IRAN
• Theocracy
• (called Persia until 1935) Governed for more than 2000 years by a
royal family (sha)
• Sha Mohamad Reza Pahlavi, overthrown in 1979 by a religious
movement led by the Ayatollah Khomeini (Shiite)
• Eight-year religious war with Iraq (Shiite vs. Sunni)
• Regime based on Islamic fundamentalism:
• Sharia (law) + God
• The wali faqih or ruling theologian is the supreme authority (judge,
leader, and legislator)
• Republic?
• President, Prime minister, elected assembly, are all subordinate to
the wali faqih and the Revolution Council (integrated by the chief
ayatollahs)
• Islamic Republican Party: tool of control of the police, paramilitary
and religious groups
• Two factions: Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (hardliner) and
President Mohammad Khatami (reformer)