Introduction
Military forces in third world countries have taken a central role in political systems of these countries. The military forces are active in both the political process and political discourse in their countries.
In Middle East in general and Iran in particular military forces are playing a pivotal role in the control of both political and state machinery and are critical in shaping the political events of Iran (Iranian Research 1).
Military forces and politics in Iran
The genesis of the role of politics in Iran was in the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty which was realized through military coup organized by Reza Shah in 1921 and the second monarch followed suit by relying on military forces to maintain the continuity of his regime.
The reliance of Iran in military power is due to the challenges it faces from the west due to its stand on nuclear power and public demand for both economic and political reforms (Iran politics 1).
The formulation of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) guidance rules in the 1980 which was dubbed “obligation of the guards” stated that the IRGC was to liaise and cooperate with the government on both security and military matters which was to include the arrest of all counterrevolutionary movements and also to disarm unauthorized persons.
This already made the IRGC a politico-military organization with the responsibility to tackle domestic opposition.
The Iranian forces underwent transformation following the disagreement among its members after the collapse of the Pahlavi monarchy. These events gave birth to the creation of a new military force in 1979 known as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) which first developed as a parallel institution to the already existing military force but aimed at protecting the Islamic Republic (Iranian Research 1).
In the performance of their domestic functions, the IGRC are linked with regular and other internal security forces and it is in this line that have made them controversial in their service since they are used to oppress and suppress or quell any street unrest.
The inherent factor that links the military forces and the politics of Iran is that those who occupy positions in the military hierarchy are appointed by the president and their loyalty is to the serving president and government of the day (Iranian Research 1).
This is evident in the current political situation where President Mohammed Ahmedinajad’s nine appointees are from the IRGC who are war veterans from the Iraq-Iran war of 1988. He has also appointed 30 governors from the ORGC ranks. This is a clear testimony of how militarized Iranian politics and government is.
There are several centers of power in Iran which revolve around the political, economic and military figures. The military sphere which is dominantly the IRGC has developed as one of the prominent center of power and dominate over the other centers of power.
The strength of the IRGC was evidenced following the military threats by the United States of America and also the frequent confrontation between the west and Iran which the IRGC has managed to thwart. In the contemporary times, the power of the IRGC has tremendously grown politically, it for example controls all the state sponsored media.
They also took part in the 2004 legislative elections and managed to win in several towns and cities. They had also organized to control the executive branch of government in the 2005 presidential elections. The leadership of the military has been interlinked with the leadership of the regime and their responsibility in this sense is to intervene politically when the need arises.
The revolutionary of the IRGC has also expanded their influence into the economic sphere of life by endearing itself to control major financial and economic investments in the country. They did this by justifying that it was meant to finance the activities of the IRGC (Green et al. 1).
This militarization of the Iranian politics has raised a lot of criticisms from the reformists of the anti-establishment.
This is because the IRGC is in favor of the current order and will try all they can to ensure there are no anti-government protests or even voices. It is argued that the excessive militarization of politics cast doubt into the power and ability of the Iran military in international politics and external defense (Ward 1).
Conclusion
The military forces of Iran have encountered numerous challenges that might render them unable not only to protect the country externally but also in performing the role of preserving the ideologies of the regime.
One of these problems is the division of the military into the regular and IRGC which has created mistrust and suspicion, the unrest that has rocked the Islamic republic is largely linked to the latent tension between the military ranks and also the political leadership.
This has the potential of driving the country towards the path of instability. Also the excessive militarization of politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran may be a threat to the politics of the country since there is a history of the military turning against the government by leading coups which is always a feature praetorian political system.
Works Cited
Green et al. Understanding Iran, Rand Corporation monograph series Volume 771 of MG (Rand Corporation). New York: Rand Corporation, 2009. Print.
Iranian politics. The Militarization of Iranian politics. IAA, 2009. Web.
Iranian Research. Iranian Analysis. Journal of Iranian research and analysis, 1999. Web.
Ward, Ross. Immortal: a military history of Iran and its armed forces. New York: Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.