given a large number of people are receiving
assistance from the regional government in one form or another, they
can afford not to do these jobs. The other reason is cultural as local peo-
ple are not ready to do these jobs, or to do them with the same level
of efficiency and productivity of their foreign counterparts. However,
the market for the skilled workforce is different. While many people in
the region have university degrees, they do not possess a matching level
of required technical skills and educational training. Consequently, the
skilled jobs are often given to the foreign workers.

3. Political: The Pitfalls of Democracy

Kurdistan’s economic development is occurring in an increasingly dem-

ocratic political context. It is true that most of the prosperous coun-
tries are democratic, but it is not true that they are prosperous because
they are democratic. Genuine democracies have undergone decades of
 2 THE NATURE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY CHALLENGES … 17

economic hardship and restriction on political freedom for the purpose

of building the foundation of their economy and creating the ground
for democratization. Thomas Friedman explains the preconditions for
unpretentious development and democracy very well. He writes:

Sixty years ago Asian dictators told their people in effect: I am going to
take away your freedom—but give you the best education, export-led
economies, and infrastructure that money can buy—and in a half-cen-
tury, you’ll build a middle class that will gradually take your freedom back.
(Friedman 2015)

Through education and the creation of necessary socio-economic infra-

structures these democratic countries, which already had a tradition of
state, were able to sell it to their citizens that idea that citizens’ rights
come with responsibilities. This is not the case in Kurdistan’s prema-
ture democracy. The Kurdistan region’s democracy may legitimize the
KRG’s autonomous status on a global scale, but on a domestic level it
has promoted populist policymaking combined with political fragmen-
tation and dispersed loyalties. These characteristics of democracy in
the Kurdistan region act as an impediment to long-term holistic and
genuine socio-economic development. It also has unleashed politi-
cized popular grievances that have further reinforced rent-seeking and
dependency on government. In such a political context, there is little
incentive for investing in serious long-term developmental goals, while
there are structural tendencies for short-term, present-oriented pol-
icy—made by whatever political parties may come to power. That is
why the KRG’s high revenues of the past decade or so were spent on
paying the salaries of an extraordinarily large number of public employ-
ees, while these funds could have been spent on building strong health
and education sectors and a reliable public infrastructure to compensate
for Kurdistan’s historical developmental backwardness. Such funds can
spare the people of the region from undergoing the economic hardship
necessary for initial capital accumulation needed for economic develop-
ment as well. In short, the KRG’s public employment policies were not
only a reflection of predominant cultural tendencies toward dependency
on the state in the region but also a strong reason for strengthening
such an unproductive relationship between the people and government
in the region.
18 A. ANAID

4. State Making and the “Reasons of State”

Since no single political party has the necessary majority for the forma-
tion of government, the establishment of a government in the region is
often the outcome of frustrating and prolonged negotiation between dif-
ferent political parties that are overwhelmingly driven by populism and
party-centeredness. These parties often fail to achieve any agreement.
For example, after more than two years, of negotiation between the main
political parties, they did not achieve a compromise deal to form a new
government after political crisis and dispute arose over the speaker of
parliament in 2015. Further evidence for populist policymaking can be
assessed through these parties’ policies to a public issue that is of national
importance. For example, a key challenge that the KRG has faced for the
last decade or so is the very high number of public employees who have
drained most of the funds that could have been used for building the
basic developmental infrastructure needs. In such a context, it would be
irresponsible to ask the KRG to hire additional people. Instead, the com-
peting parities should advocate for a serious reduction in employment in
the public sector to reduce government expenses. Yet, to my knowledge,
no political party argued for such a reduction in the last election cam-
paign, on the contrary, most advocated for hiring additional people by
the KRG.
In the established developed democracies with a tradition of state,
the populist policies are often moderated by the technocratic and
state-centric policymaking mechanism that is placed. The demo-
cratic politics is often practiced within the context of the established
‘reasons of state’ that has already integrated through a state-centric
bureaucracy. Unfortunately, KRG does not have such well-established
state-centric infrastructure, whether legal, political or bureaucratic.
Consequently, such unrestrained populism has deepened the struc-
tural issues that the KRG is facing. Since in Kurdistan’s democracy, the
tendency toward populist policymaking is very strong those who do
not follow it will do so at their peril. Therefore, from a developmen-
tal perspective, Kurdistan’s democracy is a liability rather than an asset
as it encourages popular policymaking at the expense of responsible
state-centric decision-making that is informed by Kurdistan’s long run
national interests.
 2 THE NATURE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY CHALLENGES … 19

