Factors and Obstacles Affecting the Role of Civic Institutions in the "Reform Period" in Iran: The Internal Dynamics of a Hybrid Political System

The purpose of this article is to discuss the political ups and downs of the “Reform era” in Iran (1997-2005). To analyze the “Islamic Republic of Iran” as a political regime and its dynamics, “Hybrid Regimes” theories have been used in current work. Such theories reject the duality of Democracy-Authoritarianism and try to provide essential concepts for analyzing the regimes which are in the middle of the spectrum. Those regimes have unique features in comparison to Democratic or Authoritarian regimes. To analyze the Islamic Republic of Iran as a political regime and to explain the ups and downs of the “Reform era” in Iran, the studies of four researchers on “hybrid Regimes” have been used here. Some of the keynotes which have been applied to the current study to discuss the political ups and downs of that specific period are as follows: the importance of political competition, social and political backgrounds of creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran as a hybrid regime, and finally, the relation between such a regime and rentier economy in Iran. Finally, the article has concluded that the reformist’s earlier progress and their later withdraw and defeat could be considered as “inner dynamics of a hybrid regime” instead of the “the defeated transition to democracy”.