A Study Of Democratization In The Islamic Republic Of Iran. Period Of Reform Emphasized

Abstract

With the Islamic Revolution, a new era in Iranian political history began and a great deal of
transformation took place in Iranian political culture. The political system was transformed from a
monarchy to a republic, and institutions such as independent (executive, legislature, and judiciary)
triads were formed; eventually they had democratic in appearance but the political system and political
culture were not substantially democratic. Although the Islamic Republic was formed under the slogan
of anti-authoritarianism, it deviated from that goal. One of the issues that is of great importance today
is the issue of democracy and human rights in the various societies that have been emphasized in Iran
during the reform period. A clear problem now is that with the advent of the global communications
industry, new technologies and actors, the scope of powers of governments has been limited. Given that
democratization is the way society moves from undemocratic and traditional to democratic governance,
the key question is: What are the main obstacles to democratic governance in Iran? The main hypothesis
is also that: Rentier state structure seems to have weakened democratic forces in the Islamic Republic
of Iran by weakening the market and the private sector and by linking government classes and
disrupting the development of civil institutions. The findings indicate that the rentier state, because of
its substantial income from renting, does not consider itself to have a tax-dependent, productive and
value-add economy; so not only it does not need for a civil society but also creates various obstacles
for realization of the civil institutions. The purpose of this research is also to explain the obstacles and
outline the most effective indicators in the process of democratization of Iranian society. However, in
this research, we intend to analyze democratization in the Islamic Republic with a library and
qualitative approach, emphasizing the period of reform.