Addressing the Kurdistan Regions’ Developmental

Challenges
In addressing the financial and economic crisis that the Kurdistan region
has faced since 2014, the focus of prescribed policies has been either
economic, social or political, not the interrelation between them, which
is the focal point of political economy. The harmonization of the rela-
tionship between state, market, and society with the aim of mobilization
of regional government’ policies toward increasing national productiv-
ity, economic efficiency, and competitiveness is central to any remedial
measures that the KRG can take. The Kurdistan region’s fundamental
developmental issues can be addressed through implementing a politi-
cal economy model tailored to the regional needs and its developmen-
tal stage, its geopolitical standing, and cultural peculiarities. The KRG’s
remedial policies need to incorporate reviewing the relationship between
state, economy and society with the aim of creating a healthy relationship
between these three basic elements. To achieve these ends, government
policies must be directed at restructuring the Kurdish society on polit-
ical, economic and social levels. Such reorganization should be based
on a macro-level national political economy plan that incorporates the
Kurdish cultural peculiarity, history, identity, and the economic compar-
ative and competitive advantages of the region. Among other things, the
following factors need to be considered:

1. Avoiding the Pitfalls of the Rentier State Political Economy

A comprehensive developmental policy should consider the competitive

and comparative position of the Kurdistan region in the global economy.
The comparative advantage of the region dictates the competitive strat-
egy of Kurdistan in the global economy. However, so far, the focus has
been on the oil sector, and therefore, the typical social and economic
outcomes of a rentier state political economy, where oil is the govern-
ment’s main source of income.
Fortunately, the Kurdistan Region has only recently begun to export
its oil independently. Therefore, it can profit from 80 years of experience
of other oil-based economies and the socio-economic pitfalls of oil curse
and rentierism. The post-referendum events are likely to transfer more
control of oil income to the federal government and therefore reduces
20 A. ANAID

