Popular Politics, Unbound

Popular Politics, Unbound

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The Factory Was Always the Target
Yesterday’s strikes on Iranian steel plants are being covered as news.
 • Ali Kadivar
From Rupture to Dynasty: War and Hereditary Succession in Iran
Many observers initially interpreted the killing of Ali Khamenei as a dramatic rupture in Iran’s political history.
 • Ali Kadivar
The Fantasy of Liberation by War
The current U.S.–Israel war on Iran is being celebrated in some quarters as a long-awaited rupture.
 • Ali Kadivar
Removal Without Rotation: Supreme Authority, Foreign Intervention, and Political Reproduction in Modern Iran
The killing of Iran’s longstanding authoritarian ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — who led the Islamic Republic for nearly four decades — in a…
 • Ali Kadivar
After the Massacre: Rethinking Strategy in Iran’s Uprising
In my previous posts, I wrote about the context, early geography, and the buildup of this protest wave. This essay shifts focus to a different but…
 • Ali Kadivar
Two Weeks into Iran’s Protest Wave: A New Phase
Anti-regime protests in Iran have now lasted for two weeks, and in recent days they appear to have entered a new phase.
 • Ali Kadivar
Why and How Anti-Regime Protests Keep Returning in Iran
Over the past five days, protests have broken out in multiple Iranian cities, with slogans targeting the Iranian regime as a whole.
 • Ali Kadivar
Popular Politics, Unbound
Popular Politics, Unbound
Notes, observations, and analysis on protest, power, and political change across the globe, with a particular focus on the Global South, the Middle East, and Iran.
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