Iraq has three main culture regions: the Sunni Arab, the Sunni Kurd, and the Shiite Arab. These three groups have characteristics that help unify and divide Iraq. All three groups are located at different points through Iraq, with the Sunni Kurd in the northern part of Iraq, the Sunni Arab in the eastern part of Iraq, and the Shiite Arab in the southwestern part of Iraq. The Sunni Kurd and the Sunni Arab overlap, the Sunni Arab and Shiite Arab overlap, but the Sunni Kurd and the Shiite Arab do not overlap. The fact that all three groups are Muslim in religion helps to unify Iraq and to keep it has one big country, but the different beliefs of the three groups on how the country should be ran divide Iraq. The Shiite's are the more radical Muslims with trying to take by force and put leaders into power by their direct descendants of power so that they are almost ruled by families, while Sunni's are the Muslims that want to vote for the leaders and are willing wait to put someone into power. The main overlapping of the three culture regions is between the Sunni Kurd and the Sunni Arab, and the Sunni Arab and Shiite Arab Muslims. These overlaps are considered to be formal culture region overlaps because they are areas that are inhabited by people with more than one cultural trait in common, like religion and how the religion should be ran. There were not always three culture regions, because they were more like one and they diffused and soon formed the three formal culture regions of today.
Cultural diffusion has played a huge role in influencing Iraq's culture and the current situations that Iraq is dealing with right now. "In 1979, President Bakr resigned, and Saddam Hussein assumed control of the government. He immediately purged the Ba"ath party after an unsuccessful coup, killing leftist members. War between Iran and Iraq, primarily over the Shatt al Arab waterway, erupted full-scale in 1980.
