Obstacles to Democracy in IRAN

1
Obstacles to Democracy in IRAN

• By Sandra S. Guzman

2
IRAN Legacy of Leaders

• 1979 Iranian Revolution Islamic Republic of
  Iran established as a theocratic state under the
  leadership of Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini
  who ruled until his death in 1989
• 1989 1997 Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani exercised a
  more moderate presidency
• 1997 2005 Seyyed Mohammad Khatami heralded in
  tremendous reforms yet extreme crack-down

3
Following the Legacy. . .

• 2005 Present Mahmoud Ahmadinejad so far has
  maked a major return to conservatism
• Mixed reactions show dynamics of Iranian
  political culture

4
Theocracy Under Siege

• Secularization threats
• Modernization pressures
• socially
• economically
• politically
• ideologically
• There are deep-rooted national dichotomies
  relating to such fundamental issues as the nature
  of Irans national identity, the tension between
  the requirements of modernization and the desire
  to maintain cultural purity and spirituality, and
  the tension between economic efficiency and
  social justice. (Hunter 1992)

5
Current Dilemma Catch 22

• Modernization Democracy THE WEST
• "Muslims did not encounter the West as the
  mantle of Enlightenment but rather as a
  belligerent force militarily superior to
  them. The West did not so much aim to
  enlighten Muslims as to subject them to
  Western political rule.
• Bassam Tibi

6
Long List of Grievances

• Anglo Iranian Oil Company (1940s)
• CIA Coup (Mossadeq overthrow of 1953)
• Western hypocrisy during Iran-Iraq War
• US cruiser Vincennes shoots down civilian
  Iranian
• airline 290 dead
• 80s Sanctions Containment Policy
• Iran-Libya Sanctions Act of 1996
• Axis of Evil???
• The British made us feel like nobodies in our
  own country a small weak people eternally
  pushed around by outside interests that only
  cared about oil, money and power.

7
Mediating the Obstacles

• Ironically, the West has and continues to be a
  major obstacle to democracy in Iran.
• Alternative approaches to fostering democracy
• Support the construction of civil society and
• social institutions
• Confidence building measures
• Respect
• Restraint
• Reinforce

8
Outlook for the Future

• "The reformers of the Islamic Revolution do
  not want to make Iran into a carbon copy of the
  West, they want to preserve something of the
  specifically Islamic. . . .The practical result
  of reforms may be something very like a Western
  democracy, but their uprising against the
  theocracy is not a revolt against Islam, and
  secularization of politics is not the same as
  secularization of social, cultural and private
  life.
• Daniel Heradstveit