The Resilient Political Opportunity Structure of Iran

Abstract

The Iranian political regime is a very sophisticated system that includes not only a set of democratic institutions and streams but also authoritarian institutions and conservative streams. Since its birth, it has grown more complicated as a result of the circulation of power between opposing political camps with contrasting ideologies and discourses, as well as the establishment of hundreds of organisations and forces, which however are consistent with the official Islamic ideology of the regime. This chapter maps the main centres of policymaking in the Islamic Republic of Iran and also discusses the rise and character of major political camps, namely the reformist and conservative, which ruled the state institutions during 1997–2013.