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Home > Open Access Journals > JSS > Vol. 6 > No. 1 (2013)

 

Author Biography

Victor H. Sundquist is currently serving as a Lieutenant Colonel at the United States Army School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS). He has served in the Armed Forces for more than 24 years both as an enlisted soldier in the 7th Infantry Division and as a commissioned officer in multiple worldwide units. He has deployed on missions throughout the world to include Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, Operation NEW DAWN, and Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. He has served as a Brigade G-2 for 1st Calvary's Military Transitional Teams in Northern Iraq, CENTCOM’s LNO to the Department of State in Basra, and ISAF’s Chief Theatre Security Officer in Afghanistan. He is a 1995 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and holds a Masters Degree from Henley-Putnam University

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.6.1.2

Subject Area Keywords

Corruption, Democracy and democatization, Diplomacy, Foreign policy, Governance and rule of law, History, International relations, Iran, Political violence, Social movements

Abstract

The 2009 Iranian Presidential Elections represented one of the most contentious displays of the evolving Iranian democracy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that led to the removal of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi – the nation’s last shah. This tumultuous political event not only exposed a growing rift between the political and religious ruling elite in that country; it also led to the emergence of an opposition movement that would later be known as the Green Revolution. Viewed through a Western political lens, this revolution represented yet another opportunity for the demise of the ruling Iranian Islamic Regime. Recently, some scholars have questioned whether this movement was ever intended to topple the government in the first place, and have argued instead that it represented the beginning of a long-term civil rights push. To better understand why the Green Movement emerged one must first understand what the original intent of the movement was, as well as the political factors that led to its rapid growth. In order to answer these questions, this article will compare and contrast identified similarities and differences between the 1979 Islamic Revolution and 2009 Green Movement in order to isolate the true intent behind this perceived Iranian political revolt

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