Across countries, entrepreneurship is shown to support wealth and income generation, job creation and innovations in product and process. The precise role of entrepreneurship in any specific country depends on the institutional context. Much of our understanding of institutions and entrepreneurship is based either on empirical studies from countries at relative peace, or on theoretical models assuming peaceful conditions. We have little understanding of how an institutional context characterized by armed conflict affects entrepreneurship, and how entrepreneurship can best be promoted in post-conflict situations. This article, based on a paper presented at the UNU-WIDER workshop on Entrepreneurship and Conflict, held in Londonderry, Northern Ireland in March 2009, addresses this lacuna by discussing the case of entrepreneurship in Iraq. It provides an overview of entrepreneurship in Iraq, focusing primarily on the importance of accurately understanding what is going on, and identifying four key sets of constraints.
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