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Comparative Government: Iran and the United States

Iran flag.

US flag.

The old Majlis Building (ex-Senate) used from 1979-2004.

The United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

“Let me speak directly to the citizens of Iran: America respects you, and we respect your country. We respect your right to choose your own future and win your freedom. And our nation hopes one day to be the closest friends with a free democratic Iran.” —President George W. Bush

Introduction

The America and Iran have two different approaches in the modern world from culture, economics and histories; both have two rival religions, Christianism and Islamism. However, both countries need to talk in the beginning of 21st century to avoid some unnecessary conflicts. As the USA becoming more dependent on the oil, the United States–Iran relations are becoming more sensitive to the petroleum, natural gas, mineral deposits, and war on terrorists. Additionally, despite supporting U.S. efforts in Afghanistan to oust the Taliban, the Iranian clerical leadership had publicly declared Operation Enduring Freedom an imperialist plot. Iran is a relatively large country enjoying a strategic position in the Persian Gulf of Middle East. It is also the second largest oil exporter within OPEC and the fourth largest oil producer in the world. From the 1979 Iran hostage crisis led to a lasting economic and diplomatic damage because the both countries saw each other as a threat to their international policies. In his Axis of evil speech, the U.S president Bush defined Iran as a country who owns long-range missiles threats to the world. On the other hand, Iran repeats it won’t give up the development of nuclear technology. Today these countries need to negotiate along with other Middle East countries to discuss about the peace and how to obtain and preserve it.

Historical influence

Influence on U.S government

Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States, by Howard Chandler Christy.

America was from the formal colony clubs of the Great Britain, so the U.S government was the derivative from the [British government]. This new continent greatly absorbed the common law system, Protestantism, and Bill of Rights from the British and cut off the king or queen or nobility. The people living in the United States always remain distrust to their type of government because the Britain’s monarchy left massive taxes and limits to them. As the country grows, the Article of Confederation was edited to the U.S constitution not only to strength the power of federal government but also to protect individuals and states’ rights to protect their freedom. In a separation of powers, the national legislature does not select the person or persons of the executive; instead, the executive is chosen by other means (direct popular election, Electoral College selection, etc.) The Separation of church and state and Ten Commandments made the U.S became one of the most democratic nations in the world. The federal government was divided into three branches- executive, judiciary, and legislative to limit and check within three kingdoms.

Influence on Iran government

Islam was introduced to Iran in the seventh century and the Shitte/Sunni split occurred soon after that. The main question over them was who was the new caliph (loosely analogous to the Catholic papacy.) Shiites believed the legitimate rulership of the Islamic community was to the heirs of the Prophet Muhammad. Shiites thus remained more critical of monarchs and less fully reconciled with Sunni. The Shiites had hostile power to the leaders and enjoyed independence from the Arab world. Compare to the Christian priests, Shiite clerics often refused to make peace with secular authorities based on a dividing line between church and state. Iran has a complex political culture and sense of self-identity is heavily influenced by (a) a Islam notion of Iranian identity centered on the nationalism, (b) intellectual loans acquired in the course of encounter with Western modernity, (c) attachment to the minority branch of Islam known as Shiism. Each of these currents has served as a breeding ground for the formation of different types of political perspectives ranging from anti-Arab Iranian nationalism to the secular humanism and finally radical Shiism.

Economic Influence

Economic Influence on U.S government

The U.S real GDP has a continuous growth from 1950 to 2000

The United States occupies many raw resources like water, wildlife, forest, coal, and gasoline. The economy of the United States is the world's largest economy in the world. Its domestic gross product is estimated to $13.7 trillion in the world. The U.S. economy has maintained a stable overall GDP growth rate, a low unemployment rate, and high levels of research and capital investment. The U.S federal government usually regulates the economy in two ways. (1) Economic Regulation, the government extend its field in controlling the industry and agriculture to fight the monopoly. The antitrust law and the new deal are the examples of U.S government control the economy. (2) Monetary policy and fiscal policy. The federal government attempts to use both monetary policy (control of the money supply through mechanisms such as changes in interest rates) and fiscal policy (taxes and spending) to keep low inflation, high economic growth, and low unemployment. The U.S government greatly increased its size to exercise control over private companies to achieve social goals, such as improving the public health and safety or maintaining a healthy environment.

