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Empirically rich and theoretically informed, this book is an innovative analysis of political decentralization under the Islamic Republic of Iran. Drawing upon Kian Tajbakhsh's twenty years of experience working with and researching local government in Iran, it uses original data and insights to explain how local government operates in towns and cities as a form of electoral authoritarianism. With a combination of historical, political, and financial field research, it explores the multifaceted dimensions of local power and how various ideologically opposed actors shaped local government as an integral component of authoritarian state building. Ultimately, this book demonstrates how local government serves to undermine democratization and consolidate the Islamist regime. As Iran's cities and towns grow and develop, their significance will only increase, and this study is vital to understanding their politics, administration and influence.
List of contents
Preface; Overview; Part I. Launching Local Democracy: 1. Reshaping the state: political decentralization comes to Iran in the 1990s: 2. Launching municipal government, 1999-2003; Part II. Arguing for Local Democracy: 3. Reformists, local democracy and civil society: socio-political discourses; 4. Efficiency in governance: technocratic discourse; 5. The theocratic and Islamist discourse on the shura; Part III. Blocking Local Democracy: 6. The rocky path from elections to democracy; 7. City planning and the challenges of democractic governance; 8. Financing local democracy; 9. Geopolitics and the limits of international municipal cooperation; 10. What of the future of local democracy.
About the author
Kian Tajbakhsh is Fellow in the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University, where he was Professor of Urban Planning and Urban Studies. He previously directed civil society strengthening initiatives for the Soros Foundation in Iran, where he was a political prisoner from 2009-2016. He has previously published The Promise of the City (2001) and Social Capital: Trust, Democracy and Development (2005).
Summary
Empirically rich and theoretically informed, this book is an innovative analysis of how local government in Iran's cities and towns undermines democratization and consolidates the Islamist electoral authoritarian regime. It uses original data to deepen our understandings of comparative politics, economic development, and democratization.
Foreword
An innovative study of the political decentralization of Iran and the failure of elected local government to democratize the authoritarian regime.
