Abstract
The student movement played an active role in post-revolutionary Iran, particularly in promoting democratic reforms during the reformist era and in the Iranian Green Movement. In response, conservatives engaged in various forms of repressive strategies to paralyse the movement, so that at the end of the second term of Ahmadinejad’s presidency (2009–2013), there were virtually no organisational structures remaining for pro-reformist student activists. The surprising victory of Rouhani in the 2013 presidential elections was received with much enthusiasm by the student movement. Many saw Rouhani’s ‘moderate’ government as an opportunity to revive the student movement through rebuilding reformist organisations on university campuses. This chapter explains the revival of the student movement during Rouhani’s first term in office (2013–2017). Based on interviews with student activists involved in the revival at different universities, the chapter focuses on the constraints on organisational rebuilding of the movement after a period of severe repression, and presents the strategies adopted by activists in response to the challenges they faced.
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- 1.
Mehrdad Mashayekhi, ‘The Revival of the Student Movement in Post-Revolutionary Iran’, International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 15, no. 2 (2001): 297.
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Mohammad Ali Kadivar, ‘Alliances and Perception Profiles in the Iranian Reform Movement, 1997 to 2005’, American Sociological Review 78, no. 6 (2013): 1069–72.
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Paola Rivetti and Francesco Cavatorta, ‘Iranian Student Activism between Authoritarianism and Democratization: Patterns of Conflict and Cooperation between the Office for the Strengthening of Unity and the Regime’, Democratization 21, no. 2 (2014): 302.
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The last protest at campuses took place on the student day (7 December) in 2009.
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Christian Davenport, How Social Movements Die (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 22–3.
- 6.
I recruited a local research assistant to conduct some of interviews. The semi-structured interview format was designed to obtain reliable and comparable data from different organizational dynamics. The questions tap into two main topics: challenges organizations faced and strategies that were adopted to cope with the challenges. All interviews employed the same interview scheme and were transcribed, coded and analyzed in their original language (Persian). Summaries and exemplary quotes were translated into English by the author. Interview records and transcripts were stored anonymously and all names are pseudonyms.
- 7.
For review of the debate see Christian Davenport, Hank Johnston and Carol Mueller, eds., Repression and Mobilization (Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 2005); Jennifer Earl, ‘Political Repression: Iron Fists, Velvet Gloves, and Diffuse Control’, Annual Review of Sociology 37 (2011): 266–8.
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See, for example, Jules Boykoff, The Suppression of Dissent: How the State and Mass Media Squelch US American Social Movements (New York and London: Routledge, 2006); Lasley J. Wood, ‘Breaking the Wave: Repression, Identity, and Seattle Tactics’, Mobilization 12, no. 4 (2007): 377–88.
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See, for example, Gabdel Ondetti, ‘Repression, Opportunity, and Protest: Explaining the Takeoff of Brazil’s Landless Movement’, Latin American Politics and Society 48, no. 2 (2006): 61–94; Charles D. Brockett, Political Movements and Violence in Central America (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005); Christopher Michael Sullivan and Christian Davenport, ‘The Rebel Alliance Strikes Back: Understanding the Politics of Backlash Mobilization’, Mobilization 22, no. 1 (2017): 39–56.
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See, for example, Donatella della Porta, Social Movements, Political Violence, and the State: A Comparative Analysis of Italy and Germany (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 136–86; Sullivan and Davenport, ‘The Rebel Alliance Strikes Back’.
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These periods can sometimes be found in works by historians.
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Kadivar, ‘Alliances and Perception Profiles in the Iranian Reform Movement’.
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- 40.
Reza (activist at a university in Tehran), interview with Ali Honari, 29 April 2017.
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- 45.
Item 3.
- 46.
Amir (activist at a university in Western Iran), interview with Ali Honari, 22 April 2017.
- 47.
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, trans. Talcott Parsons (New York: Routledge, 1930).
- 48.
For a definition of ‘informal state repression’, see Robert White and Terry Falkenberg White, ‘Repression and the Liberal State: The Case of Northern Ireland, 1969–1972’, The Journal of Conflict Resolution 39, no. 2 (1995): 330–52.
- 49.
Amir (activist at a university in Western Iran), interview with Ali Honari, 22 April 2017.
- 50.
Reza (activist at a university in Tehran), interview with Ali Honari, 29 April 2017.
- 51.
Eric L. Hirsch, ‘Sacrifice for the Cause: Group Processes, Recruitment, and Commitment in a Student Social Movement’, American Sociological Review 55, no. 2 (1990): 243–54.
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Ali Honari, ‘Jonbesh-e Daneshjouei: Az jameé ya bar jameé’ [The Student Movement: From the Society or Over the Society], Goftogu Quarterly, no. 50 (2008): 165–79.
- 53.
Rivetti and Cavatorta, ‘Iranian Student Activism Between Authoritarianism and Democratization’, 301.
- 54.
Hossein (activist at a university in Tehran), interviewed on 1 May 2017.
- 55.
Nella van Dyke, ‘Hotbeds of Activism: Locations of Student Movements’, Social Problems 45, no. 2 (1998): 205–20.
- 56.
Abolfazl (activist at a university in Tehran), interviewed on 1 June 2017.
- 57.
Hossein (activist at a university in Tehran), interviewed on 1 May 2017.
- 58.
Parsa (activist at a university in Southern Iran), interviewed on 22 May 2017.
- 59.
Matin (activist at a university in Tehran), interviewed on 20 June 2017.
- 60.
Johnston, States and Social Movements.
- 61.
Hossein (activist at a university in Tehran), interviewed on 1 May 2017.
- 62.
Eghdamat va Dastavardhay-e Dolat-e Yazdahom [Actions and Achievements of the Eleventh Administration] (Tehran: Center for Strategic Studies, 2017), 6.
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Honari, A. (2018). Struggles for Revival: The Iranian Student Movement under the ‘Moderate’ Government, 2013–2017. In: Barlow, R., Akbarzadeh, S. (eds) Human Rights and Agents of Change in Iran. Studies in Iranian Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8824-7_7
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