Rouzbeh Parsi

This brief explores the presidential campaign underway in Iran, examining the chosen candidates and the internal power struggles of a divided country and highlighting how the tight control of the electoral process is posing a serious challenge the regime’s own commitment to the notion of popular sovereignty.

 Seldom has it been as justified to be pessimistic about developments between the United States, Israel, and Iran. This dysfunctional state of affairs is getting so out of hand that the danger of war is no longer just a remote possibility but instead looms large on the horizon. David Ignatius reported on Feb. 2 in Washington Post that "[Secretary of Defense Leon] Panetta believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May, or June," though he does not believe that the final decision has been taken yet. 

In this quarter's issue, Azzam Mahjoub pores over Tunisia's democratic transition, Álvaro de Vasconcelos deconstructs Huntington's 'clash of civilisations' theory, while Rouzbeh Parsi considers the revolutionary tremors in the Persian Gulf.