Comparative Politics Iran Vs. USA - Term Paper Example

Comparative Politics Iran Vs. USA Iran and America are extremely different countries as far as the culture and politics are concerned. Iran is dominated by Muslims community whereas America is dominated by Christian religion. America is a secular democratic state and people all over the world can immigrate to United States. Moreover the immigrated population can acquire the citizenship also in America. American democracy is resting on the strong pillars like Liberty, equality, human rights protection etc. On the other hand, democracy is on papers alone in Iran. Like most of the other democratic countries, elections were conducted to select the representatives of Iranian parliament; however the influence of religion and religious leaders in Iranian politics cannot be underestimated or neglected. Even though the president of Iran holds the supreme power in administrative matters, he/she cannot function against the interests of the religious leaders. In other words, religion holds the supreme power in Iranian political and social life. Over the past few years, Iran and America is catching the headlines of the newspapers because of their clashes over the issue of nuclear power development by Iran. America suspects that Iran is trying to make nuclear arsenal to use against America and Israel like countries even though Iran’s declared aim was to use the nuclear energy for solving their energy crisis. This paper briefly analyses the politics involved in the policies of America and Iran. Iran Vs. America The government refers to a particular set of institutions and people authorised by formal documents such as a constitution to pass laws, issue regulations, control the police and so on. The sate is a broader concept that includes all the institutions and individuals that exercise power (Hauss, p.8). In Iran’s case the institutions like the religion seems to be an upper hand in politics where as in America’s cases, individuals seem to have more power than the institutions. Former American president Abraham Lincoln defined democracy as institution of the people, for the people and by the people. The above definition of democracy needs to be changed in Iran’s case. In Iran, democracy functions with the help of the religion, by the religion and for the religion. In short, even though democratic governments are functioning in these two extremely diverse countries, America seems to be having upper hand in functioning in the true spirits of a democratic government. Religion does not play any role in the functioning of democracy in America. It should be remembered that the current American president Obama not only has a black community origin, but also has a Muslim origin. In other words, America values people based on their individual merits rather than their pedigree or cultural history. Even in India, which is supposed to be the largest democracy in the world, the fundamentalists from the Hindu religion did not allow Sonia Gandhi, a woman of Italian origin, to become the prime minister even though her party selected her as the prime minister candidate when they got majority in parliament elections few years before. Nobody can anticipate a person from another religion becomes the president of Iran. The influence of religion in politics seems to be a curse for Iranians. Because of the excessive influence of religion in politics, Iran forced to sacrifice many of the fundamental principles of democracy and caused immense damages to their political and economical growth. In order to establish good relations with other countries, strong political relationships are necessary. But Iran’s political ideologies are formulated with respect to the Muslim law, “Sharia” and hence it is not necessary that non-Muslim countries may accept it. “The Islamic republic that overthrew the Shah and has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution is in many respects a rejection of everything western and modern”(Hauss, p.307). Before Islamic revolution, Iranians enjoyed much freedom than they enjoy now. Religion had not much influence in Iranian politics during the Shah era. Moreover, the Shah regime kept a good relationship with America and hence American interests were protected in the Middle East region during the Shah era. Even the Muslim countries like United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia has strong differences with Iran in political matters. At the time of writing this paper, the controversial “WikiLeaks” revelations are coming out. Christopher Hope (2010) has mentioned that one such controversial revelations of Wikileaks; “The king of Saudi Arabia privately urged the US to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear weapons programme, according to diplomatic cables leaked by a website last night” (Hope). Iran’s ambitious nuclear projects are perceived as a threat not only by the Westerners and Israel, but even their Middle East Muslim counterparts’ see dangers in that. United Arab Emirates has disputes with Iran over some frontier regions for a long period. Because of the close relationships with America, both UAE and Saudi Arabia were able to resist the Iranian challenges. On the other hand, America is playing a dual game in Middle East. They need the political support from countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE in order to interfere effectively in the Middle East’s political and economical matters. The enmity of UAE and Saudi Arabia with Iran is serving as a blessing for America. In the name of ensuring protection to UAE and Saudi Arabia like countries, America can keep a strong military force in this region in order to interfere in the Middle Eastern politics effectively. Heated public rhetoric has filled the newspapers and radio broadcasts since Summer, 2003, warning that Iran is nearly ready to produce nuclear weapons and that, if she were ever to actually produce those weapons, she would be an unacceptable risk to her neighbors and to Israel through direct military confrontation. Further, Iran is said to be ready to supply global terrorists with nuclear weapons, thus posing a risk to the United States, to Great Britain, and to the European Union (NUCLEAR ARMED IRAN VS. AMERICA -- WHOM SHOULD THE WORLD FEAR?) America is currently the sole superpower in the world. The destruction of former Soviet Union helped America to emerge as the power centre of the global politics. At the same time, China is rapidly developing to become a major threat to American ambitions. Even then, America still enjoys immense luxury in the global politics. The interference Iraq and Afghanistan in the name of war on terror clearly indicate the supremacy of America in global politics now. At the same time Iran and North Korea like nuclear powers are causing immense problems to the American interests. In Middle East, America wants to protect its ally, Israel whereas in the region near to Yellow sea, they need to protect the interest of their ally South Korea. In both these regions, America is facing challenges from nuclear powers like North Korea and Iran. Both North Korea and Iran have long range missiles which can reach American territories. Moreover these missiles are capable of carrying nuclear weapons. In short, America’s headaches seem to be increasing even though the cold war ended few decades before with the destruction of former Soviet Union. According to a Middle East political expert, Dr. Mordechai Kedar, Iran is beating America in the fight for leadership in the Middle East. Kedar named the coalition that Iran has created to fight American interests: Syria, Lebanon – particularly Hezbollah – Gaza, Turkey (supposedly a military partner of Israel!), Venezuela, Cuba and many other Third World countries. Iran is putting the squeeze on Israel, America’s close ally, via Syria, Hizbullah, and Hamas. With scores of thousands of rockets aimed at it, and with Iran confidently predicting its demise, Israel justifiably feels threatened (Kedar: Iran vs. America). Many of the Muslim countries in the Middle East region perceive America as a villain even though some of them do not like to say it publicly. Only few countries in the Middle Easter region have shown the courage to come out against America publicly. Iraq was one among them and America was able to silence it. But, it is not going to be easy for America to silence Iran same way like Iraq because of Iran’s nuclear arsenal and the nexus with America’s enemies. Iran has strengthened its relationships with Russia and China in order to counter the challenges of America. Even though, Russia do not have the strength now to challenge America, the combined power of China and Russia can save Iran in a crisis situation. China seems to be the kingmaker in the Middle East region at present. The relationships with Iran opened a door for China in the Middle Eastern politics and they are using it very well. Conclusions America and Iran are currently engaged in a fierce battle for supremacy in the Middle East region. Iran is the only country in the Middle East which is capable of resisting the challenges of America in this region. Iran is using the religious cards well to gather support against America in the Middle East region. Iran describes America’s threat to Iran as the threat to the entire Muslim religion and succeeded in countering the immense pressure exerted by America so far. Works Cited 1. Hauss, Charles. Comparative Politics: Domestic Responses to Global Challenges.” 2010. Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing; 7 edition (January 1, 2010) 2. Hope, Christopher. “Wikileaks Sparks Diplomatic Crisis With New Revelations.”2010. Inpendent.ie. Monday, November 29 2010. Web. 29 November 2010. 3. “Kedar: Iran vs. America.” 2009. Jewish Times. June 4, 2010. Web. 29 November 2010. 4. “Nuclear Armed Iran Vs. America – Whom Should The World Fear?” Web. 29 November 2010. Read More