Economic influence on Iran government

Iran's oil reserve mostly spread out around the Gulf of Persian

The terrain of Iran is a plateau consisting of mountains and desert, with a continental climate marked by extreme temperature difference between fall and winter. These factors made Iran not an ideal agriculture country and have resulted in a rather skewed demographic distribution. Located in the Gulf of Persian, Iran has the most important natural resource- oil to the world industry. Iran's gross domestic product increased from $17.3 billion to an estimated $54.6 billion in the 1973 to 1974 made Iran became one of the fastest third world growing countries. The income from oil also made Iran a rentier state because of the rentier economy. Rentier economy is an economy heavily supported by state expenditure, while the state itself continuously receives rent from abroad especially the USA. Iran government wants to gain independence from the U.S dollars and the U.S economy, so it shifts to Europe. Iranian oil bourse, which will be opened at year of 2008, does not deal with the U.S dollar but Euros. The geographical location is at the Persian Gulf island of Kish which is designated by Iran as a free trade zone. This is the sign that Iranian wants to be oil trade independent from the U.S dollars.

Present Governmental Structures

Constitutional comparison

Both constitutions explain the rights of people, the duties of government, and the goals of the constitutions. However, the United States constitution has proved that it created an effective of government to protect the rights of the people. Since the revise of the constitution in 1989, Iran is still struggling in its constitution. Iran constitution was modeled on the 1958 constitution of the French Fifth Republic and it was revised to eliminate the prime minister office in 1989. Compare to the U.S constitution, Iran constitution is more precisely focus on the religious control but not in the individual rights and freedom. The preamble states the Assembly of Experts for Constitution framed the Constitution by the government with the hope that this century will witness the establishment of a universal holy government and the downfall of all others. The biggest difference between Iran and the U.S constitution is the religious freedom, civil liberties and civil rights. Since the constitution set the nation as the Islam Republic, the Article 2 of the constitution set Allah is the only one god. All the laws and fundamentals are set for Allah. The United States, on the other hand, use the establishment clause to point out that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. That is the principle difference in the constitution of the U.S and Iran. Furthermore, Article 3 of Iran constitution explains the objective of the Islamic Republic is to direct all of its resources to a number of goals. The United States constitution spends three articles to discuss duties of the legislature, judiciary, and the executive branch. The checks and balance is a very complicate and effective system to avoid a tyranny government. Iran’s constitution changed a lot from the original French Fifth constitution due to the religious control and it lacked the ratification from the people. The United States constitution is the result of the constitutional convention’s endless arguing of the checks and balance system and it was ratified by major states. In a word, the United States constitution is more stable and more religious free than the Iran’s constitution.

Institutions

Iran's complex and unusual political system combines elements of a modern Islamic theocracy with democracy. A network of elected and unelected institutions influence each other in the government's power structure.

Checks to Checks and Balances

With the introduction of a Constitution in 1979, Iran created a government reflecting new democratic ideals and old theocratic tradition. The result of this collaboration is a theocratic hierarchy that oversees and may void the actions of the democratic institutions that perform the everyday functions of government. The Madisonian system of U.S. government employs a similar idea of checking however each institution possesses avenues through which they may check the others therefore rendering all three institutions more or less equally powerful or balanced.

Executive

The head executives of both the United States and Iran are labeled as presidents and are elected by the population of their respective nations. However, the president of Iran is elected via the absolute majority of the popular vote, an uncommon occurrence among Middle Eastern countries, whereas in the United States the popular vote is translated through the Electoral College. Both executives appreciate a four year term with the option to lead for one more term. As for responsibilities and power within their respective governments, the position as president of the United States vastly outweighs that of the president of Iran. The President of the United States serves as the chief of almost all facets of government i.e. chief diplomat, chief of state, commander-in-chief, chief legislator, whereas the Iranian President is only responsible for the inner workings of the executive institution. The president of Iran is always subject to the decisions of the supreme leader and this is demonstrated in the following quote: “Abolhassan Bani-Sadr [president], an Islamic leftist, was removed by Khomeini [supreme leader] within a year of taking office.”

