Country Fact Sheet
Directions
Below is some key information you should know about each countries you studied in Comparative Politics. Use this chart to test yourself and see what you need to review
Federal/Unitary theocracy | Number of subunits | Description of arrangement (for example, devolution, etc) - explain HOW a theocracy (include terms: shari’a, ulema, - Local Elections (this is not comprehensive but will give you some insight into how local governments work in this federalist system |
Presidential, Parliamentary, or Mixed? | Name of Head of State (for example, President) Leader, Council of Guardians, Expediency Council | Name of Head of Government - President |
Head of State/Head of Government *see above page numbers for the information in these columns* | Powers of head of state, length of term Council of Guardians, Expediency Council Powers of the leader (discuss fatwas like caviar and chess, advisory authority of Expediency Council) | Powers of head of government - Multiple Power Centers - National Security Council *this will need to be further researched from outside sources* |
Election of head of state, length of term Presidential Elections | Election of head of government - Presidential Elections | |
Name of Legislative Branch (Identify both houses if applicable) | Number of seats in legislative branch, length of term, describe power of legislative branch (rubber stamp, powerful) Parliament (Majles) | Describe elections of legislative branch - Parliamentary Elections |
Name of Judicial Branch | How are judges selected? who appoints? Council of guardians Expediency Council | Describe type of power *Describe judicial power by considering outside sources…don’t forget the following: - Council of guardians - Expediency Council - Judiciary’s abuse of power |
Bureaucracy/Cabinet | Describe bureaucracy *this will require further research. Don’t forget to discuss the following: POLICY OUTCOMES (Incoherent Policies...use music as an example of how complicated implementation of policy sometimes is) | Describe cabinet |
Political Recruitment/Participation | How are elites recruited? RECRUITING THE POLITICAL ELITE (discuss role of personalism, how clergy, nonclerical parliamentarians and ministers, educational, and military institutions recruited) | What are various forms of participation? - INTEREST ARTICULATION AND AGGREGATION (Noninstitutional Forms of Interest Articulation and Aggregation (clientalism and patron-client networks) |
Other important institutions (complete only if applicable to the country) | Institutional Groups and Professional Organizations (discuss Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and volunteer mobilization corps) Summarize State Institutions Not Mentioned in the Constitution(Supreme Council for the Cultural Revolution) | |
Media | Describe type of “feedback” citizens receive Mass Media…how does it unify AND divide Iranians? (Discuss TV, radio, newspapers, and what happens to journalists who criticize government?) | |
Legitimacy | Describe levels of legitimacy | Identify sources of legitimacy Discuss role of religion and citizens’ reaction to it as a source of legitimacy. Use the following to supplement, although this is not totally exclusive: - HISTORICAL LEGACY · - Twelver Shiism (explains how theocracy established….pay CLOSE attention to this section. |
Features of the Constitution | When was it written? · Constitutionalism in · Islamic Revolution (describe the principle of velayate-e faqih) | Identify 3 unique features - An Honestly Undemocratic Constitution…What does this phrase mean? - 2nd column, middle paragraph |
Historical Evolution of Political Traditions Pay special attention to highlighted sections and explain the in detail | (Identify 3 key events and briefly explain how the events shaped current government (revolutions for example) HISTORICAL LEGACY · Twelver Shiism (explains how theocracy established….pay CLOSE attention to this section. · Constitutionalism in · The Pahlavi monarchy · Islamic Revolution (describe the principle of velayate-e faqih) · Iran-Iraq War | |
Key Political Leaders and their Policies | Identify and describe at least 3 key political leaders Ruhollah Khomeini Mohammad-Reza Shah Pahlavi Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Mohammad Mossadegh Ali Khamenei Mohammad Khatami Muhamud Ahmadinejad | |
Ethnic Cleavages | Identify the major ethnic cleavages in the country Sunnis and Shiites (discuss beliefs and know the differences between the two) | Describe the results of these cleavages in political conflict and government response; include a description of women - discuss various women’s groups - Gender Relations (discuss key reproaches, Islamic Penal Code of 1981, ad hoc discriminations. Also, discuss how the role of women has changed and increased their participation in society, and changes in perceptions over the role of women. Finally, discuss “Islamic feminism”) |
Political Parties (Identify/describe platforms of 3) | BEFORE the revolution, there was the Tudeh party and the National Front party ELECTIONS AND PARTIES (the prerevolutionary legacy, post revolutionary parties (describe beliefs of conservatives, pragmatists, and radicals) Islamic Republican party (IRP) | - 2nd column middle paragraph (autonomous associations…discuss Shirin Ebadi) - Discuss the negative effect of factionalism on political parties) - 2nd column, bottom paragraph (why are parties limited in their role?) |
Electoral Systems | Describe the methods by which citizens elect their leaders. Include length of terms, frequency of elections, Presidential Elections and Parliamentary Elections | |
Role of Political Elites | Identify elites (people with political power) and describe the role | |
Citizens | Describe attitudes towards government (political socialization) Who can vote before the Revolution? POLITICAL CULTURE (discuss citizen belief in conspiracies, relationship with western world, ethnic nationalism, patriotism, and nuclear technology) extreme individualism Policy Level POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION · Discuss Education System (prerevolutionary textbooks, cultural revolution, Islamic economics, Islamic sciences, basij,) The Military (how revolution and Iran-Iraq war influence generation), Religion and Religious Institutions (VERY important), and Family and Social Groups Discuss “state educational system” and literacy rates among population | Describe types of political participation - Presidential Elections and Parliamentary Elections - Process level - INTEREST ARTICULATION AND AGGREGATION (Noninstitutional Forms of Interest Articulation and Aggregation (clientalism and patron-client networks), Institutionalized Forms of Interest Articulation and Aggregation: Voting, Institutional Groups and Professional Organizations (House of Labor, Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries, and Mines), and Nonassociational Social Groups, Demonstrations and Public Protests (civil disobedience, protests, sit-ins, demonstrations)) |
Interest Group System (identify pluralist or corporatist) | Identify key interest groups Bazaari merchants Martyr’s Foundations, the Foundation of the Disinherited, Society of the Devotees of the Islamic Republic, and Headquarters of the POWs | Describe their power and activities See left column |
Economic System (identify capitalist, socialist, etc.; identify major economic policies government has adopted) | Identify state-owned industries, foreign-owned industries, nature of privatization Contrast 1980s and 1990s Describe impact of | Describe nature of private/public industries *Will require outside research. Don’t forget below… - The legacy of Oil Wealth: A Rentier State |
First World/ | Describe level of economic development | Identify 5 socioeconomic indicators that places the country in this category - Literacy Rates of population - Improvements in the countryside - Iranians struggle to make ends meet. How and why? - “Third Wordlists” approach to foreign policy (left column and then right column bottom paragraph) |
Supranational Organizations | Identify supranational organizations that country is a part of Foreign Policy (3 concentric circles) Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (explain) | Discuss impact of supranational organizations on sovereignty and on development - Discuss relations with |
Public Policy | Identify and describe 3 recent policies Population Growth Policies (birth rates), health care, improvements in the country side, provision of basic services to people Islamicization of Society (what social behaviors does it control?) Foreign Policy (summarize all aspects of its approach to foreign policy) pay special attention to nuclear program of | Identify and describe most pressing current problems - CURRENT POLICY CHALLENGES (describe view of “west”, post revolutionary reality, role of oil reserves, employment issues (and relate to educational system), corruption, ethnic minorities, and community and development) - -POLICY OUTCOMES (Incoherent Policies...use music as an example of how complicated implementation of policy sometimes is) |
Other |
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