ABSTRACT
Since 1979, Iran’s religious state identity oscillates between conservative and moderate interpretations of Islam. These shifts in framing the state identity constitute post-secular struggles for discursive hegemony. The chapter asks how these post-secular struggles affect non-Muslim religious minorities. Their varying discrimination cannot be explained solely from a rational-choice perspective. Quantitative research provides evidence for both rational-choice and identity-related explanations for religious discrimination. However, there is a need for an in-depth and context-specific analysis of causal factors. A qualitative within-case analysis illustrates how the post-secular struggles for discursive hegemony can help explain the different degrees to which non-Muslim religious minorities are persecuted.
