2004) The Islamic revolution in Iran: Retrospect after a quarter of a century. Thesis Eleven

ABSTRACT During the last quarter of a century, Iran has undergone funda-mental changes. The revolution was supported by a heterogeneous coalition of social forces, but it led to a war with Iraq and the stabilization of an Islamic regime. Since the end of the 1980s, four different types of new social actors have emerged in Iran: post-Islamist intellectuals; feminists; students as a non-revolutionary, reformist and democratically minded group; and ethnic move-ments. These actors mostly (with the exception of some intellectuals) belong to a generation which did not take part in the revolution; their aspirations and demands are totally different from those most characteristic of the revolution-ary phase. The election of President Khatami in 1997 was a result of these changes. Since then, a stalemate has prevailed: the society is post-Islamist, whereas the decisive power centres are controlled by Islamist conservatives. KEYWORDS ethnic movement • Islam • post-Islamist intellectual • student movement • women’s movemen