The executive institution surrounding the Iranian president is composed of eight vice presidents and a council of ministers. The Iranian Council of Ministers, a group consisting of twenty-two members, is the rough equivalent of the United States executive cabinet of secretaries. The vice presidents and Council of Ministers are all appointed by the Iranian president and approved by the Majlis just as the vice president and cabinet secretaries are appointed by the president of the United States and approved by Congress.

Both the American and Iranian executive institutions are quite similar in the structure and common responsibilities. However, the American executive office wields a much greater power in its respective government than does that of Iran. This discrepancy is most illuminated in the comparison of the status of each nation’s president. In the United States, the president is the iconic figurehead of the national government and while the presidency is not an omnipotent position, it is arguably the most powerful position in the United States government. Contrarily, the Iranian president’s national popularity is shrouded by that of the supreme leader who serves as Iran’s political icon. Also, while the Iranian president performs similar duties to that of the president of the United States, in Iran the president may always be undercut by the theocratic hierarchy. Therefore Iranian presidential power is capricious.

Legislative

The Majlis serves as the Iranian legislative institution. It is a unicameral body consisting of 290 members that serve four-year terms. Before the Iranian constitution was ratified in 1979 the Iranian legislative body was bicameral. The United States Congress is a bicameral legislative body consisting of 535 members with the lower House of Representatives members serving 2-year terms and the higher Senate members serving 6-year terms. Despite their structural differences Majlis and Congress are similar in their functions. Each is responsible for drafting and passing legislation, ratifying treaties, and maintaining their respective nation’s budget. Yet, just as the president, the Majlis are supervised and can be overruled by a theocratic hierarchy. The Council of Guardians possesses two incredible checks over the Majlis: every candidate to run in a Majlis election must be permitted to do so by the Council of Guardians and all legislation to be passed must be approved by the Council.

Judiciary

Gates of Iran's Judiciary,called Bagh-Melli. The gates were made during the Qajar era. Location: Tehran, Iran.

The structure of the Iranian judiciary institution begins with the head of the judiciary who is required to be a cleric and is appointed by the supreme leader. Under the head of the judiciary follows the Supreme Court. The lowest courts include public courts that try criminal and civil cases. There are also “revolutionary courts” whose responsibility is to hear cases concerning or affiliated with treason. The decisions of the “revolutionary courts” are final and may not be appealed. Lastly, there is the largely independent Special Clerical Court which is responsible for trials concerning clerics. The Special Clerical Court is only accountable to the supreme leader and is also able to wield decisions that are final and may not be appealed. Structurally, the United States judicial branch and the Iranian judiciary are largely different with few similarities. The Supreme Court is the highest body of the United States judicial branch and serving under it are various trial and appellate courts at both the state and federal level.

The Iranian judiciary branch is mostly comprised of conservative clerics desiring to uphold Sharia, Islamic law, in Iran. Under Sharia one may be punished for acts such as homosexuality and adultery and possible punishments for these acts are execution, stoning, or the amputation of fingers. The judiciary also employs hezbollahis (members of the party of god) and bazaarls in an under-the-table manner to at times violently enforce conservative clerical ideals. These actions are a far cry from those of the United States judicial branch because in the U.S. the judicial branch’s sole function is to hear cases and reach decisions on those cases.

Theocratic Hierarchy

File:Imam Khomeini - has exiled.jpg

The former supereme leader Khomeini in Iran

Above the aforementioned Iranian democratic institutions lies a powerful theocratic hierarchy that may essentially step in and check the actions of the lower democratic government as it sees fit. There is no American equivalent to this level of Iranian government due to the secular nature of the United States government. The most visible position of this theocratic level of Iranian government is the supreme leader. Clerical status and charisma are necessary qualifications for the Iranian supreme leader. The supreme leader’s responsibility is to uphold the nation to the standards of Islam. Under this umbrella of responsibility the supreme leader is granted powers such as commander-in-chief, the ability to appoint the judiciary head and half of the Guardian Counsel, and the ability to overrule or fire the president.

The supreme leader is selected by another body within the higher theocratic level, the Assembly of Religious Experts. The duty of this assembly is to evaluate the performance of the supreme leader and intervene if necessary and because the Assembly is able to select the supreme leader they may also dismiss him. The assembly of 86 men, although directly elected by the population, is largely comprised of clerics due to the requirement that candidates pass a religious exam. The assembly meets for a week annually to perform their duties.

