Quarterly Journal of West Asia Political Research
Bi-lingual

Evaluating the Political Economy of Iran’s Reform Era in Relation to Leftwich’s Developmental State Model

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

SAEED SAFI 1
AHMAD MOVASAGHI 2

1 PhD candidate in political science majoring in public policy ,Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Professor of Political Science Department, Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract
The main aim of this study is to explore the most important features of the Iranian political economy in the reformist government (1997-2005) and compare them with the features of the Leftwich's developmental state. The existence of developmental elites, bureaucratic power and institutional ability, the independence of the state from social classes, the existence of a controlled civil society, and a suitable international context for the development of the country are the five features of Leftwich's developmental state. Such a state believes in revolution from above and the priority of economic development over political-cultural development. The findings of the study show that the most important features and propositions governing the reform state and its elites were: political development, cultural pluralism, human rights and democracy discourse, social freedom, de-escalation in foreign policy, reformism and modernization in various fields, and reliance on the modern middle class. The reformist government prioritizes political-cultural development and bottom-up reforms, which is the opposite of the developmentalist state. The reformist government is somewhat similar to Leftwich in terms of the variables of the international context and bureaucratic power, but has serious differences with Leftwich's government in terms of the variables of the independence of the government from all classes and the special relationship with the capitalist class, civil society, and the elite's view of development.

Keywords

Developmental State
Reformist government
Adrian Leftwich
Political economy
Development

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