0. Timeline of Iranian Politics
1941: Accession of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi
1950: Mohammed Mossadiq becomes Prime Minister
1953: Shah overthrows Mossadiq in a coup d’etat
1963: Beginning of the White Revolution
1979: Iranian Revolution led by liberal nationalists and alienated clerics; US hostage crisis begins
: Iran-Iraq war
1989: Ayatollah Khomeini dies/President Khamenei becomes Supreme Leader
1989: Ali Rafsanjani becomes President
1997: Mohammed Khatami becomes President in a surprise upset (70% of vote)
1999: Large-scale pro-democracy protests
2000: Liberals win the majority of seats in the majlis elections; hardliners crack down on the media and civil society
2001: Khatami wins a 2nd term by a landslide
2004: Conservatives win control of parliament after most liberal candidates are rejected by the Council of Guardians
2005: Ahmadinejad wins presidency, beating centrist Rafsanjani
2009: Ahmadinejad wins presidency in a contested election, beating independent reformist candidate Mousavi
: Widespread protests at perceived electoral corruption: Green revolution begins

1. Revolution in Iran Revolutionary forces in Iran
Protests were led by the ulema in 1963 under Khomeini and urban terrorist groups emerged
Shah became totally repressive after 1975; taking away autonomy of clerics and the bazaari merchants
Economy was in turmoil with rampant inflation from excessive oil spending
Opposition spoke out and was led by the Freedom movement in Iran (liberal) and militant ulema (conservative-revolutionary)
Militant ulema led by Ayatollah Khomeini pressed for rule by Islamic clerics
A cycle of religious protests, police violence, mourning protests, police violence, became more and more pronounced in 1978
The shah left for Egypt in exile in 1979, and the Freedom Movement and Khomeini were left to fight it out; Khomeini eventually won

2. Anti-Americanism in Iran
Support for the shah
The CIA coup; support for the Shah’s repression
The hostage crisis
From 1979 to 1981; Iranians held US diplomats after taking over the embassy
Carter lost the election to Reagan; the hostages were released as a show of good will toward Reagan
The Iran-Contra scandal
US sold arms to its enemy Iran in the mid-1980s, to get help freeing American hostages held by the Lebanese Hizbullah
The earnings were illegally diverted to a rebel movement in Nicaragua, the Contras
The process of demonization
Anti-US rallies; US as the devil: “Death to America” becomes a popular slogan
America frames Iran as the center of the axis of evil

3. Key characters in Iranian politics
Former President Rafsanjani
Supreme Leader Ali Khameini
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
Presidential Candidate
Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Current President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Former President Khatami

4. Iranian political institutions
Dual nature of institutions: Secular and Religious parallels
Result of intense debates during the revolution about the constitution
Supreme leader (Faqih)
Ultimate veto power over most everything; vacillates between using it and not
Has strong appointment powers over the judiciary and the military
Like Plato’s philosopher-king; life term; elected by the Assembly of Experts
President
Strongest executive except for the faqih
Independently elected
Majlis
Contested and reasonably powerful legislative body
Council of Guardians
Designed to keep any legislation from violating the shari’a
Also vets political candidates; appointed directly or indirectly by the supreme leader
Has vetoed every single reform law passed by the majlis in recent years
Expediency Council
Designed to resolve conflicts between the Majlis and the Council of Guardians
In 2000, it allowed some Majlis legislation to pass over the Council, but is now very conservative

5. Elected and unelected institutions in Iran
The process of vetting who can run for election is
key to understanding how these institutions interact

6. Liberalism vs. clericalism in Iran
Political divisions
Political parties were illegal for a long time; still act as informal blocs
Groups of independent candidates (most of whom are clerics), who tend to ally with each other
Combatant clerics
Care deeply about maintaining political power; actively defend the Supreme Leader
Are conservative on key social and religious issues
Militant clerics
“Leftist” splinter from the combatant clerics; held considerable power in the government in the late 1980s
Have argued for more power to the majlis
Were shut out of government in the early 1990s, but did well in the 1997 elections supporting Khatami
Servants of Construction
Non-clerical group of technocrats formed in the mid-1990s
Fit somewhere between the two groups; supporters of the former President Rafsanjani
Supported Khatami in the 1997 elections

7. 2008 Iranian legislative election results
Independents 13%
Conservatives 67%
Religious Minorities 2%
Reformists 18%
Since Khatami, the majlis has seen a big shift towards the conservatives, in large part due to active vetting

8. The potential for political reform in Iran
Iran’s underlying liberal culture
Many Iranians resent strict control of the public sphere
Official ideology vs. public preferences
Challenges to the Iranian regime
Disillusionment of reformers after Khatami’s presidency
Reasons for Ahmadinejad’s political success: populism, economic redistribution
Centralization of power in the Council of Guardians and Revolutionary Guard
Most Iranians no longer remember the Shah
Fragmentation of elites over the direction of the revolution
The 2009 elections
Ahmadinejad faced a credible challenge in a new revolutionary reformer: Mousavi
Ahmadinejad officially won the election by 2/3 of the vote, but there was some fraud
Mobilization as part of the “Green Revolution”
Mousavi leads supporters in a campaign of popular protest: “where is my vote?”
Hundreds of thousands join in peaceful protests across Iran
Repression triggers further protests
Costs of mobilization become too high and the protests slow down

9. Images from the Green Revolution