Cultural Awareness: Iranian Culture Individuals from various cultures can easily distinguish differences in traits by making comparisons to their own. These differences make up the fundamentals of a society’s way of life. The rules that most individuals abide by comprise the framework of a culture. Culture is the shared beliefs and social norms of a country or area that are different from other places. In the country of Iran, an abundance of diversity defines their culture. Using the United States Army’s operations variables, this paper will define the culture of Iran by analyzing the environmental, political, religious, and military operational variables, as well as their military conflicts with the United States. The …show more content…
The variables used in this process are political, military, economic, social, information, infrastructure, physical environment and time (PMESII-PT). Evaluating these characteristics can give insight into a country’s culture and background for knowledge purposes as well as for military actions. Understanding how and why the people in different regions operate is the only way to gain the advantage and spread cultural awareness throughout the world. The social variable of PMESII-PT identifies a group of people that share a common set of cultural ties (Headquarters, Department of the Army, 2010). These ties include political authority, religion, language and ethnicities. The Islamic Republic of Iran; also known as Persia, is unique due to its diversity but is still considered the same cultural amenity. There are an estimated 70 million people with a variety of ethnicities. Farsi is the principal …show more content…
After its founding in 1979, Iran became a Theocratic Republic. It was originally a monarchy, but after much fighting, the last Shah (king) went into exile and the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini established the Islamic Republic (Kagan, 2012a). In a theocratic republic, God is the supreme civil ruler of the nation. The people elect a supreme leader and president to oversee political and some civil laws, but the leaders must look to the Qur’an for spiritual and civil guidance (Theocratic, 2016). The supreme leader has the overall control in all matters to include the military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a military entity charged with protecting the revolution of 1979 and its achievements (Kagan, 2012). The state’s government is a multi-tier system with some checks and balance systems in place so that one group does not have total power. The first tier is the Islamic consultation assembly, a parliamentary group who creates and passes laws. The second tier is the Guardian Council. Elected by the supreme leader, this group is the approval authority for all of the parliament’s decisions. The Guardian Council also has the power to remove the Supreme Leader if they feel he is not worthy of the title. The Expediency Council is the last tier, which mediates decisions between the previous two entities. The
Not only did the religious history play a large role in Iran’s beliefs but also foreign invaders have been imposing their power on the Iranian region for thousands of years. Iran...
Prior to the Islamic Revolution, Iran was ruled by the Shah, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, and furthermore, not governed by religion. The Shah’s White Revolution launched a series of reforms in 1963 that are indicative of where women’s rights for Iran were heading prior to the Islamic revolution. The reforms included, giving women the right to vote, run for office and to become lawyers and judges. This large of a reform in regards to women’s rights, was far more drastic than anything Iran had experienced in the past, and the shock of these “extreme” measures, received a large backlash from over 90% of the population1, the Shia Muslims.
Over the course of the last century, the Islamic Republic of Iran (formerly known as Persia) has seen colonialism, the end of a dynasty, the installation of a government by a foreign power, and just over three decades ago, the popular uprising and a cleric-led revolution. These events preceded what could be considered the world’s first Islamic state, as politics and fundamentalist religion are inextricably linked in contemporary Iran. Looking at Iran from the mid 1940’s until the present day, one can trace the path that led to the rise of fundamental Islam in Iran in three distinct periods. The first is that which began with the rise of secular nationalism and the decline of Islam. In the second, the secular, western-friendly government eventually gave way to the Islamic revival in the form of a government takeover by hard-line clerics and disillusioned, fundamentalist youth; both motivated and led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Rule of Iran by these fundamentalist clerics then led to the formation of the fundamentalist Islamic theocracy that governs present-day Iran. The current government has some democratic appearances, but all real power is in the hands of the supreme leader, an Ayatollah who is chosen by the Assembly of Experts, a group of clerics chosen by the Guardian Council. With the Iranian Revolution, political Islam was born, with the fundamentalists holding the reins of power in Iran to the present day.
Ludwig, P. (1999). Iranian Nation and Islamic Revolutionary Ideology. Die Welt des islams. 39(2). 183-217.
