Before Ahmadinejad, there was Khatami. In 1997, Mohammad Khatami won Iran's presidential election with 70% of the vote. He won on a platform of reform and on the hope that he would challenge Iran's conservative leadership. Eight years later, he was widely considered in Iran as a disappointment, and the population turned to the young populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his domestic and economic promises. Now, the tide may turn again. Although Khatami has not officially announced whether or not he will run in 2009, he talked about the possibility at a recent international conference on religion. Khatami would be warmly received by the reformist camp in Iran, who struggled mightily in the spring 2008 parliamentary elections when the Council of Guardians restricted campaign qualifications.
Khatami: Dialogue of Civilizations and Domestic Reforms
In his first term, Khatami promoted the idea of a "dialogue of civilizations" particularly between the U.S. and Iran. He and then-U.S. President Bill Clinton developed a warm relationship that resulted in easing of sanctions in place since the hostage crisis in the early 1980's. Khatami's proposition directly contrasted with Samuel Huntington's infamous theory, the "clash of civilizations," which he articulated in his book of the same name.
Many Iranians hoped that Khatami's approach to foreign policy would be go hand in hand with liberal domestic policies. Although Khatami promoted freedom of the press and a free market economy, he ultimately faltered under the Supreme Leader Khamenei and the Council of Guardians, who opposed such reforms. He also managed to weaken the office of the presidency, which Ahmadinejad has, in his time, strengthened.
Iran: Infatuated with Charismatic Leaders?
From Reza Shah Pahlavi, to Grand Ayotallah Khomeini and to Khatami, Iran bears a history of singular devotion to its most powerful charismatic leaders, followed by a cycle of disenchantment and perhaps regret. The Shah's gradual demise led to the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Khomeini's death in 1989 generated a void in the availability of "suitable" Grand Ayatollahs to replace him, and his heavy-handed policies created disillusionment among the Iranian people. Though quite different from these two figures, Khatami may have suffered the same fate, but his potential resurgence offers a chance at redemption. He must deftly juggle Iran's governmental circus and take advantage of a diversity of resources among Parliament and local legislatures or, at minimum, help equip and support whoever will challenge Ahmadinejad in the next election. Iran may need a new charismatic leader to replace Ahmadinejad; but she will also need more low-level grassroots efforts to complete the reformists' equation heading into the 21st century.
Sources
"Reformists Likely to Agree on Khatami: ally." Tehran Times, October 21, 2008.
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