Iraq, officially known as the Federal Republic of Iraq (Arabic: العراق , IPA: ɪ.ˈɹɑ(ː)k), is a country in the Middle East spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the southern part of the Arabian Desert. It shares borders with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the west, Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, and Iran to the east. It has a very narrow section of coastline at Umm Qasr on the Persian Gulf. The country has two major flowing rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. These rivers provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and are a contrast to the desert landscape which composes the majority of the Middle East.
Iraq is a developing parliamentary democracy, composed of eighteen governorates (known as muhafadhat). The capital city, Baghdad, is located in the center-east of the nation. Iraq has a rich history dating back to ancient Mesopotamia. Historians identify the region between the Tigris River and the Euphrates River as the Fertile Crescent, a cradle of civilization, and as the birthplace of writing. During its long history, Iraq has been the center of the Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian empires, and part of Persian, Macedonian, Parthian, Arab, Ottoman and British empires.
Beginning with the invasion in 2003, a Multinational coalition of forces, mainly American and British, has occupied Iraq. The invasion has led to increased civil violence, political break-down, the removal and execution of former president Saddam Hussein, and national problems in the development of political balance, economy, infrastructure, and use of the country's massive reserves of oil. These issues have led to major set-backs for Iraq, making the country a developing nation that is the focus of increased attention from the West. According to the 2007 Failed States Index, produced by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace, Iraq has recently emerged as the world's second most unstable country, following Sudan.