Journey to the heart of the Islamic Republic: Javier Gil's new book offers the keys to understanding Iran's recent history

From the 1979 revolution that gave birth to the Islamic Republic of Iran to last June's war with Israel. This is the historical journey proposed by La sombra del ayatolá (Ciudadela Libros), the new book by Javier Gil Guerrero, researcher group Religion and Civil Societygroup at the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) at the University of Navarra and professor of International Relations. "It is a fascinating story of political conflicts, revolutions, wars, assassinations, social protests, conspiracies, and negotiations that have not only affected the history of Iran, but have also determined the course of events in the Middle East over the last few decades and, to a certain extent, world politics," says the author.

This informative work offers the keys to understanding the recent history of Iran, one of the key players in Middle Eastern geopolitics. The journey begins with the Islamic revolution, the popular movement that brought down Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and gave rise to an unusual model state: an Islamic republic. "Never before had there been a regime that sought to combine the idea of theocracy with democracy. In Iran, there is an apparent separation of powers and the population votes by universal suffrage for the president and parliament, although these are supervised elections with monitored candidates," explains the expert. Furthermore, "it is an authoritarian regime based on Islamic law. And this has given rise to a multitude of tensions and conflicts since the Islamic Republic was established."

Political and spiritual leader

In this regard, he notes that "it is a heterogeneous mix of various ideologies, mainly elements taken from socialism, nationalism, and Islamism. And this combination, which triumphed during the Islamic Revolution, has shaped the political culture of the Islamic Republic of Iran over the decades." This clash of ideologies has led to continuous internal strife and brutal repression of dissent both within and outside the country's borders.

The fact that the country's leadership remains in the hands of the supreme leader (first Khomeini, now Khamenei) is also a radical innovation at the political and religious level in a society where the majority of the population professes Twelver Shiism: "At the head of the state is a figure who acts as guide country's guide and spiritual guide . This has also created problems because the interests of Shiism are often confused with the national interests of Iran."

Survival and adaptation

On this journey to the heart of the Islamic Republic, the author delves into the decisive historical events of the country's contemporary history, such as the war that pitted it against its neighbor Iraq (1980-1988), which left hundreds of thousands dead, many of them children and teenagers sent to the battlefield, a Economics , and a traumatized society. "The bequest the Iran-Iraq War is ambivalent. It is overshadowed by a report to that of European nations after World War I: an enormous and bloody sacrifice, but an absurd one."

However, this conflict also provided a powerful incentive to consolidate the regime: "It creates a report deeply linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran, which, in a sense, legitimizes it in the eyes of many Iranians. Furthermore, it promotes the idea that Iran was alone against the world because, faced with a majority of countries that provide Iraq with generous and open financial aid , very few are willing to sell arms to Iran, and some do so clandestinely. This, after two centuries of humiliation at the hands of foreign powers, greatly encourages patriotic pride and nationalism."

Despite the trauma of war, international sanctions, internal repression, and Iran's involvement in regional conflicts in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza, coupled with increasing protests on Iranian streets, the Islamic Republic has remained standing. In contrast, regimes such as those of Saddam Hussein (Iraq), Bashar al-Assad (Syria), Muammar Gaddafi ( Libya), and Hosni Mubarak (Egypt) have fallen.

"The Islamic Republic has demonstrated a strength and adaptability that has allowed it to survive for decades," recalls Gil Guerrero. Among the reasons, he points to the revolutionary experience, which allowed the regime's leaders to identify the mistakes made by the Shah, and the creation of the Revolutionary Guard or Pasdaran, "a highly ideological army, created to defend the Islamic Republic as a political regime, which has also extended its tentacles into the Economics, creating a clientelist state." Repression and the absence of a civil service examination system with opportunities, as well as the fear of falling into a state of chaos if change were to occur, also contribute to the regime's survival.

Now, following the war with Israel and the US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities last June, Iran finds itself at a leavepoint. "The Israeli offensive could be seen as a traumatic culmination of a series of domestic upheavals that preceded it. It remains to be seen whether the Islamic Republic will be able to adapt once again or whether we are witnessing, as some analysts say, a moment similar to that of the 1980s in the Soviet Union with Gorbachev: an exhausted political regime that perpetuates itself in power because it has a monopoly on violence and does not hesitate to exercise it," the author explains. However, "it has lost the hearts and minds of the population it governs."