The Bifurcated System: Islamic

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The Bifurcated System Islamic Electoral
politics in Iran
Muslim clergy and soldiers clasp hands in
friendship atop an armored personnel carrier.
Printed in Time magazine, January 29, 1979 From
http//www.iranian.com
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This and the map on the following slide from the
Univ. of Texas map collection, http//www.lib.utex
as.edu
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Bifurcated Government Structure
President 4-year terms (max. 2)?
Supreme Leader (faqih/rahbar)?
Cabinet

• Council of Guardians
• 12 members
• Can veto Majlis legislation

Expediency Council (mediates disputes between
Majlis Guardian Council)?

• Parliament
• (Majlis)?
• Elected every 4 years
• 293 members

Assembly of Experts 86 clerics
Security Forces
Electorate
Judiciary
The Iranian Constitution was first passed in
1979 and revised in 1989. In addition, some of
the government institutions presented here were
created after 1982. This slide presents the
current (2008) structure of the government.
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Electoral heritageMonarchy and Constitutional
Politics
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Political heritageConstitutionalism and
centralized authoritarianism in the early 20th c.

• Pre-20th century state Safavid and Qajar empires
• Qajar rule decentralized, diffuse
• Constitutional Revolution, 1905-1911
• Why?
• Imperialism/Colonialism
• British and Russian spheres of influence
• Corruption and inefficiency
• Early authoritarian state-building
• Pahlavi rule, 1926-1979
• Reza Shah, 1926-1941

A wall in Tehran, 1978 "Kings are the disgrace
of history you are the most disgraceful king.
Death to Imperialism." From http//www.iranian.co
m/
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Authoritarian State-building under Reza Shah

• Secularism
• New civil code (1928)?
• Secular judicial system
• Centralization
• Creation of police force, civil service
• Cosmetic westernization
• Hat law (1935)?
• Veil banned (1936)?
• Nationalism
• From Persia to Iran
• New state school curricula
• Turkey Iran compared the early period
• Institutions of government
• Occupation

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Causes of 1979 Revolution General and specific
factors
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1 Interrupted democratization and the
re-empowerment of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

• WWII
• Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq and the 1953 coup

Left, Mossadeq in New York right, Mossadeq (74
years old) after he is sentenced to three years
of prison (eventually 10 years of house arrest)
in 1953. Photos of Mossadeq fromhttp//www.irani
an.com/History/2003/February/Mossadegh
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Mossadeq (right) is warned of the consequences of
nationalizing Iranian oil (by a British special
envoy). Photo http//www.iranian.com/History/2003
/February/Mossadegh
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Mossadeq supporters.
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The Shah in Rome after he flees in 1953.
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Mossadeq naps during his military trial in 1953.
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1 cont growing authoritarianism

• Consolidation of authoritarian rule under
  Mohammad Reza Shah
• Creation of internal security organization, SAVAK
• Tight political control
• One-party state Resurgence Party
• Alienation of Ulema and Bazaris
• US aid oil revenue
• patronage

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2 Economic crisis

• Oil boom and the White Revolution
• Large-scale industrial development, literacy,
  education, land reform
• Inflation
• Recession
• Poor and urban middle class suffering

The Shah had a lot of sympathy for the poor.
Cartoon by Iraj Zare re-printed in Hassan
Javadi's Satire in Persian Literature.
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3-The problems with foreigners

• From foreign advisors to foreign pressure
• Shahs reliance on foreign experts
• Foreign aid
• Cracks in the regime
• US NGO pressure
• Moderate reforms

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1979 Iranian Revolution Three visions, and then
two (and then one)?
Representatives of three different and
conflicting visions of the new Iran. Left,
secular reformer Bani-Sadr middle,
constitutional liberal Mehdi Bazargan, who
originally proposed retaining the Shah under a
constitutional monarchy, and later, the first
prime minister of the new Iranian republic and
right, Ayatollah Khomeini. Photo courtesy of
Nikki Keddie, from Bill Cleveland, A History of
the Modern Middle East, p. 424.
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After the Shah competing visions

