Politics In Iran
Iranian Political Fundamentals
Iran is a revolutionary country. A popular uprising overthrew the Shah, Iran's monarch,
in 1979. Within a few months, Islamic 
revolutionaries gained control of the country under the Ayatollah Khomeini
and Iran became a theocratic republic. Its legal system is inspired by the Koran and
conservative Koranic teachings govern many aspects of social and political life.
Iran is a country still rebuilding after a withering eight-year conventional war with
Iraq (1980-1 988). The war began shortly after the revolution, so the revolution
established itself during war time. In the ten years since the war, Iran has been
rebuilding its economy and working out how the revolutionary Islamic government should
function in peace time. Iraq and Iran have re-established diplomatic relations but a
number of issues -- as fundamental as the exchange of POWs -- are still unresolved.
Finally, Iran is a young country. Over half of the population is under the age of 1 8.
The population has doubled in the twenty years since the revolution, from 30 million to
over 60 million -- in spite of the war.
Iranian Politics Today
Power in Iran is divided among a number of offices and institutions. The Supreme Leader
-- Ayatollah Khamanei, Khomeini's successor -- controls many levers of power, army, the
police and the electronic media. He is elected by a council of clerics.
Iran also has a president, elected by universal suffrage. Iranians elected a new
president in May 1997. Mohammad Khatami is seen as a progressive moderate. He won a
convincing victory over the religious establishment's candidate thanks largely to support
from women and young people (the voting age is 1 5).
Khatami's platform calls for a re-building of civil society and respect for the rule of
law. Khatami, like former president Rafsanjani, calls for debt reduction and economic
liberalisation. In foreign policy, Khatami calls for the normalisation of Iran's relations
with other countries (except Israel). In a well-publicised speech, Khatami even called for
an informal exchange 
of
intellectuals with the United States.
Khatami's domestic and foreign policy goals have generated some opposition from the
conservative Islamists who support the Supreme Leader; the pace of Khatami's social change
so far is proceeding slowly. On the economic front, the government is expanding its
previous policy of allowing foreign participation in the mining and even the oil and gas
sectors. The extent to which the government is willing to allow foreign imports continues
to depend on oil revenue, as Iran works to pay its debts and balance its books.
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