Democracy In Iran (the Theories, Concepts And Practices Of Democracy)

Democratic government is something that has eluded Iran despite a series of non-violent revolutions aimed at establishing a system of governance that would promote both public freedom and political accountability. This title explores the obstacles to the growth of democracy in Iran and posits a plan for non-violent action to help Iranians achieve it. Despite lacking any sort of military advantage over the regimes they have confronted, the Iranian people have never been dissuaded from rising against and challenging varying forms of injustice. Through the successful implementation of non-violent action Iranians have overcome the violence of successive governments by undermining their moral and political legitimacy. But more than a hundred years after the Constitutional Revolution of 1906, Iranians are still in search of a social covenant through which they can acquire and practice public freedom. The stakes are extremely high, if Iran fails to end its culture of violence as a state and society then it risks its future as a stable, democratic state. So how then can the Iranian people break the cycle of violent and oppressive regimes and start looking towards a non-violent and democratic future? There is no magic formula that will immediately end violence in Iran but this book argues that by shunning violence and showing a readiness to face down persecution that the Iranian people have a chance to secure their freedom Front Matter....Pages i-viii Introduction....Pages 1-8 Front Matter....Pages 9-9 Iran: A Century of Undemocratic Violence....Pages 10-22 Iranian Encounters with Democracy....Pages 23-32 Democracy and Lawfulness in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution....Pages 33-48 The Road to Authoritarian Violence: From the Coup of 1953 to the Revolution of 1979....Pages 49-66 The Two Sovereignties and Islamist Violence in Iran....Pages 67-78 Front Matter....Pages 79-79 Struggle for Democracy in Iran....Pages 80-93 Epilogue....Pages 94-100 Back Matter....Pages 101-109 Part 1: Iran: The anguished odysses of democracy. Iran: A Century of Undemocratic Violence ; Iranian Encounters with Democracy ; Democracy and Lawfulness in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution ; The Road to Authoritarian Violence: From the Coup of 1953 to the Revolution of 1979 ; The Two Sovereignties and Islamist Violence in Iran. Part 2: Democratic nonviolence: The new imperative. Struggle for democracy in Iran.