Nearly 20 years since the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq, a new generation of Iraqis is fighting for a different vision and fate for their country from that of their parents. In doing so, they have formed an informal alliance with Iraqi clerics – a radical departure from the trend in most Arab states, where secular-oriented youth seek to delegitimize religious leaders and institutions.

In a discussion of her recent paper, “The Long Game in Iraq: Shia Clerics, Activists Find Common Cause To Confront the State,” Geneive Abdo explained how influential Iraqi clerics have joined forces with civil society activists to achieve common goals: profound domestic political and economic reform and a rejection of Iran’s ideological and political influence in Iraq. Does this newfound cooperation have the potential to reinvent the Iraqi state? Abdo was joined by Abbas Kadhim. Ambassador Douglas A. Silliman moderated the discussion.