Research Triangle Institute

Research Triangle Institute is a North Carolina based think tank and contractor specializing in "building civic society" and elections promotion.

Iraq Chapter

North Carolina's Research Triangle Institute, charged with carrying out local governance projects under a far larger $598 million U.S. grant, had seen its own momentum stall when fighting first erupted in 2004. After losing several Iraqi staff to assassinations, it, too, had carried out much of what little training it did in Kurdish areas. This changed when Marine Brig. Gen. John Allen arrived in Anbar province in January of 2007 -- within weeks of Parhamovich's death -- and took the mantle of "democracy-building" on himself.
At the time, Allen said, civil government was "gasping for breath," with al-Qaida threatening or killing elected local council members. Working with tribal sheiks, he has since won acclaim for pushing al-Qaida out of Anbar and strengthening the local governments through transparent, funded projects.
The institute, led there by Texan Ron Johnson, was then able to carry out its own work at the PRT in Anbar and other areas and helped to launch local and provincial council associations that meet regularly and lobby the Iraqi parliament.
:"We have been so much in need of this kind of training because local government is just something new in Iraq and having no specific local government academy that could train and (improve) the capacity of councilors," said the local association's chairman, Abd Al-Khadom. He credits the troop surge for "fruitful" political progress at the local level.

Principals

• Ron Johnson