notes period 7 from wednesday april 1

Direct Socialization/Political Culture
ii. Cleavages include class, ethnicity, religion, and language
jj. Political socialization in Iran over the second half of the 20th century can best be described as fragmented
i. Large gaps exist between the values of different social groups
1. Western influences (US/Britain) under the Shah worked its way through the upper and middle classes in Iran and generally became roups of people who supported liberal and technocratic values (business expertise)
a. These classes also showed some willingness to oppress opponents for the sake of orderly modernization in Iran
b. The post 1979 revolutionary Iran has ha to deal with rather candid , honest calls from a large group of secular minded technocrats, professionals, and industrialists who demand a liberalization of the eeducation system, a relazation of artistic and cultural restraints, the abandonment of the cultural and political xenophobia towards the west, and they also want legal moderation
c. In general we have an upper middle class technocrats dong well ewith th Shah, and they do not support the moves that the church made wihen Kahomeini came in
2. Iranians are in a tug of war between reformesr and the conservatives (Islamic supporters of the government)
a. After the Islamic revolution of 1979, the Clergy attempted to reinstall religious orthodoxy into public life
b. In the Iranian cultural revoulution, the education system at al llevesl was told to impress the values of the Islamic state onto all students
i. Universities were cleared of liberals and staffored with supporters of the Ayatollah
ii. The debate we sa in china (Red vs Expert debate) came back to Iran in the shape of Islamic Values vs. Technnocratic values
c. While the ccivil society was forced into retreat, it didn’t wither away
i. Groups continued to function and press for modernization
d. Tere is an internal and active conversation regarding the maerits of the 3 types of political systems
i. They debate about being a total theocratic system (based on Islam), be completely secular, or be a democratic theocracy
ii. The government shifts back and forth over the years
e. Most of the people in the loyal opposition would like to reform the system wile retaining the basic principles of an Islamic state
i. An influential group of critics including whats left of the pre revolution upper and middle classes in favor of a cleaner more radical break with clerical rule and a return to secularism
3. Iranians enojy personal prosperity even though they live in an oppressive state
a. Thriving movie and literary industry BUT
i. No criticism of Islamic doctrine or of its revered personalities
ii. No criticism of the Ayatollah Kahomeini
iii. Critical reporting of the treatment according to religious minorities is prohibited
iv. National security issues are also off limits
v. Still, Iranians enojy a pretty lively print media
1. Besides go owned and opposition newspapers, there arre over 200 general and professional hournals covering a wide range of interests
a. Relative freedom to criticized the gov domestic and foreign policies
vi. One efffect of the censorship of the newspapers was that in 2003, the govt started restricitng access to internet websites
1. In May 2008, the government moved to blcok access to several websites related to womens issues and uman rights in addtion to porn sites that had long been blocked
2. There is a 36 member sureme council of cultural revolution which sets the parameters for what is allowed on the Iranian internet and theMinistry of Islamic Guidance and cuultur has a supervisory board which decide which sites should be blocked
b. The government is trying to shut down some websites (there rae over 700,000 blogs that are written in the Iranian language)
Political Participation
kk. Millions of Iranians participated in revolutioary participations that brought down the Shah’s govt and millions more have taken part in more than 24 elections sinxe 1979
ll. Turnout for presidential elections is 83%
i. Students and youth have gained significatn poolitical weight
1. K-12 and university students comprise a third of the population
Political Agenda
mm. Tin the first two decades after the founding of the Islamic republic, we see that the republic often violated its own constitution
i. Closed down newspapers, professional associations, labor unions and political parties
ii. It banned demonstrations and public meetings
iii. It incarcerated 10s of thousands without due process
iv. It systematically tortured prisoners to extract false confessions and recant
v. It executed some 25000 political prisoners to gain support for the war in Iraq (without due process)
nn. Today there is free access to radio, newspaper, and tv
i. Porn, and anti-revolutionary articles are censored
oo. In interest gorups there arent many formal organizations
i. Recognized as a slightly pluralist even though there arent that many influential organizations, if any
ii. The Shah cracked oddown on them and so did the church, so they werent really able to fom (lacks tradition)
iii. They are able to exist today, but they aren’t that influential
iv. The technocrats have to be careful what they way, where, and when which holds back a boiseterous interest group system
v. Civil society is alive and well though, as these elements are out there
Political Parties
pp. The Iranians do not benefit from the presence of recognized legitimate or effective political parties
qq. The most important post revolutionary political party which was the Islamic republican party was established in 1979 and dissolved in 1987 by Kahomeini
i. For the nextdecade or so after 87 there was a ban on political party formation
ii. Not until 1998 that parties were finally legalized
iii. But they are still at a fairly early statge of development and policy formation
iv. The parties more resemble professional groupsinngs engages in political ventures
rr. The largest reform party is the Iran Participation Front
i. Formed by followers of Kahatami
ss. Another party, the Servants of Construction is ag oruping of technocrats allied with former president Raf Sanjani
tt. Other political entities include
i. The reformists reped by Assembly of Combatant Clerics
1. President Kahatami belongs to this group
2. Also repd by the Assembly of the Follwoers of the Imams Line
3. And by a third group, the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revoultion Organization
ii. On the conservative side we have the Islamic Society of Engineers and ew have the Combantant Clergy Association
1. Both of these parties back current president Ahmadiadjad
2. There are some other parties
a. The society for miilitant clergy
b. The islamic coalition party
c. The coalition for the development of islamic iran
iii. There used to be armed opposition parties but have been put down
1. Mojahedin of Iran
2. The people’s Fedayeen of Iran
3. The Kurdish democratic party
Elections
uu. Competitive
vv. Typically with high voter turnout
ww. Usually a candidate to seat ratio is 10:1
xx. Both the conetesting and participationg dimensions are present in Iran
yy. Just having elections are not synonomous with a democratic government
i. Voters have to choos from a set of handpicked candidates
ii. This leads to prior disqulification of presidential and legislative candidates
1. GC does not have to give detailed explanations