Iraqi Law Between Theory and Practice: An Analysis of the Widening Implementation Gap (2020-2025)

 This research examines the gap between Iraqi legal theory and practice during 2020-2025, focusing on constitutional guarantees versus actual implementation. Despite formal legal frameworks establishing federalism, judicial independence, and fundamental rights protections, systematic analysis reveals profound contradictions: only seven convictions from 2,700 investigations into protest killings, a Federal Supreme Court operating without constitutional authorization, and militia forces wielding power despite formal state incorporation. The study employs qualitative documentary analysis of legal texts, court rulings, human rights reports, and institutional assessments to demonstrate how Iraq's post-2003 constitutional framework is being systematically dismantled through judicial centralization, sectarian power-sharing, and unchecked militia influence. Findings indicate that while positive developments exist in court digitization and anti-corruption prosecutions, the theory-practice gap has widened significantly, threatening Iraq's constitutional democratic framework and rule of law.