On October 28, 2022, the Iran 1400 Project spoke with Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh about his book “Creating Local Democracy in Iran: State Building and the Politics of Decentralization” and his essay “Iran’s First Feminist Uprising: Woman! Life! Freedom!” Dr. Tajbakhsh described the decentralization process of Iran’s state system in 1999, in which an entirely new tier of subnational elected institutions in over 1,000 cities and 35,000 villages were established overnight. He analyzed the motivations behind such a project, paying particular attention to Velayi rulers, apolitical technocrats and bureaucrats, moderate Islamist parties, and Islamic reformists. He also touched on the recent protests and the renewed demand for accountable government and individual freedom in Iran. During the Q&A session, Dr. Tajbakhsh evaluated the decentralization process further, commenting on how it bolsters the power of the state and connecting it to the demands of the protesters.
Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh is a Senior Advisor at Columbia Global. In this role, Dr. Tajbakhsh works on university-wide initiatives focused on global migration and is the Coordinator of the Committee on Forced Migration. He is also a Fellow and professor of International Relations with Columbia’s Committee on Global Thought.
