The Newsletter 54 Summer 2010

Iran: social revolt and prospects for change (part 2)

Mehdi Amineh

The outbreak of mass demonstrations following the elections of June 2009 created a ‘revolutionary’ potential for confrontation within the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). The regime responded with violence and repression, leaving no possibility for compromise. Iran’s power structures have always been characterised by factionalism but the recent developments showed that contradictions and differences between groups have reached a tipping point. As conflict and contradiction intensify, so does the regime’s instability. But what are the prospects for change? In the second of two articles on the current crisis in Iran, Mehdi Amineh examines the position of the oppositional forces in relation to the state.

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