The Islamic Republic of Iran: State–Society Complex and the Political Elite’s Political and Geopolitical Culture

2021 ◽  
pp. 123-180
Author(s):  
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Islamic Republic ◽  
Islamic Republic Of Iran

REGIME LOYALTY AND BĀZĀRĪ REPRESENTATION UNDER THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN: DILEMMAS OF THE SOCIETY OF ISLAMIC COALITION

2009 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arang Keshavarzian
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Islamic Republic ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Current Regime ◽  
Islamic Republic Of Iran ◽  
The Media

The prevailing perception within the academy, policy circles, and the media inside and outside Iran has been that the members of bazaars are a unified social class engaged in a symbiotic relationship with the political elite of the Islamic republic and the conservative faction in particular. This approach is largely built on the perspective that there is a historic predilection for bāzārīs and clerics to cooperate (“mosque–bazaar alliance”), and thus ideological compatibility and familial ties between the clergy and bāzārīs have continued and developed into an alliance under the current regime headed by segments of the clergy. For instance, one of the leading experts on 20th-century Iran, Nikki Keddie, comments that, despite Mohammad Khatami's reformist agenda, “the ruling elite, who represent an alliance between the commercial bazaar bourgeoisie and conservative clerics, resist giving up their economic privileges as they do their political ones.”

scholarly journals Iraq's foreign policy and the regional context, the input of instability and mechanisms of normalization

2019 ◽  
pp. 97-112
Author(s):  
أ.م.د.اسامة مرتضى باقر ◽  
أ.م.د.اسامة مرتضى باقر
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
The Political ◽  
Islamic Republic ◽  
Regional Environment ◽  
The Past ◽  
Syrian Arab Republic ◽  
The Status ◽  
Islamic Republic Of Iran ◽  
Arab League ◽  
Economic Developments

Iraq has suffered since 1991 from international sanctions imposed on it by the dictatorial regime that existed at the time, invading Kuwait, which led to the decline of the status of Iraq and the isolation of international and regional (Arab) and clear Iraq as a strange entity living within its regional environment, after April 2003 did not change much In fact, there were no signs of détente before the Arab League summit in Baghdad in 2011, and the signs of a break in the stalemate in inter-relations over the past years have become evident. Disruption and refraction was not high (Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey, Syrian Arab Republic, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait). Each side is governed by perceptions about Iraq, especially after 2003, and the political and economic developments taking place.  

scholarly journals The Study of Effects of Iraq's New Political Geography on the National Security of the Islamic Republic of Iran Based on Lee Norji Martin’s Theory

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 230
Author(s):  
Akbar Ghafoori
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
National Security ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Geography ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Islamic Republic ◽  
Islamic Republic Of Iran ◽  
The Impact

Given that the geography of modern times was one of the most important factors affecting the relations between Iran and Iraq, in this article we have tried to examine the influence of Iraq's new political geography variable factors on the national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran. For this purpose, regardless of the security implications of Iraq's geopolitical constant factors, with placing three variable factors in the political geography means population, natural resources and socio-political institutions in the form of five security variables for Lee Norji. Martin, meaning the political legitimacy, civil rights and ethnic and minorities, military strength, the strength of economic management and natural resources, fifteen areas will be formed (in the annexes, these fifteen areas are in the table). The question that arises here is that what is the impact of Iraq's new political geography on the national security of Iran? The hypothesis that we are looking to review it is that changes in some areas of geopolitical of Iraq, after the United States invaded Iraq, made threats to the national security of Iran. The main objective of this paper is to study Iranian security changes in the first ten areas and to present solutions. Since the Iraq has not achieved stability yet, next five areas need further research and in this article do not occur<strong>.</strong>

scholarly journals Shiite Clergy in Iran’s Political Life

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 169-189
Author(s):  
E. V. DUNAEVA
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Islamic Republic ◽  
Destructive Effect ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sociocultural Development ◽  
Islamic Republic Of Iran

