Examining Intra-Structural Political Conflict in Post-Revolutionary Iran (1997–2013)

Abstract

This study seeks to answer the problematic question of why, during the years 1997 to 2013, under two different administrations known as the Reformists and the Principlists, the political conflict between the state and the government remained similar. Relying on the documentary method and system theory, this research argues that the similar conflict between the state and the government under the differing administrations of Reformists and Principlists stemmed from a structural contradiction between the state and the government. The findings of this study indicate that this contradiction and disharmony, in addition to being interpretable within the constitutional framework, have also manifested in practice between appointed and elected institutions since the beginning of the Revolution. However, this contradiction and disharmony between the state and the political government gradually intensified under Khatami’s administration. This situation reoccurred in a more explicit and radical form under Ahmadinejad’s administration, which was intended as a means to resolve structural conflict and discord. In reality, the relationship between the political structure, itself, and the lifeworld led not to unity and coherence but to conflict, contradiction, and separation.