Iran
Iran
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Mostly arid plateau around 4,000 ft.
67,000,000 population
31% under age 15
66.4% urban
2nd largest oil exporter within OPEC
51% Persian, 24% Azeri, 7% Kurd
89% Shia Muslim
$7000 GDP per capita
16% Unemployment
Life expectancy 69.3
72% Literacy
4.1% women in the Majlis
No separation of powers among Supreme Leader, Guardian Council,
Assembly of Religious Experts, and Expediency Council
Theocracy—rule by religion
Has some democratic elements—popular sovereignty, separation of powers,
individual rights, elections
RENTIER STATE—a country that obtains lucrative income (most of
its revenue) by exporting a raw material like oil or leasing out a
natural resource
Problems Faced by Rentier States
Resource could be depleted
 Lack of diversification in local economy—nothing else is
developed
 Dependence on world market causes price
fluctuations/instability. Economy can fail due to price
fluctuations.
 Income inequality is exacerbated
 No incentive to modernize/industrialize
 Increased opportunity for corrupt usage of income from rents
 Lack of accountability to citizens since no tax system required—
citizens have no voice/diminished civil society
 No foreign direct investment
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Iranian History 1501-1925
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1501-1722 Safavid Dynasty rules Iran, coverts most
from zoroastrianism to Shi’ism, makes it state religion,
introduces Majles. 1722 invasion ends reign
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1794-1925 Qajar Dynasty rules
(1) 1st try to reconstruct theocracy
(2) 2nd try to achieve modernization (western style)
(a) economy (similar to ISI)
(b) reorganize the military
(c) reform the bureaucracy
1906 Constitutional Revolution
under Qajars
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An experiment with democracy based on Belgian/British
model (elections, separation of powers, elected
legislature, popular sovereignty, Bill of Rights
guaranteeing equality, freedom of expression)
The revolution was an attempt to modernize Iran
Prompted largely by changes sparked by modernization
Result was a constitutional monarchy
Only Shia could hold offices
Reza Shah comes to power through the Coup d’etat of
1921—democracy had crumbled into squabbling,
authoritarian state
Rule of Reza Shah/Pahlavi Rule
Reza Shah’s objectives
a. state led capitalism (German style)
b. modernize and reform Iran
c. restrict the power of the clergy and aristocracy
d. build strong economy through cultural engineering
(1) change dress style to western
(2) promote secular values
(3) make popular culture compatible with requirements and
goals of development
Reza Shah’s accomplishments
a. eliminated hereditary privilege
b. did away with titles and asked people to select family names
c. Took telegraph away from British control
d. built roads & infrastructure
e. built a railway from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf
f. establish secular, public schools and changed name to Iran
g. reduce clerical authority
h. 1935 abolished veil for women and encouraged both men and
women to adopt European dress
i. RENTIER STATE—dependent on other states for its income, heavily
supports state expenditures
j. Import substitution industrialization
1940s-1960s History
Reza Shah Pahlavi is forced to abdicate
during WW II in favor of his son,
Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi
 1956: PM Muhammad Mossadegh comes
to power, nationalizes oil industry. Leads
a party called the “National Front”
 US and British intelligence services
overthrow Mossadegh and restore the
Shah
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The White Revolution (1963)
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The Shah announced a program for reforms
that were popularly endorsed:
land redistribution
nationalization of the forests
sale of shares in government owned
factories to underwrite land reforms
sharing of factory profits with workers
electoral reform
enfranchisement of women
creation of a literacy corps
Revolution countered “RED” influences
Majles became a rubber stamp
Iran became a corporatist state with patronclient relationships embedded
The Islamic Revolution of 1979
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Despite successes (real or perceived) of the White Revolution,
rumblings of discontent could be heard in Iran as early as 1963
Severe economic and social dislocations from White Revolution
 Shah had ruled using imprisonment and death for insurgents
 Perceived as totalitarian, Carter pushed for openness=disaster
 Khomeini was charismatic opposition leader-- a real option
 Government corruption was severe
 Shia clergy provided an outlet for protest
 Secularized too quickly
 Patron-clientelism did not include interest group input, so
corporatism never developed
 In 1979 the Shah fell, leaving the country in January 1979.
