The Islamic Republic and the expansion of the government in Iran - 2

The "Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution" which was of the active groups before and after the revolution, perpetuated its political career by beginning to change and restore the members of the central cadre again. In the parliamentary elections, a group of ministers and colleagues close to Hashemi Rafsanjani declared their presence as "a group of the executives of Construction," with their presence. The "Islamic Coalition missions" was also of the political groups which was active in the country's political scene, in the course of its political career which had developed. However, it should be noted that the most important and the most active political groups that were mentioned above were among the groups and political organizations after the revolution and despite the ideological differences between them, they were created within the factions of the ruling parties and they had their roots in them. These groups and organizations were determined about the role of the political parties played in the Islamic Republic and from the "public domain" their political power had risen. The members of these organizations are limited and determined and the leadership of these groups are held among the revolutionary activists and the political elite system. For example, many members of the parliament and political operatives of the Association of Combatant Clerics, and the Executives of Construction belonged to the system and were mainly technocrats and government officials.
Among other issues which point to the role of the government in politics as well can be the Guardian Council which oversees the elections. The Guardian Council believes that the monitoring of the elections is indeed a consultative supervision. In principle, the transparent monitoring of the elections of the political parties, especially in the fourth and fifth parliamentary elections was an important duty of this council. Probably none of the political parties and groups that are raised in the country question the need for a mechanism to monitor the elections and do not deny the approval to candidates, but a fundamental debate about the "quality of supervision" is going on which in recent years has been one of the causes of the clashes which have occurred between the factions within the state.
However, it seems that the supervising approval of the Guardian Council has been applied in a manner which causes an obstacle to the political participation of citizens and has been a factor in limiting the choice.

