Chapter 11: The Islamic Republic of Iran

Iran

has been a sovereign state since at least 625 b.c.e., when it was known as the Achaemenid Empire (called the Persian Empire by rival Greece).

Persians

conquered neighboring territories because Iran has little arable land.

Authoritarian

Iran’s history has long-running themes of authoritarian political leadership, but not totalitarianism.

Union of Political and Religious Leadership

In the ancient empire, Zoroastrianism was established as the official religion.

Shari’ah law

The Shari’ah is an Islamic legal system based on the religious principles of Islam, especially those expressed in the Koran, Islam’s holy text, which Muslims believe was verbally revealed to the prophet Muhammad.

west vs. east

Since the early rivalry between Greece and Persia, Iran has long been positioned as a middle-eastern power resistant to Western influence.

Safavid shah

did not rule absolute.

Qajars

could not rule by heredity like the Safavids because they were Turks.

Shi'a

descendants of Muhammad claimed the right to interpret Islam, leading to church-state separation.

Colonel Reza Khan

leader of the Cossack Brigade, overthrew the Qajar monarchy and became Reza Shah Pahlavi, the new shah.

Reza Shah

was an absolute monarch who gradually weakened the Majlis until it was no longer a political check.

Ayatollah Khomeini

a leading cleric, to unite religious, liberal, and working-class forces together against the regime

Mohammad Khatami (1997–2005)

Khatami’s presidency is often referred to as the “Tehran Spring” due to his reform program.

Mohammad Ahmadinejad (2005–2013)

Ahmadinejad was a conservative mayor of Tehran known for reversing liberal reforms in the city, and he carried that record into the presidency.

Hassan Rouhana

was characterized as a more reformist candidate than his opponents during the 2013 election.

Authoritarianism

has suppressed the cradle of civilization under various guises.

Azeris

concentrated in the northwest, are Iran's largest minority at 16%. 10% are western Kurds.

Urban Iranians

are more educated, middle class, and westernized.

Social class

divides urban-rural regions.

Young Iranians

worry about joblessness and religious restrictions on self-expression, while older Iranians who lived under the shah support the current regime.

Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians

are religious minorities under the constitution and should be respected, but authorities have harassed, intimidated, discriminated, and persecuted all religious minorities, including Sunnis.

Post-revolution

the state still imposes religious values on secular institutions.

Theocracy

defines Iranian politics.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

ran with the Islamic Society of Engineers (ISE) in 2005 and the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran (ABII) in 2009.

Moderation and Development Party

which has only existed since 1999, ran Rouhani for president for the first time in 2013.

Majlis

(Islamic Consultative Assembly) is elected every four years before a presidential election.

Private business interests

are a small part of the Iranian economy and even less involved in politics.

Viewership

is less diverse than media ownership.

Globalization

is affecting Iranian information access.

Supreme Leader

is considered the chief jurist, the leading interpreter of Islamic law (the Shari’ah) for the Shia people.

Guardian Council

exerts a number of major powers crucial to the preservation of the theocratic nature of the Iranian state.

Expediency Council

was established in 1988 to resolve Majlis-Guardian Council disputes.

president

is the head of government, possessing many administrative powers, but his actions are always under the shadow of the Supreme Leader, who may dismiss him from office at any moment he chooses.

Iranian bureaucracy

manages many large state-owned enterprises and monitors information for the theocracy in addition to law approval and enforcement.

Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance

in Iran restricts commercial, artistic, and political media deemed problematic.

President Rafsanjani

declared that “Islam favored families with only two children” in 1988, and the Health Ministry introduced family planning, contraceptives, and sex education.

Khamenei

called Iran's contraceptive services "wrong" and cut family planning funding, reversing 24 years of policy.

Qom

is a major seminary city located about eighty miles from Tehran, and most prominent Shi’a clerics teach and preach from the city.