Chapter 11: The Islamic Republic of Iran

Qom

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

Assembly of Religious Experts

The ________ must meet at least twice every six months by law, but their purpose is unclear.

Guardian Council

To verify academic qualifications, the ________ interviews and writes tests for candidates.

Iran

________ has more open and competitive elections than its Middle Eastern neighbors.

MOHAMMAD KHATAMI

________ (1997- 2005): Khatamis presidency is often referred to as the "Tehran Spring "due to his reform program.

Khomeini

________ believed that Shari'ah required local judges to decide cases, so the Iranian judiciary rarely uses its appeals hierarchy.

Oil price

________ drops or Western European economic sanctions cause major recessions in Iran.

Supreme Leader

The ________ chooses the Expediency Council every five years, but it automatically includes the president, Majlis speaker, Chief Judge, government ministers, and Majlis committee members responsible for the topic being debated.

Viewership

________ is less diverse than media ownership.

clerical elite

The ________ restricts linkage institutions to preserve community spirituality.

Abu Bakr

After Muhammad's death in 632, Shi'as and Sunnis disagreed over who should lead the faith: Ali, Muhammad's hereditary heir, or ________, his closest advisor and friend.

second round of voting

A candidate must receive at least 25 % to win, otherwise a(n) ________ is required.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

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

Persian

The constitution declares ________ (Farsi) the official language, but minorities can use their own language in private.

Authoritarianism

________ has suppressed the cradle of civilization under various guises.

Islamic Consultative Assembly

The Majlis (________) is elected every four years before a presidential election.

Shi' a descendants of Muhammad

________ claimed the right to interpret Islam, leading to church- state separation.

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.

Baha'is

________ can only bury their dead in unmarked graves in government- approved wastelands.

global isolation

Iranians in the countryside and lower- middle class have benefited more from the regime's nationalization and redistribution of economic policies than the urban and educated middle class, who lost most of their property and investment value in the revolutionary regime's turmoil and ________.

Zoroastrianism

UNION OF POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP: In the ancient empire, ________ was established as the official religion.

1970s

Khomeini's ________ book on government formed the basis of the final product.

Reza Shah

________ ordered foreign embassies to use Iran instead of "Persia "in 1935.

HASSAN ROUHANI

________ (2013- PRESENT): Rouhani was characterized as a more reformist candidate than his opponents during the 2013 election.

Iranian Revolution

The 1979 ________ was fueled by anger over the state's intrusion into private life, particularly its secularization of religious groups.

Islamic Republic

Iran's constitution allows free association as long as it doesn't "violate the criteria of Islam, or the basis of the ________ ..

Moderation and Development Party

The ________ (MDP), which has only existed since 1999, ran Rouhani for president for the first time in 2013.

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

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

Muhammad Reza Shah

________ succeeded the shah after he was forced to abdicate.

CIVIL LAW

________ (QANUN): ________ has no basis in sacred texts or Shariah interpretation, and it covers all aspects of modern life regarding business contracts, labor standards, the environment, and anything else not perceived as needing religious interpretation.

Expediency Council

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

SHARIAH LAW

________: The Shariah is an Islamic legal system based on the religious principles of Islam, especially those expressed in the Koran, Islams holy text, which Muslims believe was verbally revealed to the prophet Muhammad.

Private business interests

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

Iranian constitution

The ________ proclaims the doctrine of Twelver Shiism, asserting that the hidden Twelfth Imam will return one day to establish a perfect kingdom of justice on earth.

Iran

________ has 290 single- member- district (SMD) constituencies that elect a member in a first- past- the- post plurality system.

Guardian Council

The 1997 ________ rejected 234 candidates and allowed four to run.

Assembly of Religious Experts

After Khomeini's death, the ________ elected Khamenei Supreme Leader in 1989.

Supreme Leader

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

MAHMOUD 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.

Guardian Council

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

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)

Assembly of Religious Experts

Iranians directly elect the president, Majlis, and ________ (the democratic institutions)

Supreme Leader

The ________ appoints the Chief Judge to a five- year term as court administrator rather than judge.

Guardian Council

The Majlis acts as Irans unicameral legislative assembly, though its laws must keep the approval of the ________.

Iran

________ never became a colony or satellite state during the major eras of European colonization, while its Middle Eastern and Asian neighbors were either colonized directly or controlled indirectly by Britain or France.

Supreme Leader

The ________ is considered the chief jurist, the leading interpreter of Islamic law (the Shariah) for the Shia people.

Iran

________ continues to experience the internal tension between the conservative values of the regime, and the desire of a young, urban, middle class to modernize and liberalize.

Supreme Leader

SHARIAH: Shariah acts as the supreme law of the system, as interpreted by the ________ and the Guardian Council.

Iran

________ is a constitutional republic with theocratic religious institutions supervising elected republican institutions.

AUTHORITARIAN, BUT NOT TOTALITARIAN

Irans 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

SHARIAH LAW

The Shariah is an Islamic legal system based on the religious principles of Islam, especially those expressed in the Koran, Islams 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

Irans modern history can be broken into four eras

three of which were dynastic, and the modern post-revolutionary regime

After Muhammad's death in 632, Shi'as and Sunnis disagreed over who should lead the faith

Ali, Muhammad's hereditary heir, or Abu Bakr, his closest advisor and friend

MOHAMMAD KHATAMI (1997-2005)

Khatamis presidency is often referred to as the "Tehran Spring" due to his reform program

MAHMOUD 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 ROUHANI (2013-PRESENT)

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

As a result, most middle

and high-class Iranians in cities support reformist candidates, while rural Iranians support conservatives and theocracy

SHARIAH

Shariah acts as the supreme law of the system, as interpreted by the Supreme Leader and the Guardian Council

CIVIL LAW (QANUN)

Civil law has no basis in sacred texts or Shariah interpretation, and it covers all aspects of modern life regarding business contracts, labor standards, the environment, and anything else not perceived as needing religious interpretation

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.