The formation of states and political legitimacy has most of the time been intertwined with the religious authority that resided in the state. In Christian Europe, the church was the initial source of legitimacy post-Roman Empire. The rise and fall (and rise again) of the Catholic church and the Protestant Reformation help shaped state structures and ultimately, the rise of the secular state. In contrast, in Dar-al-Islam, there was a unique and changing relationship between the state and the ulamas because politics and religion was more or less in the same realm. In some instances, the state and ulamas remained relatively separate but in other cases, the ulamas became the
Although the Iranian Revolution was both a political and religious movement in that it resulted in major shifts in government structure from an autocracy to a republic and that Islamic beliefs were fought to be preserved, it was more a religious movement in that the primary goal of the people was to preserve traditional ideology and in that the government became a theocracy intertwined with religious laws and desires of the people. Although the Iranian Revolution was caused by combination of political and religious motivations and ideas, the desires of the people supporting the movement were more dominantly religious ideas that were wished to be imposed in society and in a new government. The Shah, or king, of Iran at the time was Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, who had developed relations with nations in the “western” world, specifically with the United States. The United States supported the White Revolution, which was a series of social reformations the Shah made to remove Islamic values, law and tradition from the government to boost the country’s economy (White Revolution, 2010).... ...
After the deposing of the shah by revolution, the people of Iran elected a democratic l...
Griffith, William E. “The Revial of Islamic Fundamentalism: the Case of Iran.” International Security. Volume 4, Issue 1, 1979, 132-138.
Many believe that there should be a relationship between the military and anthropologists in order to fight the war on terror. Through the information the soldiers were given on the Culture Smart Cards, and with technology like the Phraselator, it is believed that there will be less friction between the soldiers and the civilians who live in these occupied zones. In his essay, though, Gusterson warns of the difference between negative and positive modalities. Negative modalities would be killing, torture, and bombings, while positive modalities would be the Culture Smart Card and Phraselator.
Iran, theocratic, (CIA, n. d.), is grouped in the Southern Asia region with the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and Thailand. Iran’s climate is desert where precipitation is scarce and unpredictable (House et al., 2004). Iran’s culture is class based and Muslim and believe that “Islam is a body of values, ideas, and beliefs that should encompass all spheres of life including personal and social relationships, economics, and politics” (Price, M., 2001).
...ah and started establishing new laws of this state (Anderson, 1989). The first change was identical to Plato’s philosopher king which allows anyone who wants to be a supreme leader of Iran has to have several features. First quality is scientific competence necessary and that includes Islamic ethics and philosophy. Second quality is justice and piety and thirdly, this person should have a vision of political and social perspectives, courage and the capability for leadership. This example shows us the successful process that helps the society by a philosopher king.
In a simpler world, when conflicts arose, the two sides of an argument and its members would be unmistakable. Much like two parties differing viewpoints, their members would be as distinct as the color black on a white background. In reality, however, this is not the case. Like many issues in our world today, the conflict in Iran between modernist and traditionalists pertaining to women’s rights and westernization is one of complexity. Azar Nafisi shows in her essay, “The Veiled Threat,” that the answer to the question “who is on which side of the Iranian modernization war?” tends to change given varying circumstances.
In this paper, I will first describe the history and creation of the Iranian high courts. I will pay particular attention to how the Islamic revolution and other important events have shaped the court into what it is today. I will also explain the extremely unique and complicated structure of the judiciary system, paying particular attention to the supreme courts and its power.
Concerning my cultural awareness, I scored a 43 out of 50. This score seems accurate to me, as I have been working towards becoming a more culturally competent person since becoming a social work student. Being culturally competent is an ongoing process, and I believe it would be incredibly difficult to be fully competent as there are so many different and ever changing cultures. Although a perfect score may be attainable, I believe my score shows my cultural awareness to be satisfactory with room for improvement.
This new government was based off Avatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ideas. He proposed that Iran should establish a theocracy, which would be run by the ulama. Khomeini’s idea for government were outlined in the Iran Constitution, adopted by 1979. The fundamental idea of this government was that all laws in the Islamic republic much be based on the Islamic principle. The top of this government was the supreme ruler. This ruler had to be just and qualified to rule on matter that dealt with Islamic law. Under this new government, Khomeini was the first supreme ruler. This new government was one way in which the revolutions reshaped Iran during this time period. It reshaped Iran because it completely changed the power structure in the area and led to changes in the lives of Iranian citizens. Although this government was a way to purify the Iranian society, many believe that this model of government is borrowed from the West. Gelvin then argues that this meant that they did not Islamize the nation, instead they nationalized the religion. His argument is that the religion becomes a characteristic of the state, instead of the nation taking on Islamic characteristics.