The government and economy

The revolutionary conditions and circumstances and the post-revolutionary political and social environment play an essential role in the development of the central government in the economy. The case of an inflamed and exciting space after the revolution had brought about severe pessimism about the private sector. The public opinion was quite negative towards the capitalist mentality during the Pahlavi period of the "king" and linked it to the "global capitalism" and a branch of imperialism. In such circumstances, "militancy was issued against the capital and the estates and the private sector was regarded as the main source of all oppression and corruption which were generally held." soared. A large number of industries, factories and hundreds of hectares of land were confiscated while the economic and the corporate government was held. For example, the newspaper of the Islamic Republic, the pillars of the Islamic Republic Party, at the beginning of the revolution, wrote: "The capitalists believe that the ownership of capital is unlimited. Those with confiscation of property and any steps taken in favor of the oppressed were objecting to this notion. They are dangerous for Islam and their removal is a revolutionary task. After more than 20 years since the Revolution, the feeling of suspicion and distrust of the private sector continued as a symbol of capitalism. One of the main issues surrounding the privatization policy and its consequences in 1369, was that the policy underlying such policies were a serious threat to the revolution and paved the way for the penetration and influence of the West, and the US in particular which jeopardized the pillars of the Islamic regime.
Not to mention, the ideology of the Islamic Revolution, with its emphasis on "social justice" and the need to reduce the gap between the classes and to address the lives of the oppressed and the poor, emphasized the need to increase the tenure of the economic activities provided by the Government. In fact, part of the anti-capitalist revolutionaries and the private sector reflects the equalitarian tendencies and the ideology of the revolution which was seeking justice.
This ideology "with emphasis on Islamic justice and the equity and equity-oriented policies, such as state-building and state-building industries, improving the country's banking system, the seizure and confiscation of the property of the wealthy classes, and the establishment of progressive taxes and taxes on income and wealth and paying consumption subsidies " performed widespread measures for the fair distribution of income received by the government. Naturally, these measures are necessary to give priority to the role of government in the economy.
After the victory of the Revolution, the critical decisions about how to run the country and the economic policies of the government were determined by the Revolutionary Command Council that adopted these actions. One of the important decisions of the Revolutionary Command Council was "the law of conservation and industrial development," which was approved in July 1358. With the implementation of this law, the equivalent of 31.2% of the total of 556/5 billion industrial investment were dedicated in the private sector and the government took charge of these national assets. This amount is equivalent to 70% of the private sector investment in the country's large and medium manufacturing units. According to the statistics provided by the budget and planning organization, after the revolution, about 60 percent of the large industrial companies were in the private sector, and most of them were transferred to the state under the guise of the national industry organizations and foundations of the Oppressed. Thus until 1361 about 580 industrial company were nationalized and came under the control of the government. The Council of the revolution also "to maintain the law and the national assets" in the Persian date Khordad 1358 introduced all the country's banks to be nationalized, and the government was responsible for determining the administrator to the bank and taking action in this regard. In addition, all of the mortgage companies and savings from the banks by the enactment of national legislation were subject to the law which was identified. In the Persian date Aban 1358 the Revolutionary Council nationalized all the insurance companies and credit institutions.
Other efforts of the Revolutionary Command Council which dealt with the administration or its affiliates in the economy was summarized in expanding as follows: the establishment of the Foundation for the Oppressed, transferring the right to choose the Board of Directors with the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and the Trade Chamber in the State, transferring the ownership to the government contractors and engineering consultant.
With the formation of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the bill was passed by the nationalizing foreign trade. The first bill was rejected by the Guardian Council, but later came back and was approved by the Guardian Council this time.
Another complex and controversial issue after the revolution was the question of ownership of the land. Within the years after the revolution, many landless peasants from the low lands directly began to take control of the estates belonging to the former regime and these estates belonged to the great landlords or even the average owners. In some parts of the country, the land question has led to intense fighting and violence. The Marxists and other leftist propaganda and actions were so high that the government was forced to react. Government to was made seize the initiative and take measures to restore order and the security while the most important of which was: " the propaganda against the confiscation of land and the protection of land ownership, agricultural councils bill was prepared by the Revolutionary Command Council (1358/1 / 14), which was in response to the demand for the formation of the councils of workers and the peasants and the leftist groups, and finally preparing a legislation to transfer legal land reclamation.” After many ups and downs, finally, in April 1359, the law of the assignment and reclamation of land in the government of the Islamic Republic "was officially formulated and announced. To the implementation of the law, "the seven-member delegations of" the devolution and land reclamation were formed. From February 1358 to Mehr 1359 ... 150/000 hectares of uncultivated land, further uncultivated land and cultivated hectares 35/000, were divided among the poor farmers and the landless peasants. About 60,000 hectares of the state land was dedicated to the development of productive agriculture which was allocated for the establishment of the service centers and 800/000 hectares of land were confiscated for temporary cultivation which was transferred to farmers later. Since the formation of the seven-member delegations to early 1363, about 18 billion Rials in long-term loans were given to the farmers. The sent-member committees performed widespread an vast activities in rural areas and villages, including: resolving disputes in the country, supervising the annual planting and the cultivation of the lands which were not clear in terms of the ownership of land which were previously owned by army generals, and the authorities of the country's former regime. Therefore, the seven-member delegations were the administrative arm of government in villages and the remote areas of the country. Generally, the rule of law and the transfer of land reclamation activities in the seven-member Board of Jihad in rural development in villages provided the power and influence of the Islamic Republic. The establishment of more than 15 thousand rural Islamic Councils left the village and eventually expelling organizations and groups to restore peace and order and law brought to the villages and rural areas.
The social and political conditions after the revolution, as far as the state was concerned, provided the context for the development of economic activities. Government actions, decisions of the Revolutionary Command Council, and the involvement of the Parliament and the courts of the revolution resulted in the transfer of ownership or management of large enterprises, including large factories and workshops and production companies and services to the government or the public sector. In addition to these cases and examples, issues such as foreign trade, the banking and mining exploration activities both before the revolution in the field of joint government and private sectors, were all transferred to the government. The central government after the revolution appeared widely in the field of economy and government control over the economy spread in this manner.
One of the methods of measuring the size of government and its various activities in the community is the assessment of the cost of government and the ratio of these costs to the Gross Domestic Product. During the years 1358 to 1367, this ratio indicates a high percentage, so that the mean is about 50/3 percent. Also, table 1 shows, from 1368 to 1373, the volume of the affairs and the things that the government does through the budget and using the Gross Domestic Product is growing every year, so that the 35/3% in 1368 turned to 67% growth in 1373 and the average time length of each period is about 52% when compared with the ratio of tax revenues to Gross Domestic Product (about 5%) the it is a high proportion.
Table 1: (38) a comparison between the index of the budget proportion to the tax revenues of the governments during various years (in percebtage)
Year / the proposition of the whole budget of the nation / Gross Domestic Product / proportion / tax revenues / Gross Domestic Product
1368 - 3.35% 4%
1369 0.36% 6.4%
1370 7.39% 4.5%
1371 5.43% 7.5%
1372 4.59% 6%
1373 67% 4.5%
Average (Mean) 52% 5%
Based on the data which have been provided in the above table, it can be said that the government’s high share of the Gross Domestic Product points to the high degree of the presence of the government in the economic sphere and the unconventional control of the affairs by the government is indicated. This causes an obstacle to the realization of the talents and the potentials outside the control of the government.
In addition to the national budget, through the legislation and government also intervenes in the economy which is concerned. Determining the criteria for the import and export, distribution and allocation of funds, and investments to determine the prices of goods and services and the important issues of this type are of government intervention cases in the economy. Since taking up the bulk of economic activity by the government through the state companies, the cost of these companies can be a good indicator to determine the scope of economic activities of the government.
Table (2) shows the proportion of the state budget to the budget of the country and its growth rate is indicated by percentage.
Table 2: The whole of the country's budget and the budgets of state-owned enterprises (1372-1363):

