iran

• Coup d'etats started revolutions and fundamentalist movements
• Main religion is Islam
• Iran can't democratize because it is first a theocracy- government ruled strictly by religion, and the second leads the country towards secularization- the belief that religion and government should be separated
• Iran has a developmental economy and is dependent on oil (like Nigeria)
• Iran is governed as a theocracy
• Sovereignty


  Greatest rival was ancient Greece
• The King of Persia referred to everyone as "his slaves"
• Persia also supported a strong military and state-sponsored religion, Zoroastrianism
• Shiism


  The importance of Shiism - Iran experienced little political unity and a lot of invasions, but religion brought the country together
• A brand of Islam named Shiism was established as the state religion, and it always fought with Sunnis Muslims
• The heirs of Islam were the descendants of Ali called imams, and they gave political legitimacy
• Legitimacy in the modern state

  Authoritarian rulers played an important role as Pahlavi shahs (king of kings)
• The revolution of 1979 allowed for Shiism to anchor the state in legitimacy
• The Constitution of 1979 is a mix of theocracy and democracy, and it had a doctrine of jurists' guardianship (one of the divine principles)
• Political culture in Iran

  • Characterized by authoritarianism, not totalitarianism
  • Union of political and religious authority
  • Shiism and sharia as central components to democracy
  • Escape from European colonization
  • Geographic limitations
  • Influence of ancient Persia- Shiite vs. Sunni Islam
  • Strong sense of Iranian nationalism- because of Persian roots and Iranian pride
• Gradual separation of religion from politics resulted in declining centralization of political power in Iran
• Iran suffered and benefited from natural resources, and it never had a secure agricultural sector
• The Safavids were an empire that began in the 16th century, converting subjects to Shiism from Sunnism
• The Safavids were forced to rely on local rulers to keep order and collect taxes, and they claimed absolute power, but actually didn't have a central state and needed cooperation from other independent leaders
• The Qajars conquered Iran after an Afghan tribe invaded Isfahan, and they widened the religious and political separation
• The Qajars sold oil-drilling rights to the Europeans and borrowed from their banks
• All of these problems pushed for the constitutional revolution of 1905-1909 where they included democratic features like direct elections, separation of powers, laws made by an elected legislature, popular sovereignty, and a bill of rights guaranteeing citizens equality before the law
• After the revolutions, the Majles was created as the legislature, and seats were guaranteed to people of the book
• The constitution also created the Guardian Council of clerics that could veto any legislation
• Reza Khan carried out a successful coup d'etat against the state and declared himself Shah-in-Shah, and under him the Majles lost its power and authoritarian rule was reestablished
• The Tudeh party challenged the Shah because it appealed to the working class, and the National Front appealed to the middle class
• Iran was transformed into a rentier state under the Pahlavis because it had more income from oil
• The Shah adopted import substitution industrialization by encouraging domestic industries to provide needed products
• The Pahlavis built centralized states, controlled banks, television, and the oil company, and the Majles became a rubber-stamp legislature
• Iran remained religious but secularized with a European-style judicial system and law codes
• The White Revolution was focused on land reform and meant to counter communist or "red" influences
• The Pahlavi shahs created the Pahlavi Foundation that was tax-exempt and meant to be a patronage system that controlled large companies that helped the Pahlavi and Shah
• The dominant ideology of the Islamic Revolution is religion instead of communism
• The Shahs' behavior was frowned upon because they crossed political culture boundaries, were perceived as being totalitarian and not just authoritarian, corporatism didn't develop, and there was no input from interest groups
• The Shahs broke the balance between the secular and religious state by secularizing Iran too much too fast, and they had ties to the West that offended traditionalists and clergy
• Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini defended Islamic fundamentalism, social conservatism, and political traditionalism, and he gave new meaning to jurist's guardianship
• Two factors led to the Iranian Revolution: rising expectations because of oil, and the US putting pressure on the Shah
• After the constitution was endorsed, the Shia leaders launched the cultural revolution
• The clerics' success after Khomeini was cemented by factors like fuel prices rebounding, Iran's economy improving, Iraq invading Iran and beginning a war, and the charisma of Khomeini remaining strong
• Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran

  Alliance of conservative parties shortened to Abadgaran; supports Ahmadinejad, centered in Tahran and been successful in elections