the control of the KRG. While the KRG has a limited control over its
resources it can still avoid, following the path of other Middle Eastern
rentier states whose main role has been to redistribute oil income to
silence or buy off their people. Through state-led economic and social
mechanisms, the people of the Kurdistan region should be informed
of the healthy relationship between national productivity and national
prosperity. An individual’s demands should be proportional to his/her
contribution to the society, in capital and/or labor. They people of the
Kurdistan region should know that cultural, economic or political short-
cuts and wrong short-term development policies have long-term nega-
tive consequences. A popular acceptance of citizen’s responsibility that
comes with given rights is of paramount importance. To achieve this
goal, the KRG needs an effective cultural policy.
While a system of free market enterprise is not meant to produce
equality, markets do not work efficiently without access to equal oppor-
tunities for all who wish to participate in political and economic life and
in the machinery of the state. Equality before the law and equal opportu-
nity balance the unequal economic conditions in a free market economy.
In such a system, the hope is that with a rising boat of national prosper-
ity, everybody will rise—it is a cliché, but it can work with the right pol-
icies. Money that is earned through the productivity of labor and capital
will not lead to out of control inflation, but the petrodollar does. The
profit increases when the employers within a company are hired based
on efficiency, and the efficiency is enhanced with a better-skilled work-
force and employment based on merit. When political loyalty, a system of
patronage, influence the appointment of people it reduces the efficiency
and productivity in the economy, and it will undermine people’s trust in
the system and its fairness and the cumulative impact will ultimately lead
to social unrest.
The key to avoiding the repetition of the unsustainable price
increases—for example, in the real estate sector—of the past decade or
so, and making the Kurdistan region’s economy competitive on regional
and global levels, is increasing the productivity in the economy through a
responsible money supply policy. The ‘competitive control’ in the econ-
omy, which is the outcome of fair and regulated competition policed by
the state, will keep the prices low and improves the quality of services
and products. Since there are no effective competition laws in place in
the Kurdistan region, the low quality, and sometimes expired, products
are sold at high prices. In recent years, the government has put in place a
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
otra alguna,
ueys vna perfeçion jamas
oyda,
ueys una discreçion, qual fue
ninguna,
de hermosura y graçia
guarnescida?
¿ueys la que está domando a
la fortuna
y a su pesar la tiene alli
rendida?
la gran doña Leonor Manuel
se llama,
de Lusitania luz que al orbe
inflama.
Doña Luisa Carrillo, que en
España
la sangre de Mendoça ha
esclareçido:
de cuya hermosura y graçia
extraña,
el mismo amor, de amor está
uençido,
es la que a nuestra Dea ansi
acompaña
que de la uista nunca la ha
perdido:
de honestas y hermosas claro
exemplo,
espejo y clara luz de nuestro
templo.
¿Ueys una perfeçion tan
acabada
de quien la misma fama está
embidiosa?
¿ueys una hermosura más
fundada
en graçia y discreçion que en
otra cosa,
que con razon obliga a ser
amada
porque es lo menos de ella el
ser hermosa?
es doña Eufrasia de Guzman
su nombre,
digna de inmortal fama y gran
renombre.
Aquella hermosura
peregrina
no uista en otra alguna sino en
ella,
que a qualquier seso apremia
y desatina,
y no hay poder de amor que
apremie el della,
de carmesí uestida y muy más
fina
de su rostro el color que no el
de aquella,
doña Maria de Aragon se
llama,
en quien se ocupará de oy
más la fama.
¿Sabeys quién es aquella
que señala
Diana, y nos la muestra con la
mano,
que en graçia y discreçion a
ella yguala,
y sobrepuja a todo ingenio
humano,
y aun ygualarla en arte, en ser
y en gala,
sería (segun es) trabajo en
uano?
doña Ysabel Manrique y de
Padilla,
que al fiero Marte uenze y
marauilla.
Doña Maria Manuel y doña
Ioana
Osorio, son las dos que estays
mirando
cuya hermosura y graçia sobre
humana,
al mismo Amor de amor está
matando:
y esta nuestra gran Dea muy
vfana,
de ueer a tales dos de nuestro
uando,
loallas, segun son es
escusado:
la fama y la razon ternan
cuydado.
Aquellas dos hermanas tan
nombradas
cada una es una sola y sin
segundo,
su hermosura y graçias
extremadas,
son oy en dia un sol que
alumbra el mundo,
al biuo me paresçen
trasladadas,
de la que a buscar fuy hasta el
profundo:
doña Beatriz Sarmiento y
Castro es una
con la hermosa hermana qual
ninguna.
 El claro sol que ueys
resplandeçiendo
y acá, y allá sus rayos ya
mostrando,
la que del mal de amor se está
riendo,
del arco, aljaua y flechas no
curando,
cuyo diurno rostro está
diziendo,
muy más que yo sabré dezir
loando,
doña Ioana es de Çarate, en
quien vemos
de hermosura y graçia los
extremos.
Doña Anna Osorio y Castro
está cabe ella
de gran valor y graçia
acompañada,
ni dexa entre las bellas de ser
bella,
ni en toda perfeçion muy
señalada,
mas su infelize hado vsó con
ella
de una crueldad no vista ni
pensada,
porque al ualor, linaje y
hermosura
no fuesse ygual la suerte, y la
uentura.
Aquella hermosura
guarnecida
de honestidad, y graçia sobre
humana,
que con razon y causa fue
escogida
por honra y prez del templo de
Diana,
contino uençedora, y no
uençida
su nombre (o Nimphas) es
doña Iuliana,
de aquel gran Duque nieta y
Condestable,
de quien yo callaré, la fama
hable[1256].
Mirad de la otra parte la
hermosura
de las illustres damas de
Valençia,
a quien mi pluma ya de oy
mas procura
perpetuar su fama y su
excelençia:
aqui, fuente Helicona, el agua
pura
otorga, y tú, Minerua, enpresta
sçiençia,
para saber dezir quién son
aquellas
que no hay cosa que ver
despues de vellas.
Las cuatro estrellas ved
resplandesçientes
de quien la fama tal ualor
pregona
de tres insignes reynos
desçendientes,
y de la antigua casa de
Cardona,
de la vna parte Duques
exçelentes,
de otra el trono, el sçeptro, y la
corona,
del de Segorbe hijas, cuya
fama
del Borea al Austro, al Euro se
derrama.
La luz del orbe con la flor de
España,
el fin de la beldad y
hermosura,
el coraçon real que le
acompaña,
el ser, valor, bondad sobre
natura,
aquel mirar que en verlo
