Political Participation in Iran from Khatami to the Green Movement

Description

This book examines the unintended consequences of top-down reforms in Iran, analysing how the Iranian reformist governments (1997–2005) sought to utilise gradual reforms to control independent activism, and how citizens responded to such a disciplinary action. While the governments successfully ‘set the field’ of permitted political participation, part of the civil society that took shape was unexpectedly independent. Despite being a minority, independent activists were not marginal: without them, in fact, the Green Movement of 2009 would not have taken shape. Building on in-depth empirical analysis, the author explains how autonomous activism forms and survives in a semi-authoritarian country. The book contributes to the debate about the implications of elite-led reforms for social reproduction, offering an innovative interpretation and an original analysis of social movements from a political science perspective. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxiii Reformism and Political Participation in Iran (Paola Rivetti)....Pages 1-30 Political Participation in Context: Reformism and Elite Factionalism After the Iran-Iraq War (Paola Rivetti)....Pages 31-64 Reformism As a Governmental Project: The ‘Reform Discourse’ and Political Participation (Paola Rivetti)....Pages 65-97 Civil Society: Crafting Consensus from Above, Appropriating Reformism from Below (Paola Rivetti)....Pages 99-133 The Formation of Residual Counterpower and Autonomous Subjectivity During and After the Reform Era (Paola Rivetti)....Pages 135-175 Cycles of Hope, Eslahat, and the State (Paola Rivetti)....Pages 177-192 Back Matter ....Pages 193-202