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3 Oddities of 1979 Revolution
The 1st Revolution in which the dominant
ideology, forms of organization, and leadership
cadres were religious in form and aspiration
 This revolution was the first contemporary
revolution in which a theocracy was established
(modern revs were all AGAINST state and church)
 Only modern social revolution in which the
peasantry and rural guerillas played A MARGINAL
ROLE
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It was a classic J-curve revolution: declining oil prices
and 20% inflation dented economic growth led to
DISCONTENT—EXPECTATIONS NOT MET
How the Revolution Happened
The Revolutionary Coalition:
 Urban poor: especially former rural dwellers who
experienced the cultural chasm between tradition and
modernity
 Moderate middle classes that want political freedoms
 Leftists
 Bazaar merchants (controlled broad networks—could
bring commerce to a standstill)
 The clergy: had solid communication networks, financial
independence, credibility from decades of opposition to
Shah
 ARMED FORCES WERE “NEUTRAL”
 99% of people voted to endorse new Constitution
written by “Assembly of Religious experts.” (75% voted)
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The Khomeini Government 1979-1988
Institution of the Islamic State
1) Khomeini accomplishments
-centralize the role of the state
-set up a Marxist economy
-adopt absolute rule with religious authority—”Jurist’s Guardianship”
-establish the Islamic Republic of Iran
*the term coined by Khomeini to suggest factions (republic) but final authority by the caliph
*Luck: Oil prices rebounded, providing money for social services, medical care, etc.
*Luck: Iraq War unified Iranians
2) Institutions of Government created/revised
a) Parliament
b) President
c) Assembly of Experts
d) Supreme Leader
e) Guardian Council
f) Supreme National Security Council
g) Armed Forces
h) Expediency Council
i) Judiciary
3) dissatisfaction with poor socio economic conditions and “tiredness” with making sacrifices were pervasive by
1989
1989 forward
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Khomeini was succeeded by the Ayatollah
Khamenei
Power began to shift back to the Presidency
The President in 1989 was Ali Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani, who was a hard liner and closely
allied with Ayatollah Khamenei
In the 1992 elections, the two held on to power
1997 elections: a moderate, Mohammad
Khatami won
2002: Declared a member of the “Axis of Evil”
by President George W. Bush
The Iranian Executive
“Supreme Leader” or faqih chosen by 86 member “Assembly of
Religious Experts” a.k.a. “Chamber of Experts”
 Supposed to defend Islam, ensure laws acceptable
 Appoints/removes head of judiciary
 Appoints/removes ½ (6 members) of Guardian Council
(approves candidates)
 Appoints head of military and may command armed forces
 Declares war and peace
 Most famous: Ayatollah Khomeini
 Current:
 More powerful than Iran’s President, may overrule or dismiss
the President and eliminate Presidential candidates
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Iran’s President
1989: PM abolished
Needs absolute majority of votes, 4 year term—2 term
maximum
 Must be “well known political personality”—Guardian Council
has used this to ban women
 June 2005: Election--Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, hardline mayor of
Tehran, defeats Rafsanjani
 Devises the budget, supervises economic matters
 Proposes legislation to Majles
 Executes policy
 Signs treaties, laws, and agreements
 Chairs the National Security Council
 Selects vice-presidents and cabinet ministers
 Approves provincial governors, town mayors, and ambassadors
 Abol-Hasan Bani-Sadr removed in 1981 for criticizing regime as
dictatorship
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Council of Guardians
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12 member council
6 clerics + 6 lay members (lawyers)
All men
Has veto power with Supreme Leader over
Parliamentary legislation—did so with Press
Control law repeal
Determines who can run in local, Presidential,
Parliamentary, and Religious Experts elections
Work with Supreme Leader to exercise “jurist’s
guardianship”
Assembly of Religious Experts
86 members
 Elected popularly and directly but it’s all
clerics. 1998 revisions do allow non-clerics
but none elected yet
 No females allowed
 Candidates must pass religion test to
qualify
 Chose Ali Khameini in 1989
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Council for the Expediency of the State
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Created 1998
32 leading political personalities appointed for 3
year terms, may now originate own legislation
Members:
Heads of 3 branches of government (President,
Chief Justice, Speaker of the Majles)
6 Clerics of Guardian council
Anyone else Supreme Leader wants
Resolves policy disputes between Guardian
Council and Majlis
Islamic Consultative Assembly
(Majlis)-- Legislature
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290 deputies, 4 yr terms, semi-free elections, must be 15 to vote
All candidates must be cleared by “Council of Guardians” (council
may veto any law not consistent with “the Revolution”)
Speaker has emerged as major position; Rafsanjani used it as
springboard to Presidency. Now Akbar Nateq-Noori
Makes laws, interprets laws with Judiciary, 6 members on
Guardian Council, investigations, removes Cabinet ministers but
not President, approves budgets/treaties/appointees of President
Elections to the Majlis of Iran were held on February 20, 2004. A
runoff was held on May 7, 2004, which filled 39 seats where no
candidate gained sufficient votes to win in the first round.