desengaña,
de no poder llegar alli criatura:
doña Anna de Aragon se
nombra y llama,
a do por el amor, cansó la
fama.
Doña Beatrix su hermana
junto della
vereys, si tanta luz podeys
miralla:
quien no podré alabar, es sola
ella,
pues no ay podello hazer, sin
agrauialla:
a aquel pintor que tanto hizo
en ella,
le queda el cargo de poder
loalla,
que a do no llega
entendimiento humano
llegar mi flaco ingenio, es muy
en vano.
 Doña Françisca d'Aragon
quisiera
mostraros, pero siempre está
escondida:
su vista soberana es de
manera,
que a nadie que la vee dexa
con vida:
por esso no paresçe. ¡Oh
quién pudiera
mostraros esta luz, que al
mundo oluida,
porque el pintor que tanto hizo
en ella,
los passos le atajó de
meresçella.
A doña Madalena estays
mirando
hermana de las tres que os he
mostrado,
miralda bien, uereys que está
robando
a quien la mira, y biue
descuydado:
su grande hermosura
amenazando
está, y el fiero amor el arco
armado,
porque no pueda nadie, ni aun
miralla,
que no le rinda o mate sin
batalla.
Aquellos dos luzeros que a
porfia
acá, y allá sus rayos uan
mostrando,
y a la exçelente casa de
Gandia,
por tan insigne y alta
señalando,
su hermosura y suerte sube oy
dia
muy más que nadie sube
imaginando:
¿quién uee tal Margareta y
Madalena,
que tema del amor la horrible
pena?
Quereys, hermosas
Nimphas, uer la cosa,
que el seso más admira y
desatina?
mirá una Nimplia más que el
sol hermosa,
pues quién es ella, o él jamas
se atina:
el nombre desta fenix tán
famosa,
es en Valençia doña Cathalina
Milan, y en todo el mundo es
oy llamada
la más discreta, hermosa y
señalada.
Alçad los ojos, y vereis de
frente
del caudaloso rio y su ribera,
peynando sus cabellos, la
exçelente
doña Maria Pexon y
Çanoguera
cuya hermosura y gracia es
euidente,
y en discreçion la prima y la
primera:
mirad los ojos, rostro
cristallino,
y aquí puede hazer fin uuestro
camino.
Las dos mirad que están
sobrepujando,
a toda discreçion y
entendimiento,
y entre las más hermosas
señalando
se uan, por solo vn par, sin par
ni cuento,
los ojos que las miran
sojuzgando:
pues nadie las miró que biua
essento:
¡ued qué dira quien alabar
promete
las dos Beatrizes, Vique y
Fenollete!
Al tiempo que se puso alli
Diana,
con su diuino rostro y
excelente
salió un luzero, luego una
mañana
de Mayo muy serena y
refulgente:
sus ojos matan y su uista
sana,
despunta alli el amor su flecha
ardiente,
su hermosura hable, y
testifique
ser sola y sin ygual doña Anna
Vique.
Bolued, Nimphas, uereys
doña Teodora
Carroz, que del valor y
hermosura
la haze el tiempo reyna y gran
señora
de toda discreçion y graçia
pura:
qualquiera cosa suya os
enamora,
ninguna cosa nuestra os
assegura,
para tomar tan grande
atreuimiento,
como es poner en ella el
pensamiento.
Doña Angela de Borja
contemplando
uereys que está (pastores) en
Diana,
y en ella la gran dea está
mirando
la graçia y hermosura
soberana:
Cupido alli a sus pies está
llorando,
y la hermosa Nimpha muy
ufana,
en uer delante della estar
rendido
aquel tyrano fuerte y tan
temido.
De aquella illustre cepa
Çanoguera,
salio una flor tan extremada y
pura,
que siendo de su edad la
primauera,
ninguna se le yguala en
hermosura:
de su excelente madre es
heredera,
en todo quanto pudo dar
natura,
y assi doña Hieronyma ha
llegado
en graçia y disceçion al sumo
grado.
¿Quereys quedar (o
Nimphas) admiradas,
y uer lo que a ninguna dió
uentura:
quereys al puro extremo uer
llegados
ualor, saber, bondad y
hermosura?
mirad doña Veronica
Marradas,
pues solo uerla os dize y
assegura
que todo sobra, y nada falta
en ella,
sino es quien pueda (o piense)
meresçella.
Doña Luysa Penarroja
uemos
en hermosura y graçia más
que humana,
en toda cosa llega los
estremos,
y a toda hermosura uençe y
gana:
no quiere el crudo amor que la
miremos
y quien la uió, si no la uee, no
sana:
aunque despues de uista el
crudo fuego
en su vigor y fuerça buelue
luego.
Ya ueo, Nimphas, que
mirays aquella
en quien estoy continuo
contemplando,
los ojos se os yran por fuerça
a ella,
que aun los del mismo amor
está robando:
mirad la hermosura que ay en
ella,
mas ued que no çegueys
quiçá mirando
a doña Ioana de Cardona,
estrella
que el mismo amor está
rendido a ella.
Aquella hermosura no
pensada
que ueys, si uerla cabe en
nuestro uaso:
aquella cuya suerte fue
estremada
pues no teme fortuna, tiempo
o caso,
aquella discreçion tan
leuantada,
aquella que es mi musa y mi
parnaso:
Ioanna Anna, es Catalana, fin
y cabo
de lo que en todas por
estremo alabo.
 Cabe ella está un estremo
no uicioso,
mas en uirtud muy alto y
estremado,
disposiçion gentil, rostro
hermoso,
cabellos de oro, y cuello
delicado,
mirar que alegra, mouimiento
ayroso,
juyzio claro y nombre
señalado,
doña Angela Fernando, aquien
natura
conforme al nombre dio la
hermosura.
Vereys cabe ella doña
Mariana,
que de ygualalle nadie está
segura;
miralda junto a la exçelente
hermana,
uereys en poca edad gran
hermosura,
uereys con ella nuestra edad
ufana,
uereys en pocos años gran
cordura,
uereys que son las dos el
cabo y summa
de quanto dezir puede lengua
y pluma.
Las dos hermanas Borjas
escogidas,
Hippolita, Ysabel, que estays
mirando,
de graçia y perfeçion tan
guarnesçidas,
que al sol su resplandor está
çegando,
miraldas y uereys de quantas
uidas
su hermosura siempre ua
triumphando:
mirá los ojos, rostro, y los
cabellos,
que el oro queda atras y
passan ellos.
Mirad doña Maria
Çanoguera,
la qual de Catarroja es oy
señora,
cuya hermosura y graçia es de
manera,
que a toda cosa uençe y la
enamora:
su fama resplandeçe por do
quiera
y su uirtud la ensalça cada
hora,
pues no ay qué dessear
despues de uella,
¿quién la podrá loar sin
offendella?
Doña Ysabel de Borja está
defrente
y al fin y perfeçion de toda
cosa,
mira la graçia, el ser, y la
exçelente
color más biua que purpurea
rosa,
mirad que es de uirtud y graçia
fuente,
y nuestro siglo illustre en toda
cosa:
al cabo está de todas su
figura,
por cabo y fin de graçia y
hermosura.
La que esparzidos tiene sus
cabellos
con hilo de oro fino atras
tomados,
y aquel diuino rostro, que él y
ellos
a tantos coraçones trae
domados,
el cuello de marfil, los ojos
bellos,
honestos, baxos, uerdes, y
rasgados,
doña Ioana Milan por nombre
tiene,
en quien la uista pára y se
mantiene,
Aquella que alli ueys, en
quien natura
mostró su sçiençia ser
marauillosa,
pues no ay pasar de alli en
hermosura,
no ay más que dessear a una
hermosa:
cuyo ualor, saber, y gran
cordura
leuantarán su fama en toda
cosa,
doña Mençia se nombra
Fenollete,
 a quien se rinde amor y se
somete.

