The Islamic republic of Iran is often portrayed as dictatorship state by the thinkers and its self acclaimed democratic status is not acknowledged by the scholars. There are several arguments behind both the opinions and both parties keep squabbling in favor of their declaration. In this paper, we would look at several aspects of the issue and try to find out a conclusion.
People who recognize Iran as dictatorship state say that Iran is in a confused state of affairs after the 1979 revolution and is struggling to make its identity. There are several arguments presented by the people who believe that Iran is a dictatorship, they say that unlike other democracies there is an Islamic leader who is supreme and above to parliament. Their analysis is that all the important policies of the country are decided by the twelve member guardian council and parliament has artificial and not the real powers. While there are civil and criminal courts in the democratic countries, Islamic courts decide the fate of human lives in Iran.
On the other hand, there are people who argue that since there is an elected president and a parliamentary system in Iran, it is a democratic country.
After having observed the abovementioned views, it is clear that both the arguments have some precision but none is perfect. The actual position of Iran is in a transitional phase and the direction has yet to be decided. This is a democratic country but there are certain constraints on the democratic system in Iran. The democratic system is not mature enough in Iran like other established democracies and the problems were in other democratic states too but by gradual improvements, they have been alleviated. Iran also has the caliber to remove its incongruities by the time and will prove itself an established democratic state.
Works Cited
Abrahamian, E. A History of Modern Iran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Ansari, A. Crisis of Authority: Iran's 2009 Presidential Election. London: Chatham House, 2010.
—. Iran Under Ahmadinejad. The Politics of Confrontation. London: Routledge, 2008.
Brumberg, Daniel. "The Iran Primer." iranprimer.usip. 17 November 2011
Joel Beinin and Joe Stork. Political Islam: essays from Middle East report. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
