Creating Local Democracy in Iran: State Building and the Politics of Decentralization

Empirically rich and theoretically informed, this book is an innovative analysis of political decentralization under the Islamic Republic of Iran. Drawing upon Kian Tajbakhsh's twenty years of experience working with and researching local government in Iran, it uses original data and insights to explain how local government operates in towns and cities as a form of electoral authoritarianism. With a combination of historical, political, and financial field research, it explores the multifaceted dimensions of local power and how various ideologically opposed actors shaped local government as an integral component of authoritarian state building. Ultimately, this book demonstrates how local government serves to undermine democratization and consolidate the Islamist regime. As Iran's cities and towns grow and develop, their significance will only increase, and this study is vital to understanding their politics, administration and influence.

Table of Contents:
Preface; Overview; Part I. Launching Local Democracy: 1. Reshaping the state: political decentralization comes to Iran in the 1990s: 2. Launching municipal government, 1999-2003; Part II. Arguing for Local Democracy: 3. Reformists, local democracy and civil society: socio-political discourses; 4. Efficiency in governance: technocratic discourse; 5. The theocratic and Islamist discourse on the shura; Part III. Blocking Local Democracy: 6. The rocky path from elections to democracy; 7. City planning and the challenges of democractic governance; 8. Financing local democracy; 9. Geopolitics and the limits of international municipal cooperation; 10. What of the future of local democracy.

About the Author :
Kian Tajbakhsh is Fellow in the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University, where he was Professor of Urban Planning and Urban Studies. He previously directed civil society strengthening initiatives for the Soros Foundation in Iran, where he was a political prisoner from 2009-2016. He has previously published The Promise of the City (2001) and Social Capital: Trust, Democracy and Development (2005).

Review :
'Kian Tajbakhsh's study of local government under the Islamic Republic of Iran is based on careful and painstaking analysis of administrative and legal documents and is unmatched by any in current Iranian history.' Saïd Amir Arjomand, State University of New York 'This deeply personal and academically rigorous account of the efforts to advance political decentralization in Iran raises critical questions for scholars of governance and democracy. By documenting how decentralization was as likely to be embraced by supporters of centralized state power as by reform advocates or even pragmatic technocrats, we are shown the complexities inherent in building democracy from the ground up.' Diane E. Davis, Harvard University 'Kian Tajbakhsh's understanding of Iran is manifest on every page of this book. He convincingly argues, much to his own discontent, how the authoritarian regime consolidates its rule through political decentralization. His work is important for anyone interested in local democracy – a powerful read.' Peter Knip, Director of VNG International 'Kian Tajbakhsh beautifully documents the tragedy of municipal democracy in Iran, from its hopeful beginnings in the mid-1990s to its defeat a decade later. Tajbakhsh was both a scholarly observer of the democratization movement and a participant, whose detention in Iran delayed this long-awaited book for years.' Charles Kurzman, University of North Carolina 'In this unusually revealing account of decentralization efforts in Iran, Tajbakhsh provides a deeply researched and often moving account of how contemporary politics in Iran actually works.' Lisa Anderson, Foreign Affairs '… a welcome and much-needed addition to the developing corpus of expert literature on local democracy. In the broader context, the book provides an in-depth, fascinating case study on how, when, and why authoritarian regimes opt for decentralization and employ democratic tools to achieve their nondemocratic goals.' Nikouei Nikouei, Middle East Journal 'The book stands out as an excellent intellectual exercise in combining theory and data to make sense of socio-political developments.' Ammar Khan Nasir, The Muslim World Book Review 'The value of the book is that it is both academically analytical and also a personal account of good intentions leading to the usual destination. It gives details of local budgets and elections, followed by the author's empirical observations of the results, with revealing interviews with many senior and mid level government officials. Political scientists will find the analysis useful, while the personal insights will give those with a general interest in the interior workings of Iran a view not easily obtainable elsewhere.' Antony Wynn, Asian Affairs