Saïda Bédar, Iran’s Géostrategy, beyond Regime Preservation, January 2020
Iran is both a millennia-old civilization and an empire that was never truly dismantled. Its history is marked by dynastic rivalries, invasions, civil wars, and an alternation between periods of cultural and geopolitical decline and renaissance. In the modern era, Iran’s destiny has been shaped by a duality: on one hand, the idea of Iran-as-civilization, destined to radiate influence on its periphery and engage with other civilizations; on the other hand, the idea of Iran-as-modern-nation-state, focused on defending its national interests.[…] The victory of the theocratic camp over the democratic one was consolidated by the war with Iraq and by reliance on conservative elements of society (the clergy, the bazaris, and the peasants).But over the past 40 years, reformist dissent has grown in response to the regime’s inherent contradiction: governing in the name of divine law is, by nature, dictatorial—claiming that everything leaders do is justified by a Higher Law. Moreover, this ultimately alienates religion itself, reducing it to mere politics and ideology.
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