The twilight of the Iranian revolution?
Isolated and dysfunctional, Iran’s Islamic Republic had reached a dead end. “The regime has lost all popular support, and yet it is incapable of change,” a leading dissident tells the… Read more »
Category: Iran
Call to free Iran’s women political prisoners: Virus ‘exacerbates regime’s legitimacy crisis’
The coronavirus is leading Iranians to question the relationship between state and religion, putting the theocratic state in “an unusual and awkward position“, observers suggest. The Islamic Republic had to… Read more »
Could Iran democratize?
Yes, and sooner than you might think, argues Misagh Parsa in a thoughtful book on the state of dissent inside Iran. “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent… Read more »
Iran’s regime ‘facing fundamental test of legitimacy’
Iranians voted for a new parliament Friday, with turnout seen as a key measure of support for Iran’s leadership as sanctions weigh on the economy and U.S. pressure isolates the… Read more »
‘Nowhere To Hide’: Who’s proliferating digital authoritarianism?
Is China pursuing a grand strategy to systematically proliferate digital authoritarian tools? China’s efforts vary by country, local context, and its own interests, argues Steven Feldstein, Chair of Public Affairs… Read more »
A catalyst for change in Iran?
Families of some protesters detained during the November unrest in Iran have been denied any information about them and fear they are dead, others who have been released say they… Read more »
‘Powder keg’ or ‘pressure cooker’? Iran’s unprecedented legitimacy crisis
Iran’s president warned Monday of threats to the Islamic Republic’s “democracy and national sovereignty,” after a body dominated by his ultra-conservative rivals disqualified thousands of candidates, weeks before elections, AFP… Read more »
‘Signposts of Struggle’: Iran’s protest movement endures
Human rights sources have reported that detained Iranian protesters are under severe torture in the notorious Fashafuyeh Prison in Tehran by IRGC intelligence agents. The detainees have been subjected to… Read more »
Will ‘unprecedented protests’ end Iraq’s status quo?
Tens of thousands of Iraqis converged on Baghdad to rally against the presence of U.S. military in the country amid a surge of anti-American sentiment unleashed by the targeted… Read more »
Fear and learning: Arab world not finished with democracy
A vibrant protest movement is visible in Iran and across the Middle East — but it isn’t calling for Islamic revolution, much less the tired misrule of the mullahs, The… Read more »