Understanding Iran’s Green Movement as a ‘movement of movements’

Abstract

This paper examines how oppositional groups go about exploiting opportunities to mobilize en masse in settings that are less than auspicious. The Green Movement is used here as a case study, the aim of which is to show that understanding how a people go about mobilizing requires, first and foremost, examining the core beliefs that motivate them to seize opportunities when conditions allow. To this end, a constructivist approach will be used to demonstrate that it was the oppositional forces that took a proactive role in constructing opportunities to mobilize because they perceived the circumstances to be favorable, which suggests that greater attention ought to be focused on the sociopolitical and historical context within which a given situation is viewed as conducive to mass mobilization. Citing the examples of the student and women’s groups involved in Iran’s Green Movement, and tracing their historical trajectories and particular experiences during Ahmadinejad’s first term (2004–2008), I argue that the Green Movement may be best described as a ‘movement of movements,’ the kind of mega social movement capable of harnessing the potential, not only of Iranians but of other Middle East peoples, to mobilize with a view to pursuing specific social and political goals. This approach has the virtue of offering a way to understand specific traits of social movements operating in repressive settings.

From the Islamic Republic to the Green Movement: Social Movements in Contemporary Iran

“…Many scholars have noted the importance of issue-specific social movements in Iran (Bayat, 2013, Fadaee, 2011. Pourmokhtari, 2014.…”

“…Analyses of social movements in post‐Revolutionary Iran mainly focus on the student uprising of 1999 and the Green Movement. Such works emphasize the role of political opportunities (Kadivar, ; Mashayekhi, ; Pourmokhtari, ). Studies on the Green Movement seem to be mostly concerned with the question of the role of ICT (Honari, ; Rahimi, ).…”

“…A similar work by Pourmokhtari () focuses on dissidents' agency rather than governmental repression. However, instead of looking at the online world, Pourmokhtari () analyzes grassroots movement activity.…”

“…A similar work by Pourmokhtari () focuses on dissidents' agency rather than governmental repression. However, instead of looking at the online world, Pourmokhtari () analyzes grassroots movement activity. In Pourmokhtari's () view, the Green Movement emerged as a coalition of different social movements.…”

“…However, instead of looking at the online world, Pourmokhtari () analyzes grassroots movement activity. In Pourmokhtari's () view, the Green Movement emerged as a coalition of different social movements. Also, what was crucial to this uprising was the activists' role in seizing the opportunities when they “perceived” the situation to be favorable to political activity.…”