Acting under Tyranny: Hannah Arendt and the Foundations of Democracy in Iran

Abstract

Amidst the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East and the reshaping of political systems in the region, the Iranian people remain mired in difficulties on their path to democratization. The obstacles hindering them have been examined in great detail since the post-election crisis of 2009, yet little seems to have been gained in the way of overcoming them. This standstill could be blamed largely on the repressive mechanisms of the state. In reality, however, it has more to do with the gradual decline in activity within Iranian civil society and the stagnation of political imagination. If Iran is to have a future built on the solid foundation of a viable and legitimate political authority, Iranian civic actors must reimagine and revisit the notion of constitution-making through sustained dissent and deliberation. No other thinker is more useful in this enterprise than Hannah Arendt. Arendt’s analyses of revolution, terror, and violence provide a valuable framework for examining historical phenomena and a descent into the anti-political. More importantly, her conceptualizations of power, freedom, and thinking as questioning, as nonconformity, make her the quintessential thinker for dissent and the deconstruction of illegitimate political systems. The main purpose of this essay will be to explore how these and other Arendtian ideas may be applicable in the Iranian context. We begin by briefly tracing the history of Iran since the Islamic Revolution and its decline into an anti-democratic state, moving on to a comparative analysis of Arendt’s account of totalitarianism and the Iranian regime in order to assess the potential for a reawakening of democracy within the civil society. We then turn to a deeper examination of Arendt’s ideas to determine how they can foster resistance, civic engagement, and eventual legitimate authority. The focus in the end will be on what Iranians can do to begin anew, to build foundations for the future, and to tell themselves a new story about their identity.