The Geography of Iran

Iranian Oil Resources

History under Shah  Coup & restoration  White Revolution  Resurgence Party: attempted totalitarianism

1979 Islamic Revolution When the devil leaves, the angel returns!

American Embassy in Tehran Taken Over Q9

Revolution, con’t.  Revolution of rising expectations (P 237)  Goals  Eliminate aspects of totalitarianism (but keep authoritarianism)  Decrease western influence  Decrease secularization  Broad support (though led by clerics)  Shah fled; Constitution of 1979

Timeline of Key Modern Events 1979: Shah flees; Ayatollah Khomeini becomes supreme leader Constitution of 1979 establishes theocracy Iranian students seize hostages at US Embassy in Tehran 1980: Iraq declares war on Iran 1981:US hostages released 1988: cease-fire between Iran and Iraq 1989: Constitutional amendments Khomeini dies, Khamenei appointed supreme leader 1997: Reformist candidate Khatami elected president 2000:Reformers win landslide victory in parliament 2002: President Bush declares Iran to be part of “axis of evil” 2004: Conservatives regain control of parliament b/c most liberals disqualified 2005: Ahmadinejad elected president after first run-off ever 2009: Ahmadinejad re-elected in hotly contested elections; leads to massive protests and military repression

 375,000 Iraqi casualties & 60,000 POWs!  Over 1,000,000 Iranian casualties!

Another Revolution?

Constitution  Created and approved by referendum (99% “yes”) in 1979  Unitary state  Blend of theocratic and democratic elements (p. 433)  Codified “Islamic law” (sharia) as state law  Guarantees civil liberties and rights, but… Riddled with oddities and paradoxes; it’s whatever the Supreme Leader says it is  Amended in 1989 (including process for selecting leadership)

Political Institutions:Theocratic  All have exec., leg. and jud. powers  Supreme Leader  head of state  Powers (p. 424)  Guardian Council  Assembly of Religious Experts (elected, but…)  Expediency Council  (Rafsanjani currently head ofARE and EC)  Concept of jurist’s guardianship (velayat- e-faqih) p

Political Institutions: “democratic”  President  head of government: not a presidential system  Formal powers  (p.427-8)  Majles  powers (p )

Judiciary  third citadel of clerical political power”  Retained old hierarchical court structure  2 distinct types of law  Sharia (Islamic)  Quanum (non-sacred)  Judicial review, based on sharia (not Constitution)

Political Institutions, con’t.  Bureaucracy: “second stratum” of Islamic state  Mostly clerics  Much nepotism (and thus corruption)  Semipublic institutions (“foundations”)— corruption?  Military: growing influence  Regular army  Revolutionary Guards  Basij

Cleavages in Society  Cross-cutting more than cumulative  Religion  Ethnicity  Social class  Reformers vs. conservatives  Pragmatic conservatives vs. radical clerics

Political Socialization  Socialization  Education system!!! (“Cultural Revolution” of early 1980s)  Military  Religion and religious institutions →divisive  Mass media  Family & social groups % of people describing themselves as “a religious person” Egypt98 Nigeria94 Jordan85 Iran82 U. S. 82 India80 Turkey75 Spain75 Mexico65 Russia 64 Germany50 Sweden33 Japan24

Political Participation  Fragmented  Almost corporate in nature (para-statals)  Interest groups integrated into patron-client system  Impact of young people/students  Workers  Women

Civil Society  Difficult to distinguish between interest groups and political parties  Reasons for growth of civil society despite discouragement from government  Press  Print: technically free, but…  Electronic: controlled by gov’t.  Protests and demonstrations  Many student protests  Worker protests  Increased repression since presidential election of 2009

Political Parties Mousavi  Legal, but nonexistent until 1997  Parties are highly unstable and usually personality- based  To the Left:  Reformists  Liberals  To the Right:  Conservatives  Radicals  “loyal opposition” tolerated

Elections  Regular and “competitive”  Universal suffrage, 18 and older  Typically, high voter turnout  SMD, plurality system but with run-off  Specific elections (pp )  Presidential  1997 & 2001 (Khatami):” Tehran spring “  2005 & 2009 (Ahmadinejad)  Legislative: 2000 vs & 2008  Why isn’t Iran a democracy?

Political Elite  Under Shah: western- oriented upper class  After 1979: Shi’ia clergy  Split among elite  Reformers vs. conservatives  Statists vs. free- marketers

Gender  Pre-1979  Since 1979  “equality with a difference”  Islamic legal code  Ad hoc discriminations  Yet women are making gains  Changing attitudes  Fewer restrictions  “Islamic feminism”

Political Economy  “Economics is for donkeys.”  Ayatollah Khomeini  State-dominated economy, but factions within clergy  Oil-dependent  Populism of Ahmadinejad  Interface with global economy

Public Policy  Policymaking process  Confusing and contradictory  Tensions between factions  Reformers vs. conservatives  Statists and free- marketers  Within clerical community  Domestic policy  Successes  Unresolved issues  Foreign Policy