The Green Movement

• Protest of 2009 Election• Movement for political

liberalization

• Former President Khatami (progressive) gave a green sash to Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Media in Iran

• Overview• Iranian Constitution and the Media• Newspapers• Broadcasting• Since 2009

Open Net Initiative

http://map.opennet.net/filtering-pol.html

Religion In Iran

• Shiism is the official state religion.• Constitution “protects” certain religious

minorities:– Zoroastrians, Christians, Jews

Religious Demographics• Shia Muslim: 89%• Sunni Muslim: 9%• Other religions: 2%

Religious Restrictions

• Apostasy: Punishable by death • Non-Muslims cannot engage in public religious acts.• Non-Muslim activity closely monitored, including

private religious schools.• Non-Muslims: can only serve in lower ranks of

government.• Non-Muslims can only serve in one of four minority

Majles seats.• Judaism suffers official discrimination.

– Ahmadinejad: outspokenly anti-Semitic

Examples of Religious Persecution• Iranian Shiite Ayatollah Seyed Hossein Kazemeini Boroujerdi, along with 17 of

his followers, have been imprisoned for espousing religious views that are incongruent with the official religious views of the government since 2006. He is serving an 11-year prison term and is reportedly in poor health.

• In May 2010 most of the 20 Sufi practitioners arrested in July 2009 in the northeastern city of Gonabad received sentences of flogging or imprisonment. They were among more than 200 Sufi dervishes who gathered to protest the arrest of Hossein Zareya, a local leader.

• In November 2008 Amir Ali Mohammad Labaf of the Gonabadi Sufi order was sentenced to 74 lashes, five years in prison, and internal exile to the town of Babak for "spreading lies.“

• In February 2009 authorities razed the house of worship of Gonabadi dervishes at Takht-e-Foulad, in Isfahan, with bulldozers. All Sufis present were arrested and had their mobile phones confiscated. Sufi books and publications were destroyed.

• Taken From: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2010_5/168264.htm

Examples of Religious Persecution• Christians, particularly evangelicals, continued to be subject to harassment

and close surveillance. During the reporting period, the government enforced its prohibition on proselytizing by closely monitoring the activities of evangelical Christians, discouraging Muslims from entering church premises, closing churches, and arresting Christian converts. Members of evangelical congregations were required to carry membership cards, photocopies of which must be provided to the authorities. Worshippers were subject to identity checks by authorities posted outside congregation centers. The government restricted meetings for evangelical services to Sundays, and church officials were ordered to inform the Ministry of Information and Islamic Guidance before admitting new members.

• On November 13 following his October 2009 arrest, Youcef Nadarkhani, a pastor of a house church in Gilan, reportedly received a death sentence for apostasy and evangelism.

• Taken From: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2010_5/168264.htm

Importance of Qom

• Religious center of Iran• City of seminaries and

religious scholars

• Pragmatist clerics– Disagree with velayat-e-

faqih– Greater church/state

separation– Former President Khatami

• Conservative clerics– Oppose pragmatists

Iranian Social Culture

Pragmatists/Progressives v. Conservatives

• http://www.prb.org/pdf/IransFamPlanProg_Eng.pdf

Economic & Political Indicators

Iranian Economy

• Rentier State• Oil Exports=85% of government revenue

Shah Reza Pahlavi• 1960-1977: GNP average=9.6% annually• One of the fastest developing countries• Huge economic disparity between rich and

poor/urban and rural

• Kesselman, Krieger, and Joseph. Introduction to Comparative Politics. 5th ed. (Wadsworth, Canada), 2010.

After the Revolution of 1979

• Many entrepreneurs fled after 1979.• Bonyads– Government seized assets/property of Shah and his

supporters.– Turned into a form of government-sponsored charity

run by clerics (patronage).• State controls approx. 80% of Iranian economy• Widespread corruption and mismanagement.• Smallest private sector of any country we studied.• Heavy government regulation of private industry.

• https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ir.html

• http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?v=71&c=ir&l=en

• http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=56390

March 2012Inflation=21.5%

2011Unemployment=15.3%

Factors Causing the Struggling Economy

• 1979 Revolution drove out entrepreneurs• Iran-Iraq War • Mismanagement and corruption• U.S., EU, and UN sanctions (nuclear ambitions)• Overreliance on oil• “Brain Drain”• Costly government subsidy programs

Government Subsidy Program

• Prices for energy and everyday goods kept artificially low.

• Poor benefitted little from energy subsidy.

Targeted Subsidies Reform Act, 2010

• Reduce or remove subsidies• Poor receive a direct cash payment.

RESULT• INFLATION: Everything costs more– International Sanctions make inflation worse– March 2012: Inflation=21.5%

Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions

• Nov 2011 IAEA Report– Suggested that Iran conducted tests “relevant to the

development of a nuclear explosive devise”• Iranian Response– Only seeking nuclear energy; not weapon

• UN, EU, and US responded with tougher sanctions.– Trade embargo on nuclear technology and equipment.– Restrict activities of Iranian banks.– Oil embargo against Iran.

• Iran threatened to block Strait of Hormuz

Strait of Hormuz