Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Gazing Upon the Land of Oil Through the Prism of Structure, Elite Action, and Civil Society

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Iran’s Struggles for Social Justice

  • 551 Accesses

Abstract

Does natural resource wealth promote authoritarianism and construct states immune to democratic social movements? To understand this relation the political incentives produced by resource “rents” is key. A rigorous and descriptive typology that shows the indicators that influence social justice will reveal how a state “cursed by oil revenues” could experience instances of uprising and demand for change, like those experienced during Khatami’s presidency. This chapter examines the aforementioned question through probing the relations between state structures, actor-based policies, and civil society, on the one hand, and with the rentier nature of the Iranian state, on the other. Investigating these three elements that synthesize both the political structure and the socio-economic relations between consumers and collectors of rent will offer a clearer depiction of change within the Islamic Republic.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Almond, Gabriel A., and Sidney Verba. 1963. The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amuzegar, Jahangir. 1992. The Iranian Economy Before and After the Revolution. The Middle East Journal 46(3): 413–425.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, Lisa. 2006. Searching Where the Light Shines: Studying Democratization in the Middle East. Annual Review of Political Science 9: 189–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aslaksen, Silje. 2010. Oil and Democracy: More than a Cross-Country Correlation? Journal of Peace Research 47(4): 421–431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bakhash, Shaul. 2003. Iran’s Remarkable Election. In Islam and Democracy in the Middle East, ed. L. Diamond, M.F. Plattner, and D. Brumberg, 122–123. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beblawi, Hazem, and Giacomo Luciani (ed). 1987. The Rentier State. London, New York, Sydney: Croom Helm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, Martin. 2009. Oil-rent Boom in Iran? Working Paper No. 111. GICA Research Program Website. Accessed March 31, 2016. https://giga.hamburg/en/system/files/publications/wp111_beck.pdf

  • Bellin, Eva. 1994. Civil Society: Effective Tool of Analysis for Middle East Politics? Political Science & Politics 27(3): 509–510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2004. The Robustness of Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Exceptionalism in Comparative Perspective. Comparative Politics 36(2): 139–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bina, Cyrus. 2006. The Globalization of Oil: A Prelude to a Critical Political Economy. International Journal of Political Economy 35(2): 4–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boix, Carles. 2003. Democracy and Redistribution. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Boroujerdi, Mehrzad. 2001. The Paradoxes of Politics in Postrevolutionary Iran. In Iran at the Crossroads, ed. J.L. Esposito, and R.K. Ramazani, 13–27. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • BP Global. 2015. Statistical Review of World Energy 2015. Statistical Review. Accessed February 15, 2016. http://goo.gl/dApSoj

  • Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 2013. National Accounts of Iran. Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran Website. Accessed February15, 2016. http://www.cbi.ir/simplelist/5796.aspx

  • Chaichian, Mohammad A. 2003. Structural Impediments of the Civil Society Project in Iran: National and Global Dimensions. International Journal of Comparative Sociology 44(1): 19–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chatelus, Michel, and Yves Schemeil. 1984. Towards a New Political Economy of State Industrialization in the Arab Middle East. International Journal of Middle East Studies 16(2): 251–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, John. 1997. Petro Politics in Congo. Journal of Democracy 8: 62–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunning, Thad. 2008. Crude Democracy: Natural Resource Wealth and Political Regimes. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ehteshami, Anoushiravan. 2003. Reform from Above: The Politics of Participation in the Oil Monarchies. International Affairs 79(1): 53–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • EIA (Energy Information Administration). 2015. Accessed February 10, 2016. https://www.eia.gov/beta/international/country.cfm?iso=IRN

  • Freedom House. 2015. Freedom in the World 2015. Accessed March 30, 2016. https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/01152015_FIW_2015_final.pdf

  • Gause, Gregory. 1994. Oil Monarchies: Domestic and Security Challenges in the Arab Gulf States. New York: Council on Foreign Relations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, Thomas L. 2006. “The First Law of Petropolitics.” Foreign Policy, May 2006, pp. 28–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelb, Alan, and Sina Grasmann. 2010. How Should Oil Exporters Spend their Rents? Working Paper No. 221. Center for Global Development Website. Accessed March 31, 2016. http://goo.gl/HPxeX5

  • Harris, K. 2013. The Rise of the Subcontractor State: Politics of Pseudo-Privatization in the Islamic Republic of Iran. International Journal of Middle East Studies 45(1): 45–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ISNA (Iranian Student News Agency). 2001. Behzad Nabavi: ma dar charchub-e nezam-e jomhuri-ye eslami khahan-e tagh‘ir hastim (Behzad Nabavi: We Want Change within the Framework of the Islamic Republic). ISNA. Accessed March 31, 2016. http://www.isna.ir/fa/news/8003-03784/

