Iran after the Shah On April 1, 19179, Iranian people were asked to vote either yes or no in a referendum on establishing an Islamic Republic. Some political actors, including the prime minister, wanted to give a third choice to the people: Democratic Islamic Republic. Khomeini refused this option. The vast majority of the Iranian people voted yes for the Islamic Republic.

A New Constitution for the Islamic Republic The new constitution contained 175 clauses. Khomeini was declared as the supreme leader for life and endowed with wide ranging authority. The constitution also brought into existence a Guardian Council, composed of clerics. The Guardian Council could veto the bills passed by the legislation. A president would be elected by the Iranian people through secret and direct balloting.

A Welfare State The regime has tackled the problems of both urban and rural poor. It has replaced slums with low income housing. Electricity, water and sewage lines were extended to working class districts. The regime supported the incomers of lower-class people by subsidizing bread, fuel, gas, heat, electricity, medicines and public transport.

Semi-Independent Foundations-1 Set up by the Islamic Republic after the revolution. Providing many Iranian people with social benefits including pensions, housing loans, and health insurance. Headed by clerics or other people loyal to the supreme leader. Some important ones are Mostafazin (Oppressed), Martyrs and Veterans, Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation

Semi-Independent Foundations-2 The foundations together account for as much as 15 percent of the national economy. Much of their assets are businesses confiscated from the elites of the Pahlavi period. The largest of them is Mostafazin. Mostafazin administers 140 factories, 120 mines, 470 agro-businnesses, and 100 construction companies.

An Authoritarian State Cultural Revolution in 1980: universities were closed for three years and reopened only after extensive purges of faculty, administration and student body. A morality police unit was established and thousands of people were arrested for «moral crimes». In 1981, morality courts were established for prosecuting the cases of prohibited activities.

1990s: The Rise of a Reformist Bloc in Politics

Presidential Elections in 1997 Sayyed Muhammad Khatami: Promising an open society with individual liberties, freedom of expression, women’s rights, political pluralism and rule of law. He won the presidential elections with 70 percent of the votes. Some of his core supporters were the modern middle class, women, and urban workers. What had changed with Khatami?

Reforms and Reaction During Khatami’s presidency, the national assembly passed more than a hundred reform bill. The bills included the explicit ban on all forms of torture, elimination of all differences between men and women in being accepted as witnesses in the court, the right of political prisoners to have legal counsel. The Guardian council vetoed most of the reform bills.

Mahmud Ahmadinejad