It is not particularly useful to simply categorise the world as Authoritarian & Democratic. This may lead you to beleive that Iran plays by the same rules as N. Korea & Israel by the same rules as France. This is just not true.
The Iranian revolution & its subsequent regime have always been populist in one way or another. They vote in real elections. This is for a secondary political figure, but they are politically aware. The regime has not yet stepped away from Iranian public opinion.
Placing the regime firmly in opposition to public opinion is game changing. Those are the rules of the Iranian game. An Iranian regime without the backing of the vocal and/or the majority, is a different regime. |
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