Electoral theocracy and hybrid sovereignty in Iran

Ghobadzadeh, Naser; Rahim, Lily Zubaidah

doi:10.1080/13569775.2016.1175097

Cited by 28 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…In the large cities in particular, where competing factions possess organizational resources, local electoral politics increasingly mirrors the factional politics at the national level. The theory of electoral authoritarianism is another paradigm closer to my interpretation of the evidence, but researchers have only applied it to Iran in relation to national level elections (Brumberg andFarhi 2016, Ghobadzadeh andRahim 2016). Thus this paper extends EA to the local level.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Authoritarian state building through political decentralization and local government law: Evidence from the Islamic Republic of Iran

Tajbakhsh

2020

OSLS

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What motivates ideological authoritarian regimes to permit subnational elections? What mechanisms do these regimes employ to ensure that local electoral outcomes are favorable to the regime? Focusing on the decision to create a new tier of elected local government and the use of local government law, I argue that national elites can use local elections to strengthen state-building through increased institutionalization of mass political participation and by integrating local populations into the ambit of state controlled public goods provision. I illustrate this argument by analyzing elected local government in the Islamic Republic of Iran. I show how the state’s legal framework successfully constrains local actors in three contested domains: the scope of political participation, the extent of legislative authority, and the degree of fiscal autonomy. A major implication of these findings is that expanding participation through subnational elected government in an ideological Islamist regime contributes to authoritarian nation-state building. ¿Qué motiva a los regímenes autoritarios ideológicos a permitir elecciones subnacionales? ¿Qué mecanismos emplean para asegurarse de que los resultados de las elecciones locales les son favorables? Argumentamos aquí que las elites nacionales pueden utilizar las elecciones locales para fortalecer la construcción del Estado a través de una creciente institucionalización de la participación política masiva y de la integración de poblaciones locales en el ámbito de las provisiones de bienes controlados por el Estado. Ilustramos ese argumento con un análisis del gobierno local electo en la República Islámica de Irán. El marco jurídico del Estado limita a los agentes locales en la participación política, la autoridad legislativa y la autonomía fiscal. Una importante implicación de estos hallazgos es que la expansión de la participación a través de un gobierno subnacional electo en un régimen ideológico islamista contribuye a la construcción del Estado-nación autoritario.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Authoritarian state building through political decentralization and local government law: Evidence from the Islamic Republic of Iran

Tajbakhsh

2020

OSLS

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“…The lower echelon, consisting of the republican institutions, is responsible for the adoption of the laws and the running of the ministries and other state agencies, representing, as it were, the will of the people. This has prompted other observers to conclude that the system is in fact not theocratic, but rather of a "hybrid" [Ghobadzadeh -Rahim 2016;Abdolmohammadi -Cama 2016: 558] nature, combining elements of "divine" and popular sovereignty [Martin 2003: 147-173;Ghobadzadeh 2017: 39-43].…”

Section: The Structure Of Iranian Authoritarianismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Muhammad Khatami’s Reforms in Iran from the Perspective of Transitology and the Outlook for Democratic Change

Koláček

2024

Historická Sociologie

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On May 23, 1997, a victory of Muhammad Khatami in the presidential election in the Islamic Republic of Iran started a brief period of liberalization in the country long mired in a repressive and authoritarian political regime. The new government loosened the restrictions imposed on the public space, widened the scope of some civil liberties and under the slogans of “religious democracy”, “rule of law” and “participation” aroused expectations of a further political change. Nevertheless these expectations were futile and the widely popular reform movement was stifled by a repression on the part of the conservative core of the regime. This study attempts to analyze these events as a failed attempt to democratic transition, leaning on the theory of Guillermo O’Donnell and Philipe Schmitter. It demonstrates that the transitive period under Khatami’s presidency followed the typical path of the disintegration of the post-World War II authoritarian regimes, which usually begins by the split within the governing elite of the régime itself and proceed through gradual and contingent introduction of liberalizing and democratizing reforms by its “soft-liner”. On this basis it attempts to capture the overall dynamic of the transitive process, define its turning points, identify the causes of its ultimate successful obstruction by the “hard-line” conservatives and derive from this experience implications for a possibility of democratic change in future.

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“…However, all candidates to the Assembly of Experts, the President, and the Iranian Parliament (Majlis or Islamic Consultative Assembly) are selected by the 12‐member Guardian Council, of which half is selected by the Supreme Leader and the other half nominated by the head of the judiciary and approved by the Supreme Leader. As Ghobadzadeh and Rahim (, p. 450) note “Despite the tutelary institutional arrangements engineered by the ruling clergy, elections have generated unexpected outcomes and unleashed power and policy shifts.” As a result the hybrid sovereignty could also be termed an electoral theocracy as a result of the uncertainties stemming from political processes that have been constructed by conflicting electoral and theocratic principles. Although elections in Iran are subject to manipulation by the ruling clergy and would not be classified as “free and fair,” Ghobadzadeh () does suggest that the existence of electoral procedures in the Islamic Republic has resulted in some behavioural and ideological moderation, as well as the accommodation of some democratic norms within the Iranian state Islamic framework.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deciphering Islamic theocracy and tourism: Conceptualization, context, and complexities

Seyfi

Hall

2019

Journal of Tourism Research

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International tourism development in theocratic structures where Islam exercises considerable influence over social, political, and regulatory systems embodies a range of challenges, complexities, and conflicts. Against this backdrop, this paper aimed at exploring the interactions between Islamic theocracy and tourism via an interpretivist approach. Saudi Arabia and Iran are both recognized as countries with a theocratic system of governance and serve as distinctive tourism destinations that provide cases for exploring the interaction between tourism and theocratic institutions and the implications for tourism practice. The study identified several key areas of theocratic influence on tourism, namely, policy‐making, marketing, and gender, and highlighted the complexities of developing tourism outside of pilgrimage and religious travel in theocratic environments. Theocratic conceptualization of governance alongside a framework for understanding the linkages between Islamic theocracy and tourism and implications of such connections are also proposed.

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Electoral theocracy and hybrid sovereignty in Iran

Cited by 28 publications

References 63 publications

Authoritarian state building through political decentralization and local government law: Evidence from the Islamic Republic of Iran

Authoritarian state building through political decentralization and local government law: Evidence from the Islamic Republic of Iran

Muhammad Khatami’s Reforms in Iran from the Perspective of Transitology and the Outlook for Democratic Change

Deciphering Islamic theocracy and tourism: Conceptualization, context, and complexities

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