(This event was organised by MEI’s Political Economy Research Cluster, as part of its quarterly public talks series.)

Abstract

The presentation examined the political and ideological origins of Iran’s post-revolutionary reform movement, which came to international attention following the landmark presidential election of Hojjat al-Islam Mohammad Khatami in 1997. In particular, it focused on how reformists sought to rethink the foundations of the Islamic Republic’s political authority and sources of legitimacy and institutionalize civic channels of political mobilization and contention. It then moved to assess some of the entrenched obstacles the Khatami administration faced during the course of its tenure as well the reasons for its noteworthy, albeit modest successes. The presentation then concluded with an evaluation of the wider significance of the reform agenda in light of the 2013 election of President Hassan Rouhani and the historic conclusion of the nuclear accord, the so-called JCPOA with the P5+1 in 2015, detailing the unresolved structural challenges, which continue to afflict the Iranian state system.