Author: Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Affiliation: Visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center.
Organization/Publisher: Brookings
Date/Place: April 2020/ USA
Type of Literature: Analysis Paper
Number of Pages: 61
Keywords: Protests; Triple crisis; U.S. maximum pressure; Iranian regime; IRGC.
Brief:
This paper is an analytical contextualization of famous Iranian nationwide protests, with a particular emphasis on the 2017/18 Dey Protests calling for social justice since the 1979 Revolution against the Iranian regime. The author argues that these protests are the result of socioeconomic, political, and ecological crises which he terms as a “triple crisis” for Iran. Adding to the impacts of the U.S. “maximum pressure” policy which has fragmented Iranian society, the paper’s prospectus for the future suggests a continuation of the current triple crisis with the possibility of worsening by turmoil and potential chaos. He claims that the Islamic Republic could have managed these crises by solving the political crisis, but there is little indication that Iran will be able to solve any one of the three crises. The author sees the solution as reforming the governing system through intersectional alliances (both Green Movement and Dey Protests) and genuine social transformation. The author emphasizes the vital importance of protests in the history of the Islamic Republic and its inevitable effect to jeopardize the regime’s survival.
By: Abdullah Jurat, CIGA Research Associate