• 1st (early Revolution) Vision
• Moderate Constitutional Monarchy
• (Mehdi Bazargan, the Freedom Movement Ali
  Shariati)?
• 2nd Vision
• Secular Republic -- respecting but not
  controlled by Shiism
• 3rd Vision
• Theocracy-government of Ulama

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A cartoon believed to have been published around
January, 1980, depicting post-revolution chaos.
The artist is unknown. Posted on the Iranian
newsgroup soc.culture.iranian
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Iranian Revolution Who
A. Khomeini
Moderate, politicized Ulama
Radical Ulama
Bazaari merchants
Theological students
Urban workers
Secular students
Secular Urban Intellectuals
Oil workers on strike, 1978.
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Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, 1902-1989

• Exiled, 1962-1978
• Velayet-e Faqih (Guardianship of the
  jurisprudent)?

Photos of the Ayatolloh Khomeini, from
http//www.imam-khomeini.com
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"Anti-government demonstrators in Tehran set fire
to portraits of the Shah and his family." From
the November 20, 1978, issue of Time magazine
Ayatollah Khomeini in the Paris suburb of
Neauphle le Chateau, late 1978. Photo by Hatami
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1979 Iranian Revolution How

• Early days of protest suppression
• pamphlets,cassettes demonstrations
• Violent suppression continued resistance
• Growing confrontation
• Sept 8 1978 Black Friday in Tehran wave of
  protests and violent suppression
• Strikes, paralysis of Iranian economy, huge
  demonstrations, defections in the army
• Jan. 1979 M. Reza Shah flees the country
• Feb. 1 A. Khomeini returns to Iran

Main headline "2,500-year-old despotic monarchy
collapses. Cities liberated by the revolutionary
army." Kayhan newspaper, February 11, 1979
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The chaos after the revolution the first new
Islamic-Iranian state
Khomeini
Who exactly should rule, and how??
Presidency Prime Ministry
Monarchy replaced by new Islamic republic (March
1979) But what was an Islamic Republic?

• Council of Guardians
• Issued laws, decrees,
• veto power over PM

Various political parties
Local committees
Revolutionary Tribunals
Armed Forces
Revolutionary Guards
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Foreign crises
Newsweek, February 26, 1979
US hostage crisis, Nov. 1979 Iran-Iraq War,
1980-1989 about 200,000 Iranians die
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Internal resistance purges
Photos http//www.iranian.com
Former SAVAK chief and three colleagues lie dead
after their execution.
1981-82 Resistance and Suppression 10,000
Iranians die
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After the Revolution (or, the 2nd revolution)

• The second Islamic-Iranian state

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The New TheocracyFurther changes later reforms

• Economy state control, privatization
• Expansion of public sector (later unsuccessful
  attempts to contract this)?
• Creation of foundations to oversee former
  regimes property
• Nationalization of industries, banks, businesses
• Forced departure of foreign companies (1979)?
• Rationing, subsidies, price controls,
  redistribution of property
• 1988 and after liberalization package
• new privatization, reduction of govt subsidies,
  promotion of exports
• But oil still provides 40-50 of government
  income
• New legal code
• Sharia legal codes
• Polygamy, free male divorce, child custody to
  fathers in initial post-Revolution phase
  increasingly challenged in 1980s

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Social reforms (and re-reforms)?

• Cultural revolution, 1981-83
• University purges
• New dress codes
• Gender segregation
• Outlawing of music and liquor
• Religious education in schools
• Other Social reforms
• Reconstruction Jihad Improved rural conditions
• Improved education and public health
• Initial discouragement of womens education soon
  changed
• Rise in female literacy 36 in 1976 72 in 1996
• Grassroots primary health care
• Better family planning drastic reduction in
  birthrate after 1988

Photo BBC