INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL OF DEMOCRATISATION IN IRAN:Reframing the Implications of Knowledge of History, Philosophy and Socio-political Science in the Prospect of Democratisation in Iran Author Ali Salari, Gholam Published 2013-01 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School Griffith Law School DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/2464 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/384287 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au 1 INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL OF DEMOCRATISATION IN IRAN: Reframing the Implications of Knowledge of History, Philosophy and Socio- political Science in the Prospect of Democratisation in Iran ----------------------------------------------- This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) by GHOLAM ALI SALARI BIS, BCom, MA (Griffith) From: Department of International Business & Asian Studies, GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY Nathan Campus January 2013 2 3 ABSTRACT The original contribution of this study resides in its exploration of the way in which various traditional and modern tangible and intangible factors have contributed to Iran’s intellectual and political transformations from past to present. The focal question of this thesis is: “which factors have played the dominant role in Iran's intellectual orientations and political transformations, in general, and democratisation in particular? And can these factors be explained methodically and theoretically?” This thesis claims that Iranians, in order to proceed with a genuine home-grown democratisation1, need to enhance their intellectual capital of democratisation (ICOD)2. To this end, Iran's intellectuals need to overcome their shortcomings in the three key areas of historical consciousness3, understanding of modernity, and undertaking democratic orientation. This study employs a qualitative approach and a textual analysis method to provide a multi- principled (history, philosophy, and socio-political science), multi-causal (tangible and intangible) explanation of the multidimensional state of Iran’s tradition, modernity and prospect of democratisation. While taking into account a multi-task of modern, secular and democratic orientation; it is conducted from both insiders and outsiders' perspectives. The proposed method of explanation employs the algebraic term of factorisation to classify the dominant contributing factors to Iran’s intellectual and political transformations from both phenomenological (into tangible and intangible factors) and chronological (into traditional and modern) orders. The traditional tangible factors include geography, climate and invention of Qanats4 that have played vital roles in the success of Persian civilisation in the past. The 1 A home-grown democratisation refers to a transition that develops within the frame of local context, by local actors and in response to local demands. Dr. Moazzem Hossain (2006) writes of "home grown democracy" that has evolved out of democratic practices since 1991 in Bangladesh. This model of democracy, to him, is different from liberal democracy, as it develops in the context of local actors and factors. 2 Intellectual capital of democratisation (ICOD), which is introduced in this thesis, tries to convey a new perception about the overall intellectual capacity, readiness or consciousness of a society for democratisation. (more details in Chapter Two) 3 Historical consciousness is about the way people understand the past. It incorporates the cognitive and cultural factors which shape those understandings as well as their relations to those of the present and the future. The study of historical consciousness differs from historiography, which examines only how historians look at the past. (CSHC, 2015) (more details in Chapter One) 4 Qanats are constructed as a series of well-like vertical shafts, connected by gently sloping tunnels. Their water comes from mountains, driven by gravity, and travelling across sloping plains to farming areas. Most qanats are 4 critical modern tangible factors in Iran’s modern history include discovery of oil, colonial powers interventions, modernisation programs and communication technology. While ancient Persians benefited from the traditional intangible factors effectively and successfully (by establishing the first multicultural (tribal, ethnic, and religious) empire, these achievements were forsaken as soon as the rulers inclined toward tribal, ethnic and religious preferences. The subsequent ethnic/religious systems then have imposed various types of discrimination, which have led to internal conflicts and made the society susceptible to external influence, intervention or occupation (Saleh, 2013, pp. 111-113). It is discussed throughout this thesis that colonial powers, conservative Shiite Ulama and local tyrant rulers have almost cooperatively prevented the prospect of democratisation. To challenge these powerful forces and in the absence of democracy, Iranian intellectuals have found radical ideological orientations. They have inclined toward various ideological paradigms including Westernisation, constitutionalism, nationalism, modernism, socialism and Islamism. Only during the last two decades, have a great majority of Iranian intellectuals found a democratic orientation (Azimi, 2008, p. iX). This phenomenon has played a crucial role in accelerating the pace and scope of a non-violent civil resistance movement for democratic change. The extent of popular and intellectual support for this paradigm, such as the Green Movement in 2009, reflects the promising achievement of the society in the road of democratisation (Khosrokhavar, 2011, pp. 48-58). It can be argued that despite the presence of a considerable number of internal and external obstacles, the society has gained a promising level of intellectual capacity and popular support to proceed with a genuinely inborn democratisation. It is, however, anticipated that for succeeding with democratisation in Iran, in addition to intellectual capabilities, other socio-economic, cultural and political parameters are necessary, which their detailed explanation requires further studies. Keywords: historical consciousness, understanding modernity, democratic orientation, tangible and intangible factors, intellectual capital of democratisation (ICOD), home-grown democratisation. sourced in a well, but some have springs as their origin. The tunnels allow water to flow long distances in hot, dry climates without losing a large amount of the source water to seepage or evaporation (Cavendish, 2006a, pp. 261-262). (more details in Chapter Three) 5 DECLARATION I certify that this thesis, and the research to which it refers, are the product of my own work, and that any ideas or quotations from the work of other people, published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard referencing practices of the discipline. I attest that this thesis has never been submitted for any degree in any higher education institution. Gholam Ali Salari May 19th, 2017 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The work on this thesis has been an inspiring, often exciting, sometimes challenging, but always interesting experience. Completing this PhD would have been impossible without the encouragement and support of several individuals to whom I would like to express my deepest gratitude. I am extremely grateful to my four principal supervisors, Professor Iyan Islam, Dr. Benjamin Issakhan, Dr. Melissa Bull, and Dr. Susanna Chamberlain for their enthusiastic guidance, invaluable support, encouragement and many helpful feedbacks in all aspects of this thesis. The kind of reciprocal independence that I enjoyed under their supervision enabled me to build my arguments on purely scholarly basis without limiting or hindering my thought processes. I would like to express my sincere thanks to my principal supervisor Dr. Susanna Chamberlain for her enduring support and feedbacks towards the end of this thesis. A special thanks to my associate supervisors, associate professors Jawed Maswood and Mohammad Abdelah, for their invaluable experience and advice. I am also indebted to the fellow postgraduate students who attended my confirmation seminar and for their social interaction and thoughtful conversations during my study. Special thanks are due to all the academic, technical and administrative staff at the Griffith School of International Business and Asian Studies and also Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance. I acknowledge outstanding works of the library staff and the members of the Higher Degree Research Student Centre at GU Nathan Campus. During the period of completing this thesis, I got married and our two children were born. Thus, there have been times that I have neglected to perform my duties as a father of my two daughters, Raha and Rosa. A few words of acknowledgement can never reflect the depth of my gratitude to my beloved wife, Fariba, who without her understanding, patience and support this thesis might not have seen the light of day. 7 LIST OF PUBLICATIONS During the period of completing this thesis I have written almost 120 commentary articles in various socio-political topics, especially in relation to the prospect and challenges of democratisation in Iran and the Middle East. These articles are written in Farsi and have been published in several Iranian popular websites. A copy of them has been placed in my personal weblog (www.alisalariweblog.blogspot.com). The