The elections took place amidst a serious political crisis that
developed due to the January 2004 decision of the conservative
vetting body, the Council of Guardians, to ban thousands of
candidates from running -- nearly half of the total.
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A vast number of reformists, including some of their leaders, and particularly
members of the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), were barred from
running. In many parts of Iran, there weren't even enough independent
candidates approved, so the reformists couldn't form an alliance with them.
Out of a possible 285 seats (5 seats are reserved for religious minorities:
Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians), the participating reformist parties could
only introduce 191 candidates. Some reformist parties, like the IIPF,
announced that they would not vote. Moderate reformists, including
President Mohammad Khatami, urged citizens to vote in order to deny the
conservative candidates an easy majority.
While many pro-reform social and political figures, including Shirin Ebadi,
had asked people not to vote, the official turnout was about 51%. Even in
Tehran and its suburbs, a stronghold of reformist sympathies, turnout was
about 28%, and one of the conservative alliances, Etelaf-e Abadgaran-e
Iran-e Eslami, won all of the city's 30 seats. There are rumors that some
voters were transferred to Tehran or other big cities from other areas by
some of the parties, and a claim that the Municipality of Tehran, whose
mayor backed the same alliance, was advertising for the alliance illegally,
using the government's budget.
Day before the election--reformist newspapers Yas-e-no and Shargh were
banned.
The preliminary results of the elections showed a victory by the
conservatives. A basic comparison of the partial lists indicated that even
among the seats where the reformist alliance had a candidate, only 28% (30
out of 107) were elected.
Iranian Judiciary
NOT an independent judiciary, enforces shari’a and
qanun (statutory law). Judicial review in the sense that
qanun may not violate shari’a
 Supreme Leader appoints cleric to be head judge
 Religious zealots (hezbollahis) recruited from ranks of
urban poor (bazaaris)= stormtroopers
 Enforces censorship laws to curtail public debates
 Shut down 100 newspapers/magazines 1997-2004
 Banned interest on loans as usury
 Death penalty mandated for adultery, homosexuality,
drug dealing, and alcoholism
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Iranian Military
540,000 active troops (8th largest)
 Some long range missiles
 Developing nuclear weapons
 Revolutionary Guards developed in case
military gets reformist ideas
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Political Parties/Elections
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Finally re-legalized in 1998
Islamic Iran Participation Front: Reformist, formed after 1997
election of Khatami. Run by Muhammad Reza Khatami (his
brother). Did well in 2000, many candidates blocked by Guardian
Council in 2004. Helped Muhammad Khatami win re-election
Servants of Construction Party: Grouping of technocrats loosely
allied with former President Rafsanjani
Assembly of Combatant Clerics: Muhammad Khatami’s party. Left
wing, pro-reform.
Conservatives: several different parties, biggest is Ahmadinejad’s
Islamic Society of Engineers
Almost 1 election/year: ingrained
15 is voting age
High voter turnout
Candidate to seat ratio is 10:1 or more
Sharia, the canonical law of Islam, is the basis for the Constitution
and therefore elections
Bureaucracy
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Revolutionaries purged bureaucracy
Doubled in size since 1979 though
College and Hs graduates
Second strata is conservative technocrats
Military= Regular Army + Revolutionary Guards (internal
security)
New ministry: Culture and Islamic Guidance (censors media)
Reconstruction: expands social services, sees that Islam
expands into the countryside
Intelligence, Interior, Justice, Culture headed by clerics, often
other posts go to their relatives
Result= clientelism, corruption, mismanagement, patronage,
ideological, nepotist
Some semipublic institutions from confiscated pre-1979 wealth,
“Martyr’s Foundation”
Political Culture
Shiism: “Hidden Imam” will return. Union of religious and
political authority through sharia (Islamic law). Sharia is an
essentail base of legitimacy
 Authoritarianism, but not totalitarianism (relieves some
pressure for reform)
 Escaped from European colonization—will not be same as
Mexico, Nigeria
 Geographic limitations: Not much arable land, plenty of oil,
most Iranians live in cities and the northwest
 Ancient Persian influences (architecture, literary works,
decorative arts)
 Mass media severely curtailed, 20 newspapers shut down in
1979, 7 more by 1981.
 1981 law: crime to use “pen or speech” against the
government
 2000: Reformists elected, outgoing legislature enacted “press
control law,” which Guardian Council has ordered cannot be
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Cleavages
Religion (10% Sunni, <1% Baha’I
 Ethnicity (51% Persian, 24% Azeri), various ethnic
uprisings have all been put down
 Reformers vs. Conservatives
 Statists vs. Free marketers (Bill to allow 100% foreign
ownership, up from 48%, vetoed by Guardian Council)
 Resistance to clerical rule by fiat is strongest among
middle class– increasingly urbanized, educated, and
young. Peasantry and lower class support the regime.
