This book examines the unintended consequences of top-down reforms in Iran, analysing how the Iranian reformist governments (19972005) sought to utilise gradual reforms to control independent activism, and how citizens responded to such a disciplinary action. While the governments successfully 'set the field' of permitted political participation, part of the civil society that took shape was unexpectedly independent. Despite being a minority, independent activists were not marginal: without them, in fact, the Green Movement of 2009 would not have taken shape. Building on in-depth empirical analysis, the author explains how autonomous activism forms and survives in a semi-authoritarian country. The book contributes to the debate about the implications of elite-led reforms for social reproduction, offering an innovative interpretation and an original analysis of social movements from a political science perspective.

Puts forward the notion of a 'reformist subject' to highlight the complexity of elite-non-elite relations in the context of political change and aspirations for political change Covers the emergence of reformism and a front of reformists (eslahtalaban) committed to democratizing how power is exercised in Iran Offers an innovative perspective on Iranian reformism by engaging in a Foucauldian analysis of the reformist project of transforming the society and the state

Autorentext
Paola Rivetti is Assistant Professor in Politics and International Relations in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University, Ireland.

Inhalt

Chapter 1. Introduction. Political participation and reformism in Iran.- Chapter 2. Locating Reform. The origin of reformism and situated research.- Chapter 3. Reformism as a state project.- Chapter 4. Reformism, Political Participation and Civil Society. Crafting consent and managing counter-power.- Chapter 5. Reformism, political participation and resistance.- Chapter 6. Conclusion. Lineages of change.