The Figures are in billion Rials

The general state budget funds state-owned companies than public companies funding the national budget
1363 6551 3444 52/5
1364 6917 3562 51.5
1365 7465 4032 54
1366 7426 3888 52.3
1367 9008 5049 56
1368 8398 4455 53
1369 12773 7389 57/8
1370 18788 11094 59
1371 28912 17386 60
1372 54179 33798 62.4
Part of the expansion of economic activity results from the formation of the government after the revolution and the revolutionary institutions. Although many revolutionary institutions, and in particular the foundations, in appearance and in accordance with their statute, must be independent of the government, "but in practice it can be seen that these institutions are completely dependent on the state. In fact, most of these foundations as the executive arm of government in the field of social and economic requirements have been established. The directors and heads of many of these institutions and foundations of the state are determined. The institutions of the privileges, exemptions and public subsidies are different and every year they receive economic aid from the government, and because of this, at many points, in their economic activities there is a lot of freedom of action. Some foundations, companies and institutions contain huge economic associations, as they are equal with many public economic organizations and some of them exceeds their economic power.
One of the revolutionary organization is the "Foundation for the Oppressed and War Veterans of the Islamic Revolution" that was formed at the beginning of the revolution for the maintenance and management of movable and immovable assets confiscated from the Pahlavi regime and its affiliates. "The foundation, based on the decrees issued by the Revolutionary Courts, was granted the ownership of a large number of companies and institutions. The foundation has nine airline companies, 120 commercial companies, 140 contractors and construction sites, 200 factories, 50 large and small mines, 5 thousand and 20 thousand real units. The foundation contains 101 production units in the textile industry, metal industries, food and so on. The head of the Oppressed Foundation, in a national seminar in 1376 spoke about the economic activities of the foundation:
"The foundation is the largest financial institution in Iran and the Middle East in terms of diversity, or perhaps the largest in the world. The foundation now has about 400 companies which are active in many productions, the Foundation is so effective that any lack of progress in the work of the Foundation, is effective in the whole country. 28% of textile country, and about 22 percent of the cement produced is in the country's Foundation for the Oppressed. About 45 percent of non-alcoholic beverages, 28% rubber, 25% of sugar ... in the whole country is produced by the Foundation. We are not cooperative and not private, so we were allowed to establish a shipping company. Therefore, they gave us the permission to establish airlines. For the same reason, they should allow the establishment of the banks.
Foundation for the Oppressed in the agricultural sector "acts in consistency with the Ministry of Agriculture. After the revolution, many of the agricultural and livestock and poultry farms in the hands of individuals were associated with the regime were before. [...] In total 100 hectares of land are under the control of the Oppressed Foundation. The control of this amount of land has led the Agricultural Foundation of the Oppressed as weight in the Iranian agriculture now.
"The Islamic Revolution Housing Foundation" is also among the institutions that was formed and established after the Imam's decree on account 100 in April 1358, with the aim of providing affordable housing for the poor and oppressed. Until the year 1361, the Housing Foundation had established 200 branches across the country. The foundation activities include construction and repairing housing units, paying the mortgage and financial assistance which has been granted.
The "Islamic Revolution Martyrs Foundation" is also among the first institutions that was formed and established in April 1359 to deal with the disabled and the martyrs affairs. The foundation had a number of branches across the country by the year 1361 which were estimated to be around 190 branches. In the same year, the Martyr Foundation has had about 3% of the public workshops.
In 1359, the establishment of "rural service centers, agricultural and nomadic centers" was approved by the Revolutionary Command Council. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, of the 190 cities, by the year 1361, 73 city centers have been covered. During the 30 months before the year 1361, about 477 rural service centers had been established across the country. The number of the personnel working in these centers was 5 thousand people.
The institutions and organizations which were the result of the revolution were not limited to the above cases. About the economic organizations and institutions that are big and powerful, we do not have much information. Some foundations, such as "Organization of Islamic economics," Javid Foundation, the Foundation for the welfare and economic institutions today have become large. If we want to influence the foundation's economy to a more tangible way to show that is enough to view the total amount of the loans given by the "Organization of the Islamic economy". It only in 1366, gave equivalent to 50 billion riyals (i.e. five percent of the liquidity of the country)" as the loans which were paid.
There are other revolutionary organizations and institutions that are active in social and cultural fields. Their main mission is to promote and spread the Islamic teachings and trying to implement the Islamic ethical norms and social relations. Some of these organizations and cultural institutions include the Cultural Revolution Committee, The University Jihad, the representative of the Supreme Leader in universities, organizer of the Friday Prayers, the Islamic Culture and Communications Organization, the Islamic Propagation Organization, Fifteenth of Khordad Foundation, Foundation of prophecy, the foundation, the Secretariat of imams and congregations and the organizer of Fajr decade. Moreover, "the selection organization" is also included here which is among the active and powerful institutions. Taking any public position in some cases requires the approval of the selection units.

