Iran Can Never Be a Democratic Nation

Democracy in Iran

As pro-democracy movements spread across a huge segment of the Muslim world in the spring and early summer of 2011, there was a tremendous amount of speculation that Iran would be the next totalitarian regime to join the world's democracies. However, this speculation seems to have been premature. Instead, Iran's response to pro-democracy movements in the country has solidified the notion that Iran will never achieve a democracy. First, the basic stagnancy in Iran's political debate suggests an unwillingness to move towards democracy. Second, Iran continues to suggest that its current regime is in line with Muslim awakenings around the world, which reveals the depth of the government's commitment to its current regime.

Third, the current government's brutality is not conducive to the type of organization that results in democracy. While some people believe that the social changes occurring in Iran mean that it is likely to become a democracy, this ignores the fact that pre-Revolutionary Iran also exhibited a relatively high level of civil freedoms without leading to democracy. For these reasons, Iran will not achieve democracy.

One of the greater barriers to Iranian democracy is stagnation in Iranian political thought. "A century after the Constitutional Revolution set the stage for the evolution of Iranian politics, Iranians are once again debating the same core issues that faced state-building and democracy-building at the time" (Gheissari & Nasr, 2006). Iranians have not yet been able to conquer key issues that need to be understood in order to move towards democracy, including the powers and obligations of the state, human liberties, whether religion should play a role in politics, or the type of economic system that would best support an Iranian democracy. This indecision means that the people, who would have to push for democracy, are not sufficiently united to make that type of push.

Another barrier to an Iranian democracy is that the government is very resistant to change. In response to the Arab spring, Iranian leaders attempted to assert the position that the revolt against the Shah in 1979 was Iran's democratic revolution. "The underlying message here is clear: The government of Iran welcomes the fall of a key Arab adversary, Hosni Mubarak, and the Tunisian Zine El Abedine Ben Ali, but wants to guide the narrative of these revolts into one that will not threaten Iran's own ruling elite" (Molavi, 2011). However, the reality is that the 1979 revolt did not result in democracy, but in a de facto civil war, during which Ayatollah Khomeini's forces were able to establish post-revolutionary power.

The third reason that Iran will not be able to achieve democracy is that the totalitarian regime is very willing to use violence and other means of brutality against its citizens. The government restricts journalists, punishes human rights workers, and uses physical force against its people. The result is a state of terror that makes the type of organization necessary to bring about true democratic change extremely unlikely.

Some people argue that Iran will achieve democracy. According to Emadeddin Baghi, "Society itself, not the government, creates change. And there are deep transformations occurring in Iran. Out of sight of much of the world, Iran is inching its way toward democracy" (2004). While there are progressive social changes in Iran, the reality is that the government still represses those changes. For examples, Baghi was unable to leave Iran to receive a human rights award, demonstrating that the government is still able to significantly stifle pro-democracy voices.