  • Jensen, Nathan, and Leonard Wantchekon. 2004. Resource Wealth and Political Regimes in Africa. Comparative Political Studies 37(7): 816–841.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karl, T.L. 1997. The Paradox of Plenty: Oil Booms and Petro-States. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karshenas, Massoud. 1990. Oil, State, and Industrialization in Iran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katouzian, Homa, and Hossein Shahidi. 2008. Iran in the 21st Century: Politics, Economics and Conflict. London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keshavarzian, Arang. 2005. Contestation Without Democracy. In Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Regimes and Resistance, ed. Marsha Pripstein Pousney, and Michele Pener Angrist, 63–88. Boulder, Colo.: Lynn Rienner Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khabar Online. 2015. Che kasi moqasser-e ijade shebhe dolatiha ast? (Who Is Responsible for Making the Quazi-State Organizations?). Khabar Online. Accessed February 26, 2016. http://www.khabaronline.ir/detail/432352/Economy/macroeconomics

  • Khamenei, Ali. 2005. Leader Imparts General Policies of Article 44. Khamenei.ir. Accessed February 25, 2015. http://farsi.khamenei.ir/news-content?id=1400

  • King, Stephen J. 2009. The New Authoritarianism in the Middle East and North Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipset, Seymour Martin. 1959. Some Social Requisites of Democracy, Economic Development and Political Legitimacy. American Political Science Review 53(1): 69–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luciani, Giacomo. 1990. Allocation vs. Production States: A Theoretical Framework. In The Arab Sate, ed. G. Luciani, 65–85. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2008. Rethinking Structure and Agency in Democratization: Iranian Lessons. International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory. 1(2): 142–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahdavy, Hossein. 1970. The Patterns and Problems of Economic Development in Rentier States: The Case of Iran. In Studies in The Economic History of the Middle East, ed. M. Cook, 37–61. London: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maloney, Suzan. 2015. Iran’s Political Economy since the Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • McFaul, Michael, and Kathryn Stoner-Weiss. 2004. After the Collapse of Communism: Comparative Lessons of Transition. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, Kevin. 2005. Revenue and Regime Stability: An Empirical Analysis. Presented at Midwestern Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, April 7. Accessed February 10, 2016. http://goo.gl/OX9rth

  • Najmabadi, Afsaneh. 1987. Depoliticsisation of a Rentier State. The Case of Pahlavi Iran. In The Rentier State, ed. H. Beblawi, and G. Luciani, 211–227. London: Croom Helm.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Donnell, G.A., and P.C. Schmitter. 1986. Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions About Uncertain Democracies. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pesaran, Evaleila. 2011. Iran’s Struggle for Economic Independence: Reform and Counter-Reform in the Post-revolutionary Era. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Posusney, Marsha Pripstein, and Michele Penner Angrist. 2005. Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Regimes and Resistance. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Przeworski, Adam, and Fernando Limongi. 1993. Political Regimes and Economic Growth. The Journal of Economic Perspectives 7(3): 51–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rivetti, Paola, and Francesco Cavatorta. 2013. The Importance of being Civil Society: Student Politics and the Reformist Movement in Khatami’s Iran. Middle Eastern Studies 49(4): 645–660.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross, Michael. 2001. Does Oil Hinder Democracy? World Politics 53(3): 325–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saeidi, Ali. 2004. The Accountability of Para-Governmental Organizations [Bonyads]: The Case of Iranian Foundations. Iranian Studies 37(3): 479–498.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schubert, Samuel R. 2006. Revisiting the Oil Curse: Are Oil Rich Nations Really Doomed to Autocracy and Inequality? Accessed April 23, 2016. http://ogbus.com/article/revisiting-the-oil-curse-are-oil-rich-nations-really-doomed-to-autocracy-and-inequality-2/

  • Shambayati, Hootan. 1994. The Rentier State, Interest Groups, and the Paradox of Autonomy: State and Business in Turkey and Iran. Comparative Politics 26(3): 307–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shargh Daily, 2015. Barkhi namayandegan-e Majles mokhalef-e khosoosisazi (Some Members of Parliament Oppose Privatization). Shargh Daily No. 2282, April 22. Accessed February 25, 2016. http://www.sharghdaily.ir/News/61026/.

  • Smith, B. 2007. Hard Times in the Lands of Plenty: Oil Politics in Iran and Indonesia. London: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulfelder, Jay. 2007. Natural-Resource Wealth and the Survival of Autocracy. Comparative Political Studies 40(8): 995–1018.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Hajar Amidian

Authors
  1. Hajar Amidian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

    Peyman Vahabzadeh

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Amidian, H. (2017). Gazing Upon the Land of Oil Through the Prism of Structure, Elite Action, and Civil Society. In: Vahabzadeh, P. (eds) Iran’s Struggles for Social Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44227-3_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44227-3_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-44226-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-44227-3

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation