The cycle of authoritarianism in Irann

saei, ali

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Volume 11, Issue 3 (1-2023)

scds 2023, 11(3): 169-204

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The cycle of authoritarianism in Irann

Ali Saei

Associate Professor of Political Sociology, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: (175 Views)

This study focuses on the cycle of authoritarianism in post-revolutionary Iran. The epistemic foundation of the pattern of authoritarianism dynamics in Iran is the democratization theory. This study claims that the democratization dynamics moves the Iranian society from the authoritarian regime to the democratic transition stage. In this process, the authoritarian regime collapses and the democratic transition period begins. In a very short time, the process of democratization in the transition zone gets stuck, and then gradually the historical trajectories move it toward authoritarianism. In response to the reproduction of the wave of authoritarianism, a revolutionary movement usually occurs. This movement leads to the collapse of the authoritarian regime. This study claims that a cyclical pattern has been prevalent in Iran during some historical periods. It means that Iran has experienced the democratization of the authoritarian system, but it has alternated back and forth between democratization and the authoritarian regime. The theoretical argument is that the cycle of authoritarianism is explained by a conjunctural causation. The causal conditions are the quality of political institutions and the agency of elites in power and social actors. Society moves towards authoritarianism if political institutions are exclusive and the agency of power elites is based on structural constraints on the opposition and social actors have structural limitations in their strategic choices. This study used a historical approach to the analysis of the authoritarianism cycle. The analysis resulted in the proposition that if the path of democratic reforms is closed, authoritarians choose the strategy of repression and radical actors choose the strategy of violence. In this case, the dynamics of authoritarianism will gradually lead to the stagnation of power, and then the force of radical actors will move the society toward the collapse of the ruling regime.

Keywords: Democratization, the cycle of authoritarianism, political institutions, power elites and social actors.

Full-Text [PDF 1883 kb] (43 Downloads)

Type of Study: Research | Subject: Special
Received: 2022/10/29 | Accepted: 2023/02/16 | Published: 2024/01/27

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