Abstract
Chapter 6 discusses the unintended consequences of top-down reformism in Iran by comparing eslahat with similar experiences in other countries. The chapter argues that the origin and development of unintended consequences outline a cycle of hope, which transforms political frustration into political action. This chapter discusses hope as a site of social reproduction and asks what implications hope—or the lack thereof—has for state legitimacy. The chapter concludes that top-down liberalisation is limited in the way in which it projects state legitimacy through reforms because it prompts unexpected political demands. These demands, although radical, do not deny or fragment stateness. In conclusion, eslahat is just one phase of a long-term process of state transformation and adaptation in Iran.
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Notes
- 1.
I am aware that words and phrasal expressions integrated into common language have a history, and that the expression ‘political activism’ would not have been used by ‘activists’ in the 1950s and 1960s in Italy. I am however using it in this book for the sake of clarity.
- 2.
While I haven’t conducted any structured interviews, I was in contact via Skype and phone with research participants who had participated in my research and, in 2017–2018, attended the protests in Tehran or observed their development.
- 3.
- 4.
Interview with the author, April 2012, Ankara.
- 5.
The optimism that Zia conveyed during his interview contrasted with the difficulties he was confronted with after 2009. Along with many other activists or public intellectuals, Zia decided to leave Iran in order to avoid the repression that followed the protests. While state repression became increasingly violent at the turn of the summer of 2009 and successfully terminated street protests in early 2010, other forms of repression such as arbitrary arrests and detentions, politically motivated and unlawful dismissals of academic staff or newspaper journalists, and surveillance have remained common and widespread (more than in the pre-2009 era) for a longer time. Unless enjoying high-profile connections in Europe or the United States, those Iranians who could leave went to Turkey and sought asylum there, where they enjoyed very little support from Turkish authorities.
- 6.
Interview with the author, summer 2017.
- 7.
Interview with the author, April 2017, Tehran.
- 8.
Interview with the author, April 2017, Tehran.
- 9.
Interview with the author, July 2016, Tehran. See also the video: Hamid Bakeri’s daughter’s speech at University of Tehran. YouTube, 2009 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn5LReerlmg, last accessed 23 February 2019).
- 10.
For security reasons, Parvin (name changed) asked me not to provide the name of the organisation. She authorised me, however, to describe it as a feminist grassroots group active in Tehran. The group mostly comprised young women active in the field of human rights protection and contrast to gender violence. It was active on a number of campaigns against the discrimination of women with the goal of highlighting the need for legal change.
- 11.
Interview with the author, April 2017, Tehran.
- 12.
Ibid.
- 13.
Interview with the author, July 2016, Tehran.
- 14.
At a more general level, the centrality of hope is also emphasised by the electoral slogans of Rouhani’s campaign in 2013, focused on hope and moderation. See Shahshahani (2014). Thanks to Janne Christensen for pointing this out to me.
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Rivetti, P. (2020). Cycles of Hope, Eslahat, and the State. In: Political Participation in Iran from Khatami to the Green Movement. Middle East Today. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32201-4_6
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