Comparative Politics Chapter 7: Iran (Sections 1 + 2)

**1 point of extra credit to the first person that identifies the error in Chapter 7.

Section 1: The Making of the Modern Iranian State (pgs. 310-327)

Politics in Action 1. Who is the president of Iran?

2. Who was president from 1997-2005?

a. What reforms did he promise?

3. Define theocracy:

4. Define shari’a:

5. Iran has regular nationwide elections for what positions?

6. Define Majles:

7. Describe the powers of the Supreme Leader:

8. What does the Guardian Council do? Why is the Guardian Council so powerful?

9. Use Table 7.1 to identify important details about the following: a. Executive:

b. Legislature:

c. Judiciary:

Geography 10. What has helped Iran’s economy grow in recent decades?

11. What is the most spoken language in Iran?

Use the section “Background: Islam and Shi’ism” to answer the following: 12. Which branch of Islam makes up a majority of the world’s Muslim population—Sunni or Shi’i?

1 a. What percentage of Muslims are Shia?

13. Describe the Twelvers:

a. Who are the ayatollahs? What do they do?

Critical Junctures The Pahlavis (1925-1979) 14. How did Reza Khan come to power?

15. Who was Muhammad Reza Shah?

16. What were the two political movements that opposed Muhammad Reza Shah?

17. Who was the leader of the nationalist movement? What did he do when he gained power as Prime Minister?

a. What happened to him?

i. What effect did this have on Iranian beliefs?

18. What was SAVAK?

19. Describe reforms made during the rule of Muhammad Reza Shah:

20. Describe the events and purpose of the White Revolution (1963):

21. Why did Iranians resent the Shah?

The Islamic Revolution (1977-1979)

2 22. Describe the characteristics of Islamic fundamentalism:

23. Who was Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini? (HINT: Read the “Leaders” section on page 320.)

24. What is velayat-e faqih (jurist’s guardianship)? What powers did this grant to senior clergy? Who advocated this ideology?

25. Describe the opposition to the Shah that developed in the late 1970s:

The Islamic Republic (1979-2001) 26. How did the Islamic Republic officially replace the monarchy?

27. Who wrote the new constitution in 1979?

28. Who were the Hezbollahis?

29. What happened in the US embassy in Tehran in 1979?

30. What percentage of the electorate voted for the theocratic constitution?

a. What was voter participation in this vote? What does this indicate?

31. What 3 factors helped the clerics consolidate power in the first decade after the revolution?

32. Who became the Supreme Leader after Khomeini died?

3 33. Who was the liberal reform minded leader that was elected president in 1997?

Iran after September 11 (2001 to the Present) 34. How did 9/11 bring the US and Iran closer together?

35. What brought this connection to an end?

36. Who was elected president in 2005? How was he different from his predecessor?

37. What are the current issues of confrontation between Iran and the US?

38. Summarize “The Nuclear Power Issue” on page 325:

Section 2: Political Economy and Development (pgs. 327-335) State and Economy The Oil Economy 39. What has oil enabled Iran to do?

40. Define rentier state:

a. What does being a rentier state allow Iran to do?

b. What effect has this had on the relationship between the people and their government?

Society and Economy 41. What effect did the White Revolution and Land Reform have on Iran?

42. Describe the dual society in Iran and its effects:

4 Iran in the Global Economy 43. Under the Shah a. Explain why the author says, “The oil revenues thus had major consequences for Iran’s political economy, all of which paved the way for the Islamic Republic.” (Be sure to include the consequences of the oil revenues that he discusses.)

44. Under the Islamic Republic (1979 to the Present) a. What has been the main economic problem plaguing the Islamic Republic?

b. Describe the strides that the regime has made toward population control:

5 Comparative Politics Chapter 7: Iran (Sections 3 + 4)

Section 3: Governance and Policy-Making (pgs. 335-343) 45. What is unique about Iran’s system of government?

Organization of the State 46. When was the Islamic Constitution written?

a. When was the Constitution amended/revised?

47. Read the Leaders section on page 335. Why was Ali Khamenei an unlikely person to succeed Khomeini as Supreme Leader?

The Leader 48. List the powers of the Supreme Leader (be sure to identify all of them):

49. What power does the Supreme Leader have over the Guardian Council?

50. What does the Guardian Council do?

51. What does the Expediency Council do?

a. Who appoints the members of the Expediency Council?

52. What is the significance of the political cartoon on page 336?

53. What is the Assembly of Religious Experts? What does it do?

a. How long are the terms for members of the Assembly of Religious Experts? How do they get their jobs?

6 b. What important check does the Assembly of Religious Experts have on the Supreme Leader?

54. Examine Figure 7.3. What institutions of the Iranian government are directly elected by the general public?

a. How is the power of the electorate limited? (HINT: Read the caption.)

The Executive 55. Read the Leaders section on page 338. Describe the beliefs and policies of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

56. How long is the President’s term? Who elects him?

57. Describe the process for electing the president:

a. How many terms can he serve?

58. List the powers of the president:

The Bureaucracy 59. What has happened to the size of the bureaucracy after the revolution in 1979?

60. What do the Ministries of Culture and Islamic Guidance do?

61. What role do the clergy play in the bureaucracy?

Semipublic Institutions 62. What are the “Foundations”? Where did most of their assets come from?

Other State Institutions 63. The Military a. What power does the Supreme Leader have over the military?

7 b. What is the Revolutionary Guards?

c. How are the Revolutionary Guards different from the regular army?

64. The Judiciary a. How did the Islamic Republic Islamize the judiciary?

b. What warrants the death penalty in Iran?

65. Subnational Government a. Who manages local affairs in the subnational governments?

b. When did elections for the councils begin? Who was president at this time?

The Policy-Making Process 66. Why was there “major constitutional gridlock” in the 1980s?

67. Why did Khomeini create the Expediency Council?

a. What is the composition of the Expediency Council?

68. How did the Constitutional amendments of 1989 change the Expediency Council?

a. What effect did this have on the Expediency Council?

8 Section 4: Representation and Participation (pgs. 343-349) The Legislature 69. List the powers of the Majles (be sure to identify all of them):

70. What is the difference between shari’a and qanun?

71. How many members are in the Majles? How do they get into the Majles?

72. What are the requirements to vote in Iran?

73. What institution has the power to approve or veto laws passed by the Majles?

a. What power does the Majles have over this institution?

74. How is the Majles similar to the US Congress? (This is not in the book, you need to use your brain.)

Political Parties and the Party System 75. When did the government begin to encourage the formation of political parties? Who was president at this time?

76. How many important political parties emerged since then?

Elections 77. How is electoral freedom restricted nowadays in Iran?

78. What has been the main obstacle to fair elections? Why is this?

a. Explain how the election of 2004 illustrates this:

i. What group won a majority of the seats in the Majles as a result?

9 b. Why does the author say that the “2008 election for the Eighth Majles was a repeat performance of 2004”?

Political Culture, Citizenship, and Identity 79. What are the recognized religious minorities in Iran?

a. What additional rights do these religious minorities have in the Constitution?

80. What religious minorities do not have additional rights in the Constitution?

Interests, Social Movements, and Protest 81. What groups especially resented violations of individual liberties? Why?

82. Describe the progress that women have made in Iranian society:

83. How did newspapers help support the reform movement?

Section 5: Iranian Politics in Transition (pgs. 349-351) 84. Read Section 5 to gain an understanding of the issues facing Iran.