ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the subject of shifts in the status of civil society across two political periods in the Islamic Republic of Iran, namely reformist (1997–2005) and conservative (2005–2013). The circulation of power between two competing political camps significantly changed the political setting and made two contrary periods within the same political regime, and more interestingly, the same Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, though with opposite policies and incumbents in the presidency and Parliament. Despite the obstruction of electoral and political processes by Islamic institutions and security forces, in the cases of the two aforementioned periods, the ballot box became the mechanism people used to change the direction of policy: liberal democracy versus Islamic authoritarianism. As a result, not only did the character and behaviour of the state shift towards civil society, the composition and political position of civil society changed too. In order to maintain the analysis, the authors of this chapter utilised a part of data and observation from their previous researches on the ‘advocacy NGOs’ and ‘human rights’ subjects in Iran. The data was collected through interviews and questionnaires with policymakers, politicians, scholars, journalists, and NGO activists within Iran.