 Most upper class left the country in 1979
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Civil Society
Cultural Revolution in schools—revolutionaries made
schools teach orthodoxy. Western sympathizing
professors fired and replaced (like Cultural Revolution in
China)
 Intellectual prosperity has flourished under a repressive
regime
 No criticism of Islam or clerics permitted
 Mild criticism of government OK
 About 200 well respected journals present
 Participation high
 1999 studenbt uprising crushed
 Revolutionaries tried to crush pre-1979 culture,
eventually decided they would have to coexist/co-opt it
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Political Participation
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Huge gaps in values between different social groups
Western influence over upper/middle classes
Millions took action during Revolution, elections—
students and youth now have enormous political weight
Women’s participation has gone up
Dissuaded when government assassinated over 100
ethnic, leftist, and monarchist forces living in the WEST.
Protests remain (1999 shutdown of college newspaper),
factory workers protest now
Gender
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Divorce and custody laws now follow Islamic
rules—bad for women “Equality with difference”
Veil a symbol of oppression
Scarf and long coat in public required
Women must have consent of male relatives to
leave the country
Occasional stonings for adultery, although they
have been banned
Runaway girls, prostitution widespread
27% of labor force is women
Boys and girls do attend school at same rate
Not well represented in Majles
Political Economy
Khomeini: “Economics is for donkeys.”
Pressures during 1980s:
 1) Nationalization of many large firms
 2) Massive emigration of skilled workers
 3) Decline in Western investment
 4) Oil price drop
 5) 8 yr Iraq war
 Pragmatists wanted economic recovery, opposed by
conservatives who wanted no reforms, keep West out
 Guild and professional organizations are weak—citizenry
have multiple occupations and rapid employment
turnover
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Economy
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Oil 85% of exports—rentier state
Suffers from lack of diversification, dependence on world market/price
fluctuations, exacerbates income inequality, corrupt usage of rents
Lack of raw materials and spare parts
16% Unemployment
15% inflation
But education and health care have improved
Bazaar merchants have constituted backbone of economic flows
A myriad of quasi-private foundations and religious endowments manage
state-owned enterprises to aid the poor (Shah’s old fortune)
Iran has applied for WTO membership despite reservations about Western
domination, nothing against cooperation, just domination.
Iran will need outside help with infrastructure, developing additional oil
resources
Declining birth rate will help; mandatory sex ed classes for engaged couples
Iran did not sign Kyoto Treaty but has gotten World Bank aid to clean up air
pollution
Afghan and other refugees have been a strain on the economy
Country suffers from air polllution (not Kyoto signatory), deforestation,
Iranian Foreign Policy
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OPEC Member
Some advocate warmer ties with foreign
investors, possibly readmitting US dollars
Tourism industry almost dormant now
Money a coward; Iran the classic example
Large refugee population: Afghan, Iraqi, Kurd
Large diaspora abroad—government tries to
court them, most demand things the
government cannot or will not provide
Learning Objectives
After mastering the concepts presented in this chapter, you will be able to:
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Understand the key moments of the historical formation of Persia and
Iran.
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Recognize the importance of complex religious and political challenges
in process of understanding of Iranian politics and society. Define the
following: Shiites, Sunni, Muslim, Arab
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Discuss the complicated evolution of Iranian politics.
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Comprehend the importance of religious intolerance and challenges in
the Iranian state throughout the history.
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Discuss the role of theocracy in the process of Iranian political
development.
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Understand the evolution of Iranian state in 20th century and define
key elements of revolutions in Iran. Briefly discuss the role of the
following leaders: Mahmoud Ahamdinejad, Ayatollah Ali Khameni,
Ayatollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Rafsanjani, Shah Mohamed Reza, Shah
Reza
Learning Objectives
After mastering the concepts presented in this chapter, you will be able to:
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Define Iranian geography and current economic challenges.
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Understand the process of political, economic and social developments
of Iran.
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Understand the role of Constitutional Revolution and White Revolution
in Iran.
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Discuss the key elements of Iranian state institution. Define the
following: Assembly of Experts, Expediency Council, Guardian Council,
Majlis, Supreme Leader
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Understand the specifications of Iranian political culture and
participation.
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Understand the challenges of democratization in Iran.
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Comprehend the challenging process of the development of Iranian
international positioning as an important regional and international
challenges of international stability and nonproliferation.