IRAN

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IRAN

• Kumail Rizvi, Ryan Miller, John Winkler, Will
  LEstrange, Senyo Ahedor

2
Introduction

• Iran has lots of civil liberties!!!
• Democracy is plentiful!!!
• Political parties rule!!!
• Anyone can become president or supreme leader!!!

3
Introduction

• Everything you read in the previous slide was
  false.
• Lets get down it.

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Introduction

• Population 76.923 million
• Population growth rate 1.253
• 636,236 sq miles about the size of AK
• Literacy rate 79 total (men 86, women 73)

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Background
6
Introduction

• Ethnic groups Persians 51, Azeri 24, Gilaki
  and Mazandarani 8, Kurd 7, Arab 3, Lur 2,
  Baloch 2, Turkmen 2, other 1.
• Religions Shi'a Muslim 89 Sunni Muslim 9
  Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, and Baha'i 2.
• Languages Persian 58, Turkic languages 26,
  Kurdish 9, Luri 2, Balochi 1, Arabic 1,
  Turkish 1, other 2.

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Background

• Until 1935, Iran was known as Persia
• In 1979, Shah was overthrown.
• Religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
  establishes himself as Supreme Leader of the new,
  theocratic republic guided by Islamic principles.

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Background

• Khomeini died in 1989.
• The Assembly of Experts chose the outgoing
  president of the republic Ali Khamenei to
  succeed him as Supreme Leader.

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Political Institutions Levels of Government

• Islamic Republic Theocracy
• Unitary

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Political Institutions - Executive

• Dual Executive
• Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei
• Appointed for life by Assembly of Experts
• President Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad
• Elected by popular vote for a four-year term
  (eligible for a second term and third
  nonconsecutive term)
• Cabinet - Council of Ministers selected by the
  president with legislative approval

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Political Institutions - Executive

• Powers of Supreme Leader
• Mediates among institutions
• Can dismiss the president
• Can eliminate presidential candidates
• Commander of military
• Can nominate/remove judges

• Powers of President
• Selects the Cabinet
• Appoints most senior officials
• Draws up annual budget
• Can propose legislation to the Majles
• Conducts foreign policy

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Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad
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Political Institutions Executive- Three
Oversight Bodies

• Assembly of Religious Experts
• 86 members general election every 4 years
• Determines the succession of the Supreme Leader
• Reviewing his performance
• Expelling the Supreme Leader if necessary

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Assembly of Religious Experts
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Executive -Three Oversight Bodies

• Expediency Council
• 32 members, chosen by Supreme Leader, meet in
  secret
• Exerts supervisory authority over the executive,
  judicial, and legislative branches
• Resolves legislative issues on which the Majles
  and the Council of Guardians disagree
• Has been used to advise national religious
  leaders on matters of national policy

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Executive - Three Oversight Bodies

• Council of Guardians
• 12 members, 6 appointed by SL, 6 nominated by
  Chief Judge and approved by Majles
• Determines whether proposed legislation is both
  constitutional and faithful to Islamic law
• Checks candidates in popular election for
  suitability
• Supervises national elections

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(No Transcript)
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Political Institutions - Legislative

• Unicameral - Islamic Consultative Assembly aka
  Majles
• 290 seats representation won through single
  member districts
• Direct election every 4 years
• Powers of Majles
• Enact and change ordinary laws
• Can introduce legislation
• Choose 6/12 members of Guardian Council
• Investigate state affairs
• Approval of budget, treaties, cabinet ministers

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Majles
    Conservatives (195)     Reformists
(51)     Independents (39)     Religious
minorities (5)
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Political Institutions - Elections

• General elections are held for
• The President every 4 years
• The Majles every 4 years
• The Assembly of Religious Leaders every 6 years
• City and Village Council Elections every 4
  years
• Competitiveness
• All candidates must be approved by Guardian
  Council
• Universal voting at 18 years of age

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Political Institutions Electoral Systems

• Elections for the Majles and the Presidency are
  done in winner-take-all, plurality elections
• No proportional representation is used
• Elections are done in two rounds

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EXPLOSION
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Political Parties

• Right to form given in the constitution
• Banned until Muhammad Khatamis election as
  president (1997)
• Divided into two main coalitions
• Conservative
• Reformist

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Political Parties

• Conservative Alliance
• Islamic Society of Engineers
• Islamic Coalition Party
• Banned Reformist
• Islamic Iran Participation Front
• National Confidence Party
• Freedom Movement Party

• The Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran
  Reformist Coalition
• Executives of Construction Party
• National Trust Party
• The Iranian Reform Movement

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Interest Groups

• Line between interest groups and political
  parties difficult to determine.
• Groups at work include
• Islamic Association
• Women and Green Coalitions
• National Front
• Liberation Movement
• The Mojahedin
• Workers House

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Bureaucracy

• Provides jobs for college and high school
  graduates
• Dominated by the clergy
• Senior ministries are headed by clerics
• Not based on merit
• Culture and Islamic Guidance
• Censures the media

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Bureaucracy

• Intelligence- serves as the chief security
  organization
• Heavy Industry- manages nationalized factories
• Reconstruction- expands social services and sees
  that Islam extends into the countryside

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Military

• The Leader is Commander in Chief
• He appoints Chief of Staff as well as top
  commanders
• Revolutionary Guards- elite military force
• Created as a parallel force with its own budgets,
  weapons, and uniforms
• Large number of former Guards sit in the Majles

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Military
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Regular Military (National Military)

• 370,000
• 220,000 conscripts
• Its purpose is to defend the borders

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Irregular Forces

• Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
• 120,000 Revolutionary Guards (1979)
• 200,000 volunteers of the Mobilization of the
  Oppressed (Basej-e Mostazafin)
• Protect the republic from internal enemies

