American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) announced the publication of new research by Dr. Shwan Jamal Azeez, Assistant Professor of International Relations, examining natural gas governance in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

The research article, titled “Fragmented Authority, Credible Commitment, and Natural Gas Governance in a De Facto State: The Kurdistan Regional Government,” was published in The Extractive Industries and Society, an Elsevier journal. The journal is Q1-ranked in Scopus, with an Impact Factor of 4.5 and a CiteScore of 8.0.

In the article, Dr. Azeez examines the relationship between political and institutional fragmentation and the governance of natural gas in the Kurdistan Region. The study explores how divided authority and political competition can affect policy coordination, weaken credible commitments, and create challenges for the development of a coherent natural gas strategy.

The publication contributes to ongoing academic discussions surrounding energy governance, political institutions, and regional politics, while further strengthening AUIS’s research profile and its contribution to internationally recognized scholarship.

The full article is available through https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2026.101990