The Islamic Republic of Iran

Sebastien Hardinger

Sonali Mehta

History of Iranian Governments

The Achaemenid (Persian) Empire was the first organized government in Iran

Persian kings used Zorocrastrianism to claim that they were descended from the gods.

Persian culture stems from the original Persian Empire.

Islam In 1501, the Safavid Turks

invaded and conquered Iran, setting up a dynasty.

They spread Shiite Islam to most of Iran’s population. Iran remains Shiite to this day.

The Safavids claimed lineage from Mohammed, and made church and state inseparable.

*Differences between Sunniand Shiite Islam?

Imperialism

The Qajar dynasty conquered the Safavids in 1794.

They were not related to Mohammed, and separated Church and State.

By 1905, the Russians and British divided Iran into spheres of influence. Foreigners owned most of Iran’s resources.

The First Revolution

In 1905, the people revolted against the corrupt Qajars.

They set up a parliament (Majles) and a western-style constitution.

However, the government was basically a Western Puppet.

An army Colonel, Reza Kahn, started a coup.

The Shahs

In 1941, Mohammed Reza Shah took over for his father.

His government relied on oil revenue, not taxes, and lost popularity.

The Prime Minister, Mohammed Mosaddegh, became very popular, and took power from the Shah in 1951.

He immediately nationalized British oil wells.

Prelude to Revolution

The UK, sponsored by the CIA, launched a coup d’état against Mosaddegh, bringing back the Shah.

The Shah turned Iran into a police state, creating a secret police.

He began many anti-communist policies, but many were unpopular and aimed at restricting the power of the Shiite Clerics.

Causes of the Revolution of 1979

Oil prices dropped in the 70s, leading to economic hardship.

After a reformist leader died, some protests started, which were bloodily dispersed.

President Carter pressured the Shah to stop the crackdowns, and the protests escalated.

The Revolution of 1979

An exiled religious leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, became the leader of the protesters.

The protests escalated into a revolution, and the Shah fled.

Khomeini returned to Iran and consolidated power.

He declared the Islamic Republic of Iran on April 1st, 1979

*How much do you think the US contributed to the Revolution?

After the Revolution

The Iran Hostage Crisis: Iranian students seized the US embassy, causing a dramatic rise in tensions.

The Iran-Iraq War: Saddam Hussein invaded Iran, covertly supported by the US. The war lasted 8 years, and caused nearly a million Iranian casualties.

Current Iranian Government

Iranian Constitution 3 branches of government: executive,

legislative, and judiciary

Where do you think the Iranian government’s legitimacy comes from?

Legislative Branch- Majlis

Since Rev of 1979, Legislative branch: "Majlis" and "Guardian Council"

Majlis members (290) are deemed credible by Guardian Council, directly elected to 4-year terms, split up into many committees around various legislation areas (qanun law)

Duties of the Majlis: debate and inquire into any national affairs, approve international treaties and contracts, cast votes of confidence or no confidence, effect minor border changes

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Legislative- Guardian Council

Interprets whether Majlis laws are in accordance with the constitution and Islam

12 members (clerics): 6 chosen by Supreme Leader, 6 chosen by Majlis; all serve alternating 6-year terms

Guardian Council can drop laws, and if these laws cannot be reconciled, passed over to “Expediency Discernment Council” 34 members selected by Supreme Leader, reconcile

laws, oversee execution of laws in Iran.

Judiciary

deals mainly with lawbreakers and their punishment/rehabilitation, as well as the protection of rights

Minister of Justice (elected after being nominated by President) coordinates with the other two branches

Numerous types of courts: public courts, revolutionary courts, special clerics courts, supreme court, court of administrative justice

Do you think it is better for the legislative branch to have Judicial Review, or should the judicial branch have it?

Executive

Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Khamenei), President (Ahmadinejad), Assembly of Experts, Guardian Council (overlap)

Who is the most powerful figure in Iranian government?