La cançion del çelebrado Orpheo,

fue tan agradable a los oydos de
Felismena, y de todos los que la
oyan, que assi los tenia
suspensos, como si por ninguno
de ellos uuiera passado más de lo
que presente tenian. Pues
auiendo muy particularmente
mirado el rico aposento, con
todas las cosas que en él auia
que uer, salieron las Nymphas por
una puerta de la gran sala, y por
otra de la sala a un hermoso
jardin, cuya uista no menos
admiraçion les causó que lo que
hasta alli auian uisto, entre cuyos
arboles y hermosas flores auia
muchos sepulchros de nimphas y
damas, las quales auian con gran
limpieça conseruado la castidad
deuida a la castissima diosa.
Estauan todos los sepulchros
coronados de enredosa yedra,
otros de olorosos arrayhanes,
otros de uerde laurel. De más
desto auia en el hermoso jardin
muchas fuentes de alabastro,
otras de marmol jaspeado, y de
metal, debaxo de parrales, que
por ençima de artifiçiosos arcos
estendian todas sus ramas, los
myrthos hazian cuatro paredes
almenadas, y por ençima de las
almenas, paresçian muchas flores
de jazmin, madreselua, y otras
muy apazibles a la uista. En
medio del jardin estaua una
piedra negra, sobre quatro pilares
de metal, y en medio de ella un
sepulchro de jaspe, que quatro
Nimphas de alabastro en las
manos sostenian, entorno dél
estauan muchos blandones, y
candeleros de fina plata, muy bien
labrados, y en ellos hachas
blancas ardiendo. En torno de la
capilla auia algunos bultos de
caualleros, otros de marmol
jaspeado, y de otras diferentes
materias. Mostrauan estas figuras
tan gran tristeza en el rostro, que
la pusieron en el coraçon de la
hermosa Felismena, y de todos
los que el sepulchro veyan. Pues
mirandolo muy particularmente,
vieron que a los pies dél, en una
tabla de metal que una muerte
tenía en las manos, estaua este
letrero:

