Organisational Change in Political Parties in Iran after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. With Special Reference to the Islamic Republic Party (IRP) and the Islamic Iran Participation Front Party (Mosharekat)

Abstract: The aim of this study is to develop a historical analytical narrative of the development of political parties under the Islamic Republic of Iran, accounting for their organisational structures, ideological evolution and internal distributions of power; to provide an analysis of the change in Iranian political parties after 1979; to examine their intra-party dynamisms of power as well as the developments in the environment of the Iranian parties which stimulated their change. This study gives special reference to the Islamic Republic Party (IRP) and the Islamic Iran Participation Front Party (Mosharekat). Also to address the problem of poor party institutionalisation in Iran after the revolution by examining a combination of factors that have contributed to the disruption of the institutionalisation process in the Iranian political parties such as at the hostility and uncertainty in party environment, the organisational zones of uncertainty in the Iranian political parties and the impact of state on party institutionalisation in Iran. Finally to examine the typological similarities between at least one modern party in Iran (Mosharekat) and some parties in the Western Democracies to understand whether partial similarity in society dimensions such as advancements in technology and the emergence of a new social cleavage map instead of the old social stratification, have resulted in similarities in the party types in Iran and the West.