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Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi

End of Theocracy?

Given Iran's complex and regimented theocratic system, the protests are unlikely to escalate into another Arab Spring. Indeed, democracy and hard-core Islam seem prima facia incompatible, as the failure of the Arab Spring in all countries where it had once ignited the hope of democratic transition amply demonstrates. More so for Iran, wherethose who exercise power are handpicked by the all-powerful Supreme Leader and lack accountability to citizens.

Forty years after

Not that the reformers have not tried to modernise Iranian society, but their efforts have come a cropper because of the omnipotent theocracy.