July 2009
3 posts
Did Iran Lose its Chance of Catching Up With the...
Does Iran’s economic trajectory over the 20th century look very different from most other countries in the Third World/South? This is an important question which is rarely asked. While comparisons between time periods within a single country can be useful - say, comparing average growth rates of the Pahlavi monarchy with the Islamic Republic - they can also be highly misleading and...
The Privatization Panacea in Iranian Politics
Some foreign analyses of the post-election events made the argument that the factions and politicians associated with the Mousavi campaign, especially Hashemi Rafsanjani, were planning to rush through a privatization of Iran’s state-owned companies and assets if they had won. The usual epithet of the left – neoliberal – was hurled at Mousavi and his circle.
A quick aside: two words are used quite...
CUMINet commentary
Last week I reiterated some of my comments here on the excellent Danish blog CUMINet, run by Rasmus Elling. This was partly me testing the e-waters. The only comment I received was understandably disconcerted. Yet I was not implying that the possibilities for a renewal of “people power” were forever gone. I was simply trying to add to a beginning critique of the reformist faction...