Iran and the Arab Spring: Why Haven't Iranians Followed the Arabs in Waging Revolution?

Abstract

Since the beginning of the Arab Spring, the question of Iran's own political situation and its relationship to the Arab movements has become a controversial issue. This article examines the Iranian ruling elites' as well as oppositionist views of the Arab Spring, explaining why Iran has not followed its Arab counterparts in engaging a revolutionary and violent confrontation with the Islamic Republic regime. A main argument is that there is no agreement among the Iranians regarding the nature of the Arab Spring, thus situational and nationalistic considerations make Iranians hesitant to take a radical and violent move against the regime. Further, it is argued that in contrast to the expectations of the ruling elite, the empowerment of Arab Islamists brings about unexpected challenges, rather than advantages, for the Islamic Republic in Iran.

Children’s Intergroup Attitudes: Insights From Iran

“…This should be especially true given that Iran’s population is racially and religiously homogenous (99.4% of the population identifies as Muslim; United Nations World Population and Housing Census Program, 2011). One would also expect to see the lowest level of desire to associate with American children who are the least similar out‐group in terms of culture, language, religion, and a variety of other dimensions (Ahmadi, 2013; Riazi, 2005; Versteegh, 2001).…”

“…However, if the dimension of intergroup relations is of primary importance, one would expect Iranian children to prefer to affiliate with Iranians over Americans and Arabs due to Iran’s history of social and political conflict with Arab countries and the United States (Ahmadi, 2013; Fürtig, 2002; Murray, 2009). Although the United States–Iran conflict did not become especially intense until 1979, following the seizure of American hostages in Tehran (Houghton, 2001; although see Bakhshandeh, 2015 for an argument that tensions began in 1925), Arab countries have posed a long‐standing threat to Iran beginning with the first Arab invasion in 633 (Akram, 2009), which resulted in the Islamization of Iran and adoption of Arabic script and words into the Farsi language (Kia, 1998; Lorentz, 2010; Mehran, 2010; Tavakoli‐Targhi, 1990).…”