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Revolutionary Guard
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Judiciary

• Headed by a chief justice
• Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani
• Must be a cleric
• Appointed by the Supreme Leader
• 5 year term
• Manages the judiciary and oversees the
  appointment and removal of judges

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Judiciary

• Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal
• Judges are all high-ranking clerics
• Two types of law
• Sharia and Qanun

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Sharia

• Foundation of all Islamic civilization
• Incorporates ideas of many legal scholars
• Meant to embody a vision of a community where all
  Muslims share the same moral values
• Its interpretation is the most important of all
  responsibilities for political and religious
  leaders

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Qanun

• No sacred basis
• Passed by the Majles
• Law made by the peoples elected representatives
• Must not contradict Sharia

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Judiciary

• Ultimate legal authority rests in Sharia law.
• Leaders of the Iranian Revolution realized that a
  centralized judicial system was needed to tend to
  matters of justice in an orderly fashion.
• Interpretation of Sharia has broadened gradually.

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EXPLOSION
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Political Socialization

• Family main source
• Islamic ideals highly influential in political
  upbringing
• Schools teach students not to question government
• State-run media attempts to control attitudes
  toward regime

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Political Cleavages

• Class- lower class support regime middle and
  upper class are more secular
• Religion- tensions between Shia and Sunni
  Muslims, Sunni rights not mentioned in
  constitution, variation of Islam called Bahai
  has been persecuted
• Ethnicity- government worries about Azeris
  forming their own state
• Reformers vs. conservatives- theocracy vs.
  democracy debate between clerics and reformers

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Media

• State-run media
• Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
• Government prohibits citizens from watching
  international stations
• Muhammad Khatami (1997-2005) loosened
  restrictions on media but Mahmoud Ahmandinejad
  has closed down newspapers, banned books and
  websites
• Many Newspapers and magazines are privately
  owned.

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Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
The freedom of expression and dissemination of
thoughts in the Radio and Television of the
Islamic Republic of Iran must be guaranteed in
keeping with the Islamic criteria and the best
interests of the country Article 175 of Iranian
Constitution
President can appoint and dismiss of the head of
the Radio and Television of the Islamic Republic
of Iran
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Political Participation

• Freedom of speech and press included in 1979
  Constitution but they have been ignored
• 85 of electorate voted in 2009 election
• Peaceful protests and demonstrations not
  tolerated under Ahmadinejad
• 1999 university protests across Iran after
  government shut down of reformist newspaper
• 2002 court-ruled death sentence for academic
  reformer
• Massive protests in 2003 after government
  privatization of university system

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2009 Election

• Election results showed Ahmadinejad had won 63
  against 34 for Hossein Mousavi, leading to
  demonstrations in the streets
• Government sent thousands of Revolutionary Guards
  called Basij to quell the crowds

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2009 Election Cartoons
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2009 Election Protests
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Women

• Westerners consider veil to be oppressive more
  objection might be from west than Iranian women
  themselves
• Women have better access to education in Iran
  than many other Islamic countries, more than half
  of college graduates are women, making up 33 of
  labor force
• Women poorly represented in Iranian Parliament, 8
  out of 290 representatives women, all
  conservative

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Women

• Islamic Republic policy toward women called
  equality-with-difference
• Divorce and custody laws favor men
• Women must wear scarves and long coats in public
• Women cannot leave the country without consent of
  male relatives
• Stoning of women for adultery

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EXPLOSION
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Political Economic Change Timeline

• 1941 Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi takes thrown
  after father abdicates
• 1950s Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq
  nationalizes the British-owned oil industry
• 1960s 70s White Revolution by Shah to
  modernize and westernize
• 1979 Revolution and overthrow of the shah and
  draft of new constitution

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Political Economic Change Timeline

• 1980-88 Iraq invasion of Iran over land disputes
• 1989 Death of Ayatollah Khomeini, appointment of
  Ayatollah Khamenei and revision of the
  Constitution
• 1997 Election of moderate cleric Muhammad
  Khatami
• 2005 Election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

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Democratization

• Full democratization inhibited by stronger
  theocratic and authoritarian principles along
  with fundamentalist Islamic beliefs.
• Constitution of 1979 replaced that of 1906
• It created a mix of authoritarian, theocratic and
  democratic principles. The merger of these three
  governing types created highly contradictory
  document.

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Theocracy and Democracy
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Democratic Principles

• Outlined in Chapter Three of Constitution
• Article 23 Freedom of Beliefs
• Article 24 Freedom of Press
• Article 27 Freedom of Assembly
• Article 29 Welfare benefits

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Globalization

• Oil revenues in the late seventies-early eighties
  helped to pay for 90 of Irans imports and 80
  of their budget, making the economically
  dependent on the demand of oil from more
  industrialized countries in 1970s.
• Under the shah, Iran functioned with OPEC to keep
  oil prices moderate in order to satisfy western
  countries, but after the revolution, Iran turned
  away from the west, discouraging foreign
  investments.

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EXPLOSION
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Public Policymaking

• Irans ruling clergy after the revolution could
  be classified as ideologically elite.
• Pragmatists and technocrats have become more
  influential.
• Relevant policy deals with population, the
  environment, social welfare, refugees, and human
  rights.

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Supranational Influences

• United Nations (UN)
• International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• World Bank
• Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
  (OPEC)
• World Trade Organization (WTO)

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Nuclear Energy

• Irans nuclear program goes back many decades,
  and the leaders have maintained that the purpose
  of their nuclear program is for the generation of
  power.

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EXPLOSION