The government, bureaucracy and the administrative bodies

The revolution created developments in the country's administrative system. The post-revolutionary government to exercise sovereignty and effective control over economic resources and have access to social and cultural goals, tried to create new ministries and administrative bodies. The government, along with the state bureaucracy, attempted to establish "revolutionary institutions". Revolutionary government administrative bodies left on the one hand and on the other side of the Pahlavi regime did not trust these organizations to achieve their goals and plans which were not enough. Much of the revolutionary organizations in the early years of the revolution, and especially during the years 1357 to 1361, were established, but this trend was still adhered to during the decade of 1360 and has continued even in recent years. Thus, after the Revolution, the revolutionary organizations, the government departments and institutions, in terms of number, size and scope of authority of the organization, were substantially expanded. This process, to swell the administrative system, and to increase bureaucracy led to the emergence of parallel and overlapping organizations and increasing costs led the current government.
In July 1360, "the Ministry of Mines and Metals" were held to manage the geological and mining activities. With the establishment of the ministry, the Department of National Iranian Steel Company (including Esfahan Steel, Mobarakeh Steel, etc.), the Iranian Copper Industries Company, Al Arak were granted the same condition. In May 1361 the tasks and activities related to heavy industry were separated from the Ministry of Industry and the "Ministry of Heavy Industries" was formed. The founding of the Department's heavy industry, Industrial the Development and Renovation Organization of Iran, which was established in July 1346, was covered by the ministry. Another ministry that was established after the revolution was "the oil ministry". The department was established in 1360 in order to exercise the effective authority and the control of the vast oil reserves of the country's most important source of national income. "Ministry of Information" was among the ministries that were formed after the revolution. In 1362 the issues related to rural development were referred to the construction Jihad, and the organization became the embodiment of the "Ministry of Construction" and continued its activities. In September 1370, with the aim of supporting the cooperative sector and to focus and coordinate the activities of the cooperative distributed in the state, the new ministry which was called "Ministry" was formed. Thus, based on the existing situation and without counting the Ministry of Heavy Industries and the Ministry of Iranian Revolutionary Guards of the Islamic Revolution (which later merged itself in line ministries) - After the revolution, five new ministries were to set up in the country's administrative system. Obviously, the creation of new ministries focused more on administrative issues and the government activities have increased.
A sharp increase in the number of state employees is another result of the development of the state administrative agencies. According to the administrative organization and Employment, "from 1358 until 1368 the number of state employees has grown about 112 percent while the population growth in this decade was about 48/6 percent. The number of the government employees was more than twice the population growth and had increased.” In addition, of the two million two hundred thousand new jobs which have been created in the past 10 to 14 years, 85 percent were in the public sector. During the period 1372- 1368 which coincided with the implementation of the economic adjustment policy, we observe the development and growth of the number of the people working in the public sector by 8.8%, which compared to the growth rate in 68 years 1360 (6.8 percent), it has increased by two percent.
Changes in the construction Jihad, which is a small revolutionary organization to a government ministry created multiple large organizations, as well as the effects of the revolution on the development of the state bureaucracy and administrative system of the country is overwhelming. Jihad has been active in the various fields of infrastructure, development, promotional activities, educational and cultural issues. Jihad after the revolution played an important role in improving the rural areas and narrowed the gap between urban and rural areas. After the revolution, the state on average decided to allocate about 19 percent of the development budget to rural areas, where 40 percent of it was spent by Jihad. Within the Ministry of Jihad numerous organizations and companies were formed. In this case we can refer to "corporate and support services for rural and tribal areas" and "the Engineering Services Company of Jihad," which both were formed in 1368 with the approval of the Cabinet. Other affiliates of jihad may be the "institution of jihad" and "The Institute independence Jihad" and each of them covers large companies. For example, under the guise of Jihad Development Institute we have the following: development of silos jihad, jihad for the water resource development, Jihad to improve the infrastructure, the company construction, enterprise Jihad Kosar and asylum-makers Company.
Jihad centers exist in all provinces of the country, entitled "Organization of Jihad" which has established and by the year 1368, more than 620 offices of "Jihad district" were formed across the country. In 1364, the number of employed workers (formal and contracted) in the Ministry of Jihad was about 46166 people. The number in 1371 was 836,060. In general, it can be said that Jihad after the revolution was the executive arm of the government in rural and poverty-stricken areas and by linking villages and and the state government departments, it has an important role in increasing the government influence at the village level.