Aqui reposa doña Catalina

de Aragon y Sarmiento cuya
fama,
al alto çielo llega, y se
auezina,
y desde el Borea al Austro se
derrama:
matéla, siendo muerte, tan
ayna,
por muchos que ella ha
muerto, siendo dama,
 acá está el cuerpo, el alma
allá en el çielo,
que no la meresçio gozar el
suelo.

Despues de leydo el Epigramma,

vieron cómo en lo alto del
sepulchro estaua vna aguda de
marmol negro, con vna tabla de
oro en las vñas, y en ella estos
uersos.

Qual quedaria (o muerte) el

alto çielo
sin el dorado Apollo y su
Diana
sin hombre, ni animal el baxo
suelo,
sin norte el marinero en mar
insana,
sin flor, ni yerua el campo y sin
consuelo,
sin el roçio d'aljofar la
mañana,
assi quedó el ualor, la
hermosura,
sin la que yaze en esta
sepultura.

Quando estos dos letreros

vuieron leydo, y Belisa entendido
por ellos quién era la hermosa
Nimpha que alli estaua sepultada,
y lo mucho que nuestra España
auia perdido en perdella,
acordandosele de la temprana
muerte del su Arsileo, no pudo
dexar de dezir con muchas
lagrimas: Ay muerte, quán fuera
estoy de pensar, que me as de
consolar con males agenos!
Dueleme en estremo lo poco que
se gozó tan gran ualor y
hermosura como esta Nimpha me
dizien que tenía, porque ni estaua
presa de amor, ni nadie meresçio
que ella lo estuuiesse. Que si otra
cossa entendiera, por tan dichosa
la tuuiera yo en morirse, como a
mí por desdichada en uer, o cruda
muerte, quan poco caso hazes de
mi: pues lleuandome todo mi bien,
me dexas, no para más, que para
sentir esta falta. O mi Arsileo, o
disçreçion jamás oyda, o el más
claro ingenio que naturaleza pudo
dar. ¿Qué ojos pudieron uerte,
qué animo pudo suffrir tu
desastrado fin? O Arsenio,
Arsenio, Arsenio quan poco
pudiste suffrir la muerte del
desastrado hijo, teniendo más
ocasion de suffrirla que yo? ¿Por
qué (cruel Arsenio) no quesiste
que yo partiçipasse de dos
muertes, que por estoruar la que
menos me dolia, diera yo çien mil
vidas, si tantas tuuiera? A Dios,
bienauenturada Nimpha, lustre y
honrra de la real casa de Aragon,
Dios dé gloria a tu anima, y saque
la mia de entre tantas
desuenturas. Despues Belisa vuo
dicho estas palabras, y despues
de auer uisto otras muchas
sepulturas, muy riquissimamente
labradas, salieron por una puerta
falsa que en el jardin estaua, al
verde prado: adonde hallaron a la
sabia Feliçia, que sola se andaua
recreando: la qual los reçibio con
muy buen semblante. Y en quanto
se hazia hora de çenar, se fueron
a vna gran alameda, que çerca de
alli estaua, lugar donde las
Nimphas del sumptuoso templo,
algunos dias salian a recrearse. Y
sentados en un pradezillo,
çercado de uerdes salzes,
començaron a hablar vnos con
otros: cada vno en la cosa que
más contento le daua. La sábia
Feliçia llamó junto a si al pastor
Sireno, y a Felismena. La Nimpha
Dorida, se puso con Syluano
hazia vna parte del verde prado, y
las dos pastoras, Seluagia, y
Belisa, con las más[1257]
hermosas Nimphas, Cinthia y
Polydora, se apartaron haçia otra
parte: de manera que aunque no
estauan vnos muy lexos de los
otros, podian muy bien hablar, sin
que estoruasse vno lo que el otro
dezia. Pues queriendo Sireno,
que la platica, y conuersaçion se
conformasse con el tiempo y
lugar, y tambien con la persona a
quien hablaua, començo a hablar
desta manera: No me paresçe