Comments on: 1979 Redux? http://democraticpiece.com/2009/06/18/1979-redux/ Tentative conclusions on democracy & governance Sun, 25 Jul 2010 08:25:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Jack http://democraticpiece.com/2009/06/18/1979-redux/comment-page-1/#comment-4311 Jack Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:47:12 +0000 http://democraticpiece.com/?p=1276#comment-4311 What do you make of the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/opinion/18thu2.html?_r=1" rel="nofollow">current meme</a> that the Islamic republic has sold out its "republicanism" and exposed itself as a run-of-the-mill military dictatorship? The strong form of this argument is that the regime's electoralism has lost its legitimacy, and this is a rallying point for mass mobilization against Islamic-republican institutions writ large. Taken with remarks by opposition leaders like <a href="http://www.adn.es/politica/20090613/NWS-1055-EEUU-UE-Resistencia-Lider-comicios.html" rel="nofollow">these</a> - "An election in a theocratic regime is bogus. It's a selection, not an election." - is there any predictive value to the argument? What do you make of the current meme that the Islamic republic has sold out its “republicanism” and exposed itself as a run-of-the-mill military dictatorship?

The strong form of this argument is that the regime’s electoralism has lost its legitimacy, and this is a rallying point for mass mobilization against Islamic-republican institutions writ large. Taken with remarks by opposition leaders like these – “An election in a theocratic regime is bogus. It’s a selection, not an election.” – is there any predictive value to the argument?

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