Authoritarian Response to the Pandemic - Iran

Abstract

Crisis management has always been a central toolin the survival strategy of Iranian political elites since theirrise to power after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Fromthe First Gulf War (1980–1988) to structural hostility withWashington and Tel Aviv through the recurrent repressionof social movements such as the student revolt of 1999 orthe Green Movement of 2009, the authoritarian regimeof the Islamic Republic seems to be fueled by crises. Themanagement of crisis is designed to justify the restrictionof the scope of civil rights of Iranian citizens in the nameof Khomeinist ideals. Can the COVID-19 crisis lead tothe strengthening of the institutions of the Islamic Republicor, on the contrary, after a short-term anti-protest effectlinked to the fear of the spread of the virus within the Iranian population, can we expect a weakening of the regime of the Islamic Republic on the internal and regionalfronts? In addition, one should wonder about a possiblespecificity of the political response of the authoritarianstates towards COVID-19 starting from the Iranian example. In other words, are there any ideological convergences between Iran, Russia, and China and to whatextent does the health challenge reveal similar questionsbetween authoritarian states and democratic societies?