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According to Day (2006), the primary difficulty in achieving national unity is finding the balance between local governmental power in the hands of tribal and religious groups and the central government. Day (2006) has analyzed the current situation in Iraq by looking at the case of Yemen. Yemen has gone from an authoritarian government to a democracy within the period of a few short years. The primary difference between the Yemenis and the Iraqis is that Yemen deposed its authoritarian government before a need arose for United Nations interference. In order for Iraq to undergo a successful political transformation to democracy, they must find this balance between regional/local political power and the power of the central Iraqi leadership. .
Another issue that is effecting the development of a successful democracy in Iraq is what the Iraqis perceive as being unwanted interference from the United States in the development of their own individual style of democracy. No one wants a dictator like Saddam Hussein to gain power; however this is a decision that should be made by the Iraqi people. The United States has attempted to impose democracy based upon traditions that are foreign to Middle Eastern cultures. According to Day (2006), Middle Eastern ideas of how a democratic government should work are entirely different from how the West views democracy. Gaining control of their own nation and developing their own ideas of democracy will be a major hurdle for the people of Iraq to overcome.
Myerson (2006) has developed a model for predicting whether democracy will succeed. This model states that several factors influence the likelihood of democracy being successful for a country. First, the success of democracy is dependent upon how the people of a nation perceive their government. Democracy is also likely to fail when the government has the expectation that they will remain in power indefinitely.