Executive- Supreme Leader

Supreme Leader: “faqih” (leading interpreter of Sharia), declares war and peace, can remove president, appoints non-governmental directors, etc Exercises “Jurist’s Guardianship” with Guardian

Council: making sure democratic bodies always comply with Islam.

Executive- Assembly of Experts

Chairman: Former President Rafsanjani, who intends to make the country more prodemocratic.

68 member-body (4 year terms) who also hold wide interpretation powers over the lawmakers, appoint Supreme Leader, etc.

Executive- President and Cabinet

President: directly elected to 4 year terms, but must be Shi’ite and uphold Islam.

Powers: devises budget, supervises National Security Council, executes policies, proposes legislation to Majlis

Cabinet: (33 members appointed by President, approved) actually drafts proposed legislation, initiates budget.

First Vice President

Recent events in government

Recent Government Actions-Real GDP has increased, reflecting growing

economy-real estate increased costs hurt poorer people-capital influx and infrastructure improvement have

been prevented because of Iran’s isolation (increased by recent tensions with the United States).

-Family Protection Bill (2008) to do away with birth control policy and allow husbands to bring in more wives without consent of the first wife.

Cont’d

-Reza Compassion Fund: to tap oil revenue and make it easier for younger people to buy houses and start families

-human rights issues (especially in prisons, dissenting university students, and recently improper hijab offenders)

-2006: Second Cultural Revolution: forced many professors and scientists to resign; created quotas for male and female students to pass medical and judicial entrance exams to decrease female enrollment after its increased caused problems.  

Political Culture in Iran

Much discontent at Ahmadinejad’s failure to restore civil society destroyed by the Shahs

Khatami brought false hope for “Tehran Spring”

More censorship under Ahmadinejad2 major parties: Abadgaran and Reforms

Front

Other

Bureaucracy: huge bureaucracy with many ministries, all controlled by clergy

Semipublic “Foundations”: led by clerics appointed by Supreme Leader.

Parties: indistinguishable from Interest groups, but basically reform vs conservative.

Majoritarian elections in 2 rounds (1/3 in first round, simple maj in second)

Iran is a theocracy; what are the pros and cons of having a theocratic government?

Pros and Cons of TheocracyPros Cons

1. Likely totalitarian: bills easily passed and imposed

2. Strict discipline, so less crime

3. Very adherent to religious principles

4. High patriotism and morale in the case of economic/natural disaster

5. Organized, orderly and effective government

1. Powers of leader are likely to be used for corrupt practices

2. Conservative; limited change

3. Radical, easy to swing to fanatical state

4. Indoctrination, propaganda, no freedom of the press

5. Hard for non-clerics to create sweeping change or initiate new ideas

Has Western media portrayed Iranian government in a biased manner?

Current Event: 2009 Election Protests The 2009 Iranian Presidential Election sparked

peaceful and violent protests over disputed election results.

The incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, won the election in a landslide, 64.22% to 33.86% for challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

Mousavi and his supporters claimed widespread election fraud, maintaining that Mousavi should have won.

2009 Election Protests The violence escalated, and some protest marches

turned into riots. Government security forces cracked down on both

peaceful and violent protests. Government supported paramilitary Basij militiamen

attacked marchers, sometimes with gunfire, supported by regular police forces.

Videos of protests: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8263467.stm Pictures of protests: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/06/irans

_disputed_election.html

2009 Election Protests Many protests were organized through Twitter and text

messaging, while the world quickly got word of the protests through the internet.

The death of one protester, Neda Agha-Soltan, was captured on video, and she quickly became a rallying point for the protesters.

Most of the protests had stopped by mid-August, but smaller protests occurred into 2010. After the wave of revolutions in the Arab world, more protests started, but were quickly put down.

Between 36 and 72 people were killed, and many more injured in the violence.

Discussion

Do you think that the Iranian government will take notice of the 2009 protests, and allow freer elections in the future?

Do you think that the current protests/conflict in the Middle East will start a new round of protests?

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