The Plurality of Politics in Post-Revolutionary Iran

Abstract

Te Persian Puzzle, Eternal Iran, and Hidden Iran: these are three among the cavalcade of trade books that publishers have trotted out to explain Iran to general audiences as we mark the passage of 30 years since the Islamic Revolution.¹ The starting point, as these titles show, is that the Islamic Republic is an enigma. And so it remains when the reader puts down these books: the authors discuss post-revolutionary Iranian politics as if they are too complex to be understood by nonexperts and without specific knowledge of the personalities and motivations of the Islamic Republic’s leadership. Iran is sui generis, an ancient, proud civilization fraught with contradictions and tensions inscrutable to those unschooled in the Persian politesse called ta‘arrof or the wily bargaining of the bazaar. Add the volatile element of Shiite Islam to the mix—embodied in turbans and veils that cover and “hide”—and you’ve got a “puzzle” indeed.