Iran's Reform Movement

The Enduring Relevance of an Alternative Discourse

Bibliographic Data

ID3894992
AuthorsMaysam Behravesh (0000-0002-2382-6548, Lund University, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume23
Issue2
Pages262-278
Publication date2014-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDigest of Middle East Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1060-4367 • E-ISSN: 1949-3606
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/dome.12050
OpenAlexW1900004099
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited13

Given the surprise electoral victory in May 2013 of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, which was attained on a recurrent platform of reform and change, this article seeks to investigate Iran's reform discourse by looking at how it systematically developed under President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005). Its chief purpose is to delineate the discourse in a retrospective analytical attempt to show why it has proven so resilient and persuasive in theory while briefly explicating the causes of its failure in practice under reformists, which set the stage for the rise to power of populist neo-conservatives marshaled by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013). Divided in two main parts, it thus seeks to tease out the domestic ideology of reform as theorized by Khatami and his men on the one hand, and the foreign policy of détente and dialogue as performed by the reformist administration on the other. In so doing, the article draws primarily on the original Persian sources produced during the respective period and afterward, including Khatami's own writings as well as theoretical formulations and articulations propounded by his political strategists. Finally, it anticipates that Rouhani's "moderation" project can face the same fate as Khatami's "reform" project if the former does not heed the hard-earned historical lessons of the latter, even though it is operating in a different sociopolitical context

Aesthetics · Context (archaeology · Critical discourse analysis · Foreign policy · Ideology · Moderation · Period (music · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Relevance (law · Rhetoric · Sociology · Surprise · Theology · Victory · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Social Psychology · Turkey's Politics and Society

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