The article is devoted to the role of Shiite clergy in the Islamic revolution and in the political life of Islamic Republic of Iran. The author attempts to analize the possibilities of the Islamic regime’s survival in the context of modernizing society. IRI is a special model of the state system that embodies the idea of the Islamic rule of Imam Khomeini. Its political, socioeconomic, legal spheres are based on Islamic principles. The clergy managed to establish almost absolute control over secular institutions. At the same time, the Iranian regime can not be regarded as the only theocratic. It combines Islamic ideas with republican principles and admits democracy as a form of political participation. Iran’s political system combines elements of the modern Islamic theocracy with republican principles. Over nearly 40-years of its existence (since 1979), the political system underwent certain transformations which were caused by the economic and sociocultural development of the society and external factors. The liberalization of the economic sphere and the development of political parties put on the agenda political changes. Liberal-minded clergy relying on the ideas of religious modernism support the strengthening of democratic elements within the Islamic Republic. Some of them are ready to abandon the principle of “velayat-e faqih” or to reduce the authority of the leader in political sphere. They initiated reforms in political and public sphere.However, the clergy standing on the positions of fundamentalism, is not ready to reduce the Islamic component. They condemn the modernization trends intensified in Iranian society in recent years and are trying to bring the country back to the first post-revolutionary decade. However, the society is not ready to share such approaches. During the recent election campaigns Iranians have supported the liberal forces. The events of early 2018 demonstrated the protest potential of the society.This shows the desire of the citizens for further democratization of the political system and secularization of the public life. Although, there are calls for overthrowing the dictatorship of the clergy among the opposition groups in the West and inside the country. Hopes for the democratisation of the regime have not been lost. If external factors do not have a destructive effect, then the implementation of the Iranian model of modernization can become a reality.

The Challenge of Religious Governance in the Modern Nation-State

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-41
Author(s):  
Omer Awass
Keyword(s):  
Islamic Law ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
Islamic Republic ◽  
Ethnographic Interviews ◽  
Governmental Body ◽  
Islamic Republic Of Iran ◽  
Current Member ◽  
Modern Nation State

Abstract This article explores the tensions of Islamic governance in contemporary Iran by examining the convergence of Islamic law with modern practices of governance. One key contention with contemporary statehood this political project is trying to reconcile is how to re-embed religious norms in the secularized political sphere. I assert that the political and legal practices for re-embedding these norms indicate an epistemic shift in the modes of legitimation within Muslim political and legal tradition possibly leading to the formation of a new Islamic political orthodoxy. This exploration is based on information from ethnographic interviews conducted with the former President of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1989–1997), the late Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and former Minister of Radio and Television (1981–1994) and the current member of the Expediency Council, Muhammad Rafsanjani. The article bases its argument by analyzing two variant forms of political practice. First, scrutinizing the fatwas of Ayatollah Khomeini that played a crucial role in influencing policy in the first decade of the Islamic Republic. Second, examining the adjudications of a conciliar governmental body (Majma-e Tashkhis-e Maslahat) formed a decade after the revolution to resolve the tensions associated with the implementation of Islamic law in this modern nation-state.

scholarly journals REGIME LOYALTY AND BĀZĀRĪ REPRESENTATION UNDER THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN: DILEMMAS OF THE SOCIETY OF ISLAMIC COALITION

2009 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 246a-246a
Author(s):  
Arang Keshavarzian
Keyword(s):  
Initial Position ◽  
The Political ◽  
Islamic Republic ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Institutional Politics ◽  
Islamic Republic Of Iran ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Electoral Performance ◽  
Political Decision Making

Tracing the political trajectory of the Society of Islamic Coalition Association (SIC) since the Islamic Revolution, this paper explains the party's poor electoral performance and its increasingly apparent divergence from its assumed social base, the bazaar (bāzārī) community. The article argues that SIC organization and behavior are influenced by the experiences of the prerevolutionary era and state institutions of the Islamic republic. SIC's initial position of power was associated with its members' long-standing relations with the founders of the regime. However, this ultimately laid the foundation for its unwillingness and inability to develop an institutionalized party structure with a social base. As a consequence, bāzārīs have increasingly been alienated from the party leadership and unable to represent their group interests in institutional politics. The analytical narrative incorporates insights from institutionalist approaches to authoritarian politics and presents a view of Iranian political history that stresses contingency, fluidity, and pragmatism in political decision making by elites.

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