Country Study Assessment on Iran Political Assessment

IRAN

POLITICAL OVERVIEW: The former Persia became present day Iran on April 1st 1979. Before that Persia was a Monarchy and its last ruler was Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi. He lost favor with the people and the religious clerics of the country. The clerics chose to exile Pahlavi and establish a theocracy. Theocracy refers to a government type where majority of decision making and political power is in the hands of a religious leader, in other words a country that adopts religious law as its legal system

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini a Conservative cleric took over the reins of the nation.

The government structure is complicated as its Parliament is a mixed bag of elected and unelected members. At the top of the hierarchy is the 'Supreme Leader.' military, judiciary and foreign policy fall under his command. An interesting aspect of Iranian government is the amount of accountability attached to federal position, as even the Supreme Leader is answerable to a legally lower ranked Assembly of Experts. And even more interesting is the fact that they can scrutinize as well as terminate him, if they find his performance below expected standards.

Next to him is the 'Guardian Council' and 'Assembly of Experts'. The Guardian Council comprises of the country's top Shi'a clerics and is the most influential government body. Part of this council is elected by the Supreme Leader and by the judiciary. The council is responsible for ensuring that only suitable candidates get nominated for president and parliamentary posts. It is the main legislative authority as no law can be passed without its approval. 'Assembly of Experts' is elected democratically and is made up of religious ministers. The 'President' is, constitutionally, the head but his authority is superseded by that of the Guardian Council. Next comes the 290 men, Majlis or Parliament, another elected government body. It deals with budget, foreign relations and implementation of law. Other federal institutes include an advisory board, Expediency Council. It is meant to help resolve constitutional and legislative conflicts. The Cabinet, which comprises of 24 members and Judiciary which ensures that Islamic Law is implemented fairly

Though strange and religion based the set up is well balanced by counter dependencies, strict accountability and performance parameters. The way one department is made answerable to another for its actions is a brilliant way of ensuring that they perform to their fullest and remain honest and true to the country. At least on paper it is a much better form of government than its neighboring Pakistan and Afghanistan, where a select few parties have monopoly, or relative monopoly, over the administration of the country. In Pakistan, recently a Prime Minister was accused of Contempt of Court procedure and dismissed by the highest Judicial Court. However, even the newly elected prime Minister has also been declared unworthy of a public office. The country has only recently been introduced to the concept of political parties. Instead there are pressure groups which form coalitions before elections and afterwards go their separate ways. Two main coalitions are: United Front of Principalists and Broad and Popular Coalition of Principalists. It includes a number of groups as well as some new born political parties. Some major parties and groups are: Islamic Iran anticipation Front, Solidarity Party, Islamic labor Party, Mujahidin of the Islamic Revolution Organization plus Militants Cleric Society. The Islamic Iran participation front has had some success in gaining seats in the Majlis before 2004 but that year, a number of its members were banned from election and they lost most of their power

. Instead an Iran Developers group has now taken the lead. Another influential group is a reformist party by the name of National Trust Party

EXTENT OF ELITE COHESION: The current reign began with the idea that administration and religion had huge gaps which the clerics felt the need to eliminate. The country is a Muslim majority state with 89% Shi'a Muslims and only 9% Sunni Muslims

. Khomeini appealed to the religious feeling and attachment of people to gain support. Vali R. Nasr testifies in The Shia Revival that Khomeini wished to make Islam a political force as well. Khomeini won over the young religious revolutionaries and they helped him bring religion back to the state. In today's Capitalist, democratic and practical world religion and state are two opposing and incongruent concepts, thus Iran is unique in its approach to politics. The new Supreme leader who came to power after Khomeini's death is Ali Hoseini Khamenei. He has been in power since 1989 and does not have the charisma that Khomeini did.

As far as the government's cohesion with and influence on society is concerned, Khomeini did not have support of most of his religious colleagues. Even until 2000, out of a 5000 only 8 clerics were part of the federal administration. Gregory F. Giles, an American scholar, says the government was restricted to "four rings of power

." In other words the loyalty and attachment to the Iranian government is limited to its revolutionaries and devotees. Liberal, nationalist and democratic section of nation is considered outsiders and is given very little leverage. The proof of dissent among the populace is the 1997 election when the reformist M. Khatami was elected as fifth Iranian president. He preached freedom of speech, expression and strove for better diplomatic ties with Asian as well as European nations, something Khomeini's conservative Iran could never even think of. His election by 70% voting majority and his two office terms are evident signs of a liberal thought process of the nation