ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the Sepah's or Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, ascent as a political and economic actor from 1979 to the present. It argues that the Sepah's emergence as a political force and its growing involvement in the economy is partly the product of its interactions with its volatile political field and its external threat perception. The book demonstrates that both the ongoing infighting among regime factions and their disputes over the nature of the state and its foreign and domestic policies, on one hand. On other hand, it demonstrates that increasing social demand for change expressed in the repertoire of actions that encompasses voting for more moderate candidates to holding protests. The chapter argues the emergence of a 'garrison state' in which specialists in violence are leading political actors, wielding tremendous power in managing both internal and external crises.
