Social movements in post-revolutionary Iran

Abstract

This thesis questions in what ways two major social movements, the Student Movement in 1999 and Green Movement in 2009, affected Iranian domestic politics. It argues that, although these movements seemed to fail, they succeeded in important ways. Essentially, these movements altered domestic politics by their emergence and resilient continuity as an alternative way of political participation for Iranians. The result of their continuation and expansion encouraged, and continues to encourage, more liberal tendencies. These movements occurred since the 1979 Iranian revolution, itself, planted their seeds in post-revolutionary Iran by its outcomes, which created political opportunities, mobilizing structures, resources, and framing. Social movements became an alternative way of political participation, beginning from the Student Movement, and initiated the early changes in public opinion for a more liberal regime in 1999. Although the Iranian government brutally suppressed the Student Movement, its participants continued their struggle. The Green Movement in 2009 was a pro-democracy movement that united separate opposition groups in society, with broader frames and peaceful tactics, as a continuance of the Student Movement. It arguably shook the Islamic governments legitimacy and changed Iranians opinion, which was reflected in the election of a reformist candidate in the 2013 presidential elections.