The conclusion

Islamic revolution brought about vast changes in the government and political power along with it. The requirements of the revolution included the collapse of the revolutionary coalition, the struggle against counterrevolution and the overall concentration of political power and the increasing power of the state. Revolutionary ideology also emphasized the essential role of government in promoting social justice and equality, at the heart of the state's impact. The teachings of the ideological revolution, the need to support and obey the government as a "religious duty" to verify input and thus double the legitimacy of the government were among the other factors. Thus, the post-revolution government activities in various fields of political, economic, social and cultural were increased and a parallel administrative system and government executive agencies were caused to grow significantly. In addition to the formal business organizations, revolutionary organizations were also formed. These institutions were indeed the product of the revolutionary conditions and necessities of the revolution gradually grew and developed and established political system, as well as other government agencies which continue to exist. The administrative system and the rules thus developed in such a way and with the emergence and growth of parallel and overlapping institutions, the administrative system of the country faced with problems such as the rising cost of the current state of overlapping functions, inefficiency, bureaucracy and the excessive increase of the number of the staffs.
The Islamic Revolution also increased the economic activity and government control over the economy led most states. With the growth and expansion of the public sector, private sector economic activity, particularly in production were decreased. In late 1360s, the economic adjustment policies, privatization and reduction in the size of government were carried out, but unfortunately this policy, despite the positive results, did not come to fruition. In this period of economic activities, the government not only was not diminished, but increased the volume of administration. Economic adjustment policies in the absence of a strong private sector were efficient and productive for the organizations, companies and public institutions. The government was unwilling to participate in the privatization and the lack of a single authority with competence in the matter of transfer and finally, the lack of accurate statistics and information from state companies and public institutions were all among the features which did not bring about the anticipated results. It should be remembered that reducing the size of government and the existence of a powerful and active private sector, apart from the necessities and economic consequences, in terms of political development is also very important. The emergence of a strong civil society in a state economy that in which all the economic levers belong to the government is not possible and cannot be realized.
Although the existence of a strong and stable government requires political development, but we should not forget that there is an active civil society with institutions and organizations, including political, social institutions which are independent of the state. After the revolution, the expansion of government and the central role of government policy in this area hinders the growth and development of civil society and political organizations and trade have not been spontaneous. Such a change, for a more rational political decision-making process, increases the legitimacy of the state and further consolidates the power of the Islamic Republic which is necessary.