MER Article Pushing Back the Limits of the Possible The “Iranian Spring” caught the world by surprise one fine day in May 1997. Long viewed as the epitome of a rogue state and boycotted and shunned by the international community, Iran successfully held fair elections. Of the four candidates who passed the Guardian Council’s grueling test, Mohammad Khatami Zarir Merat • 10 min read
MER Article "God Hasn't Died in This Society Yet" Alireza Alavitabar is a key theoretical tactician of Iran’s religious New Left, an ideological trend to which President Khatami belongs. Alavitabar's greatest impact has been as the editor of the path-breaking Bahman (1996), Rah-e No (1998) and Sobh-e Emrooz (1999), publications that have advocated democratic reforms within Kaveh Ehsani • 12 min read
MER Article Municipal Matters Although the 1997 election of Mohammad Khatami as president of Iran is widely considered a political watershed, an intriguing question remains unanswered: Why did such a grassroots intervention not occur earlier? What had changed to unite Iran’s heterogeneous interests and constituencies at this par Kaveh Ehsani • 17 min read
MER Article The Islamization of Law in Iran The re-Islamization of law by the leadership of the Islamic Republic following the 1979 revolution immediately clashed with the realities of contemporary Iranian society. [1] This clash engendered divisions between the parliament and the Guardian Council (a body of faqihs [2]] tasked with safeguardi Azadeh Niknam • 16 min read
MER Article Political and Social Transformations in Post-Islamist Iran Post-revolutionary Iran’s modernization policies have led to profound social, demographic and cultural changes in both urban and rural areas -- and to unintended political consequences for the political elite. Demands for political modernization, previously limited to city-dwellers, are now voiced by the entire population. These developments highlight the inherent Azadeh Kian • 13 min read
MER Article Do-e Khordad and the Specter of Democracy A shadow haunts Iran, the shadow of democracy and popular sovereignty. Twenty years ago the Islamic Revolution established a polity based on two contradictory elements: a republic of equal and sovereign citizens, and a hierarchical theocracy of pastoral power descending from an unelected religious l Kaveh Ehsani • 6 min read
MER Article Economics of Palestinian Return Migration Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza have faced a series of economic shocks since the Gulf war. Each shock alone would have been difficult to weather, but combined they have led to a considerable worsening of economic conditions. These shocks included the Gulf war, Israeli closures of the W Ward Sayre, Jennifer Olmsted • 6 min read
MER Article Do Immigrants Have First Amendment Rights? “War on Terrorism Hits LA,” the headline of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner screamed on January 27, 1987. The Los Angeles Eight, as the seven Palestinians and a Kenyan came to be known, are still fighting deportation today. Dangerous security risks? The Immigration and Naturalization Service said so Jeanne A. Butterfield • 7 min read
MER Article What's New in the New Sudan? The hum of approaching aircraft sends residents of this dusty rebel outpost scurrying for cover. The over-flights may be the United Nations planes from Operation Lifeline Sudan carrying famine relief -- or Sudanese Air Force Antonov-27s searching for signs of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement ( Dan Connell • 6 min read
MER Article From the Editor (Fall 1999) A quarter of a century ago, MERIP Reports, the forerunner of this magazine, received wide acclaim for its incisive and politically accurate reporting on Iran in the years leading up to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Two decades after the culmination of the tumultuous events that redefined Iranian soci The Editors • 2 min read
MER Article Document: Forced Evictions and Destruction in Villages in Turkish Kurdistan This document is excerpted from a longer report by the Netherlands Kurdistan Society, Forced Evictions and Destruction of Villages in Dersim (Tunceli) and the Western Part of Bingöl, Turkish Kurdistan, September-November 1994 (Amsterdam, 1995). (Author not identified) • 8 min read
MER Article Turkish Women and the Welfare Party After the victory of the Welfare Party in the municipal elections of March 1994, the newly-elected mayor of Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, thanked the disciplined and devoted Islamist women who had campaigned door-to-door until election day. Islamist women also gave the same determined performance Nukte Devrim-Bouvard • 6 min read