While the Assembly of Religious Experts is responsible for the supervision of the supreme leader, the Guardian Council is responsible for the review and maintenance of the Majlis. Every piece of legislation to be passed must be approved by the Guardian Council and every candidate to run in a Majlis election must be approved by the Guardian Council. The Guardian Council is a twelve member group consisting of six clerics appointed by the supreme leader and six lawyers appointed by the judiciary and approved by Majlis. The presence of clerics and lawyers within the Guardian Council allows for dual review of proposed legislation. The clerics review legislation to see if it holds true with the concepts of Sharia and the lawyers review legislation on the merit of its constitutionality.

Due to much dispute between the Guardian Council and Majlis, the Expediency Council was formed in 1988. The Council’s members are appointed by the supreme leader and serve five-year terms. The function of the Expediency Council it to serve as an arbitrator between the Guardian Council and Majlis, however, the formal powers of the Expediency Council are somewhat ambiguous.

Civil liberties and rights

Overall, Iran’s civil rights are very limited compare to the U.S’ civil rights because of the religion. Iran constitution added the Rights of the People into the Chapter III with very few 17 specific Articles. They promised that the government will provide free education, limited by the Islamic freedom of press, association, and assembly. The United States doesn’t provide the free education and it does provide a free market. The United States criticized Iranian regime’s record of human rights abuse is among the worst in the world. Here are the reasons why. (1) Iranian cannot freely choose their own leaders because Guardians of Councils (consist 6 clerics and 6 jurists) control over election procedures and candidates. (2) Deteriorating environment for civil liberties; because Iran’s Interior and Intelligence ministers have been implicated in human rights abuses since 1988. (3) Restricted freedom of speech and rights to assembly. Iranian cannot provide protection of these freedoms outside the Islam principle. Above all of those, the United States has better textbook example amendments to achieve these civil rights. Iran needs a significant change in its political structure to protect individuals.

Iran's women rights

The most important one Iran needs to improve is the women rights. The segregation between women and men restricts women’s access to the states’ scarce education, recreational facilities, cultural compounds, and institutionalize them to limited career and life opportunities. The Iranian women have traditionally been deprived of many of their basic rights and have suffered from both male centered ideologies and male dominance that treat women as irrational, child-like, and immature. Women have no rights thus become tools for an Islamic, antifeminism, and unfair world. Iran’s clerical and Islamic rulers have always been preoccupied with setting limited on the rights and roles of women and have not neglected any measure and initiative to impose gender discrimination under the rubric of executing shari’ah or Islamic law. In addition, Iran government poses many cruel restrictions and laws especially on women. (1) The inability of women to work, divorce, or travel or leave the house without the permissions of their husbands or fathers or brothers. (2) Lowering the age of consent for marriage to 9 immediately after the revolution, and increase to 13 years old after two decades of women struggles. (3) Banning abortion except in some emergency situations. (4) A very strict and restrictive set of dress codes including enforcement of he jab and requiring all women to wear dark and concealing uniforms. (5) Banning female singers’ voices to be broadcast from radio and television and CD. The women in Iran represent the darkest side of the civil rights because of the religious control and lack of freedom. In the USA, the US National Organization for Women (NOW) was created in 1966 with the purpose of bringing about equality for all women. NOW was one important group that fought for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). This amendment stated that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex. The human rights, especially women rights, are Iran’s Achilles’ arch because the U.S ranked Iran as one of the worst human rights countries in the world.

Political behavior

Political Parties

Students protesting against burial plan. The day before burials.

The parties in the Iran are amateur compare to the parties in the U.S. The parties in Iran are loosely organized because it lacks of leadership and bounded by religion. Iranian citizens do not benefit from the presence of recognized, legitimated, or effective political parties. The Islamic Republican Party was an experimental failure in Iran because the supreme leader was afraid its factional infighting in its ranks. The political parties in Iran engaged in political ventures rather than full fledged groups of full time activists. The parties in the U.S had a long history during the time of federalists and anti-federalists. The Democratic Party and Republican Party are merged for a two party dominate system. In brief, Iran’ parties are at an early stage of development and party disciplines and party formations remain embryonic.

