Despite today’s gridlock, there are grounds for hope in the widespread embrace of democratic ideals by young people.
About the Author
Ramin Jahanbegloo is head of the Department of Research on Contemporary Thought at the Cultural Research Bureau in Tehran. His books include Conversations with Isaiah Berlin (1991), Gandhi: Aux sources de la nonviolence (1998), and Iran and Modernity (2000). During 2001–2002 he was a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at the International Forum for Democratic Studies in Washington, D.C.
The program of carefully controlled reform-from-above that King Mohamed VI began almost a decade ago may now have reached an impasse amid signs of growing disaffection.
They are good signs for the future of democracy in Iran, but it will take time and energy to organize these promising pieces into a greater democracy movement.
As 2004 began, Afghanistan approved a new constitution that represents a key step forward in its political reconstruction. But it is not yet clear whether this new constitution will enable…