May 23, 2005

Upcoming presidential elections in Iran It seems that people often forget that there already is a kind of democracy in Iran, and not the 99.9% for Dear Leader type, either.

Of course, with unelected busybodies in the Guardians Council, there's not much that gets done, apparently. Still, there are apparently a great number of people willing to speak up and toss their hats in the ring, making Iran, with all its problems, much more a functional democracy than other countries, including Saudi Arabia. Can anything be done to incite a transition into full democracy?
Also, according to the NYT, the Guardians cleared the lead candidate and his closest rivals. According to Bloomberg, Moin, the reformer, was the closest rival, and he was among the barred. According to the NYT, barred candidates can appeal; according to the LA Times, they can't. Someone must be wrong, and in both cases the NYT version portrays Iran in a more favorable light. Who's right, and why?

posted by exppii 18 years ago
  • I wouldn't want to incite anything in Iran - any direct action from outside would provoke a worse crackdown. To be honest, I'm torn. Like many, I was shocked that Canada renewed relations with Iran after a Canadian reporter was raped and tortured to death by the Iranian government, who then proceeded to lie about it. But at the same time, I've become very aware of how you cannot force change - already the reformers have been hurt by the changing situation in the Middle East and the threat of outside interferance. Sanctions seemed to have worked in South Africa - why did they? Or maybe they didn't - in which case, what helped end apartheid? Have sanctions ever worked to change a regime?
  • Sanctions certainly worked on South Africa, but they are a westernised country that needed good relations with the rest of us. Iran is largely self sufficient in terms of resources so sanctions won't work so well. Sanctions apparently worked very well in Iraq, also, in terms of actually stopping Hussein from re-arming, although it did not demolish his regime; the Bush/NeoCon cabal, however, clearly did not recognise any of this.
  • In fact, I don't think trying to force other States to 'come across' is ethical at all, to be honest. We should leave them to their own devices, if they are truly beyond the pale, or let the UN handle it.