Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch, Rasht, Iran
Abstract
This article is aimed to explain transition to democracy by using some concepts of the theory of government elites, especially the notion of "transitional situations in Iran. From such a theoretical perspective one major question arises: what is the role of the government elites and the political field in the transition to democracy in Iran? In order to answer this question, we examined the hypothesis that the process of successful transition to democracy in Iran not only requires political elites who, in terms of structural solidarity and value correlation, are in opposition to the transition from the least harmony, but require a political field in which there exists a number of diverse civil, political, and economic institutions and parties and media. Therefore, from the perspective of the role of the government elites by studying the transition to democracy in the Islamic Republic and discussing the state of transition, its characteristics and factors, the present research tries to explain the relationship between the nature of the government elites and the political field and the transition to democracy in Iran. It tries to present an explanation of the different paths and outcomes of the transition. Thus the research shows that the transitional situation in Iran involves the consolidation of government elites and in order to achieve this, while reviewing the performance of the government elites in Iran, it highlights the main obstacles of the transition to democracy in Iran, and discusses about the ideological government, mass society, and the rentier economy structure.
Keywords
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