The emergence of Atomist Discourse in the Third Republic

The life of the Islamic Republic of Iran can be divided into three periods: The first, which begins after the establishment of the Islamic Republic in the early sixties and continues until the end of the War and the end of Ayatollah Khomeini's leadership, is characterized as the mass atmosphere out of charismatic legitimacy and the war solidarity. The end of the war, the end of charisma, and the beginning of economic liberalization are characteristics of the second period, the period of discursive struggle of Democracy-Islamism and continues up to the end of eighties. The third period begins from the end of eighties and continues until today, which is the main focus of the current paper. The paper’s central claim is that the situation of “atomistic populism” is the main characteristic of the third period. I argue that during the domination of an atomist discourse, individual and individual promotion are central when the ultimate goal is to reach a so-called “individual success”, in contrast to the “collective Ideal” of the first period. In the atmosphere of the Third Republic, a variety of individual-oriented factors such as education, skill acquisition, introspective spiritual care, and mysticism becomes widely popular. I discuss that the obstruction of various possibilities of collective action, implementation of the economic privatization, and rising series of individual-oriented discourses provided a fertile ground for the atomistic discourse to prevail..