Political elections

The voters who favored Akbar Hashemi in 2005

Iran has the freest electoral system in the Middle East and it once lowered the voting age to 15. But this doesn’t prove Iran is a real democratic nation because Guardians of Counsel picks up the candidates for the election. This counsel also limits that the candidates must belief in the practice of Islam and sacred system of Iran. Candidates must be under seventy-five, and those running for the first time must have the equivalent of university degree. In contrast, the United States can have candidates have many different opinions and promises, but the results of supports really make the difference in the election. Iran's government can decide whether he or she crosses the line of Islam and how to punish the pagan. Under this religious pressure, political elections are loosely organized unlike the United States.

Policy

Domestic Policy

Ahmadinejad was the former mayor of Tehran and now the president of Iran. He is the leader of Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran party

The issues that have been the recent focus of Iranian domestic policy are women’s rights and the economy. The issues were called to the forefront of the Iranian political agenda by President Khatami. These issues are apart of a broader reform movement in Iran in which the nation is slowly loosening it conservative clerical ideals. Evidence of reform may be seen through evaluating the voting habits of the public. From 1980 to 2003 there was a 37% drop in clerics elected to the Majlis.

Women in Iran are entitled to less civil rights and liberties the men. Much of this is due to Sharia and Islamic customs. Two examples are: women are often not allowed to attend public sporting events and men usually gain child custody post-divorce. However, steps for reform have been made as of late. Many restrictions on women’s clothing have been loosened and women have found ways to adjust their required attire to display their effeminate attributes. Also, unmarried men and women are now permitted to be seen together in public and they may even hold hands.

On a global level Iran is not a poor country and this argument may be supported by its $9,000 a year per capita income. However, much of what plagues the Iranian economy is its dependence on oil exportation which is highlighted by the rationing of gasoline to Iranians despite Iran’s status as a major oil exporter. Economic inefficiency is also a result of the indifference toward the economy on the part of the clerical conservatives in government. This perspective may be summed up no better than in a quote of Ayatollah Khomeini “This revolution was not about the price of watermelons”. Lastly, yet another obstruction to the prosperity of the Iranian economy are the misgivings much of the government clerics have about opening up Iran to foreign business dealings. Their fear of the clerics is that opening Iran to imports will degrade the religious integrity of the nation.

The domestic policy of the United States is largely consumed with Homeland Security. This is illuminated by the recent addition of the Department of Homeland Security to the cabinet within the executive branch. As for the American economy, it is currently in a recession and this may be seen in the ever-diminishing value of the American dollar. Overall, American and Iranian foreign policy are not very similar. Much of this discrepancy may be attributed to the strong religious influence present in the Iraqi government that is not present on the same scale in America.

Foreign Policy

The foreign policy of Iran concentrates on two factors: eliminating foreign influences within the nation and diplomacy with developing and non-aligned countries. U.S. foreign policy is somewhat similar to the first staple of Iranian foreign policy in its current focus on immigration and tightening national borders. However, the United States directly contradicts the second staple of Iranian foreign policy because it is an aligned nation via its membership in NATO.

As for foreign action, Iran has historically funded pro-Islamic movements in other nations although in recent years has cooled-off in that regard. Iran possesses conflict with two other nations Israel, whom Iran does not recognize as a nation, and the United States. Iran supports the pro-Islamic movement of the Palestinians against Israel and therefore does not support Israel. The United States and Iran have a long history of negative transactions including the hostage crisis of 1979, the Iran-Contra affair, and occasional skirmishes due to a heavy U.S. presence in the Middle East. Currently the United States is putting heavy pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear program through public opposition and economic sanctions. It is the U.S.’s belief that Iran nuclear program possesses ambitions of nuclear weapons but Iran insists that their nuclear program is solely for the provision of nuclear power. Unfortunately at this moment each country perceives the other as the enemy and neither nation is doing much to mend their broken relations.

External links

• UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
• Iran Constitution
• U.S annual report to Iran in 2001
• The Majlis (Legislature) of Iran (in Persian)
• Iran.ir
• Persian language (Persian)