[Book Talk] Righteous Politics: Power and Resilience in Iran

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On March 1, 2024, the Islamic Republic of Iran will hold elections for the sixth term of the Assembly of Experts. The major responsibility of this 88-man institution, comprising qualified clerics, is to choose the future supreme leader after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death, or is rendered incapable of fulfilling the position’s responsibilities. Tehran’s political system, which relies on a complex set of institutional arrangements including a central personality, has held up despite internal strains.

Since the 1979 Revolution, Tehran has turmoil, from the war with Iraq in the 1980s to Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign more recently. Why and how has the Iranian system persevered despite its adversaries’ efforts, and self-inflicted wounds? What are the control mechanisms or safety-valve functions within the system that have kept it going? What can we expect from the day after Khamenei?

In this webinar, the Middle East Institute will host Professor Mehran Kamrava to explain Iran’s resilience and key findings from his recently-released book, Righteous Politics: Power and Resilience in Iran. Prof Kamrava will also touch on Tehran’s foreign policy domain, which he observes as increasingly securitised in recent decades.