Suchergebnisse

AbstractThis article examines the reception of the Iranian state's authoritarian discourse by the Italian far right to interrogate the mechanisms of authoritarian diffusion from the point of view of the receiving actors. Coding Iran's state propaganda and searching for overlaps and resonances with the far right's discourse, this article argues that the receiving audience selectively translates the content coming from Iran for the Italian public with the goal of reinforcing its own political discourse. The article contributes to the debate on authoritarian diffusion by providing fresh empirical findings from a rarely studied case study and by shifting the focus to political discourse and narratives. This article also foregrounds the agency of the receiving audience, rather than the authoritarian state's, with the goal of interrogating the resources and infrastructures that enable diffusion, rather than the motivation or the success of the 'sending' authoritarian state. This article expands the understanding of complex dynamics of authoritarian diffusion and contributes to examine the establishment of transnational connections between state and non-state illiberal actors in the era of 'sovranism' and right-wing populism.

The editorial decision to publish a roundtable on the 2022–23 protests in Iran has come with challenges and obvious limitations due to access and immediacy. The ambition of this intervention is to offer some initial reflections and some analytical instruments in the hope that they will be useful for future publications. We also want to write in this moment because we want to register its characteristics—emotions running high, the quick detours of power relations between the state and the protesters, the uncertainty, the changing political weight of the diaspora—along with the difficulty of doing analytical work in the midst of such processes.

This article investigates contentious politics in authoritarian contexts by looking at the case study of student activism in the Islamic Republic of Iran. More specifically, the article asks 'how does the Iranian student movement "do" contentious politics?', and argues that a broader approach is needed when examining social movements and mobilizations in authoritarian countries, than one focused on visible mobilizations. In particular, interpersonal relationships, local histories of activism, and what happens 'in-between' episodes of contention should be valued as material carrying analytical gravity. Adopting this approach, the article looks at the continuities and ruptures that have characterized on campus political contention in Iran in the 2000s and 2010s, bringing to the fore the overlooked history of how the student movements have re-organized after major waves of state repression.

This article investigates contentious politics in authoritarian contexts by looking at the case- study of student activism in the Islamic Republic of Iran. More specifically, the article asks 'how does the Iranian student movement "do" contentious politics?', and argues that a broader approach is needed when examining social movements and mobilizations in authoritarian countries, than one focused on visible mo- bilizations. In particular, interpersonal relationships, local histories of activism, and what happens 'in-be- tween' episodes of contention should be valued as material carrying analytical gravity. Adopting this ap- proach, the article looks at the continuities and ruptures that have characterized on campus political con- tention in Iran in the 2000s and 2010s, bringing to the fore the overlooked history of how the student move- ments have re-organized after major waves of state repression.

This article investigates contentious politics in authoritarian contexts by looking at the case-study of student activism in the Islamic Republic of Iran. More specifically, the article asks 'how does the Iranian student movement "do" contentious politics?', and argues that a broader approach is needed when examining social movements and mobilizations in authoritarian countries, than one focused on visible mobilizations. In particular, interpersonal relationships, local histories of activism, and what happens 'in-between' episodes of contention should be valued as material carrying analytical gravity. Adopting this approach, the article looks at the continuities and ruptures that have characterized on campus political contention in Iran in the 2000s and 2010s, bringing to the fore the overlooked history of how the student movements have re-organized after major waves of state repression.

Chapter 1 introduces the topic and the contention of this book. Is political participation possible in the Islamic Republic, and if so, to what extent? What type of political participation is permitted? This chapter elucidates the construction of the argument that underpins this book: that political participation, encouraged by the reformist governments (1997–2005) with the goal of renewing state legitimacy and controlling autonomous activism, eventually led to the development of independent citizens, critical of the state and its engineered participation. Despite being carried out by a minority, the political work of such independent activists was not marginal: without them, in fact, the Green Movement of 2009 would have not taken shape. This chapter discusses theories of democratisation and authoritarian resilience, along with Foucault's governmentality, to contextualise this book's approach to the study of reformism. This book contributes to the debate about the implications of top-down reforms for social reproduction, offering an innovative interpretation of reformism and an original analysis of social movements from a political science perspective.

This article examines mobilizations and activism in authoritarian settings by considering the case of Iran. By focusing on the transformation of activism since the 1990s and the green movement, it advances an explanation of how oppositional political groups have been able to survive and produce forms of resistant subjectivity despite authoritarian constraints. In order to do so, the article brings together two scholarly traditions, namely Social Movement Theory (SMT) and the study of subjectivity and resistance as framed by Sari Hanafi. SMT explains how activists have been able to navigate repression and create opportunities for mobilization while shifting between formal and informal politic. The study of subjectivity helps conceptualize the type of subjects or political citizens that authoritarian environments generate. The article builds on field research with activists conducted in Iran and Turkey between 2007 and 2016. It argues that authoritarian constraints allow autonomous activism to flourish while emptying of meaning the regime-sanctioned political infrastructures.