The Revolutionary Guards' Role in Iranian Politics
In: Middle East quarterly, Band 15, Heft 4, S. 3-14
ISSN: 1073-9467
An examination of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRGC's) political role begins with a look at the legal basis for its operations, finding that from its inception it was intended to be a military organization to deter external threats & a political-military organization to counter domestic opposition. The IRGC's politicization is described in terms of how the Islamic Republic leadership has continuously used the IRGC to coerce & destroy political opposition, using its official organ, the Payam-e Enghelab, to shed light on how the Guards helped the radical clergy consolidate their power. The Mehdi Hashemi affair is used to illustrate how Presidents Ali Khamenei & his successor Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani worked to bureaucratize political decision making & depoliticize the IRGC, despite the latter's purging of the presidents' enemies & competitors. The IRGC's stance against "anti-revolutionaries" during Mohammad Khatami's reformist administration, highlighting the actions of IRGC chief Yahya Rahim Safavi to counter what he viewed as liberalism's national security threat. Attention is then given to how the IRGC's intervention in domestic politics has peaked under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Ahamdinejad's calculated political appointments, & the solidification of the IGRC's political infiltration with the 2008 parliamentary elections. While a unified & consolidated elite composed of the IRGC officer corps allows Iran to present a strong international stance & repress dissent & unrest domestically, it is asserted that the cost of such a policy will likely be high by fostering radical activism & other anti-regime responses from civil society. Adapted from the source document.
