NGOs, Policy Networks and Political Opportunities in Hybrid Regimes

This book discusses the diversity and resilience in a hybrid regime where civil society organisations are either provided with complex sets of opportunities or face severe constraints. By studying the case of Iran between 1997 and 2013, it shows how the Islamic Republic regime went into two opposite directions under two presidencies and played in-between supporting and suppressing advocacy NGOs. After accommodating a novel theoretical framework enabling scholars to identify the contributing factors of diversity in the regime, four case-study chapters are designated for comparing the women’s rights and environmental NGOs across local and national governments. These two political and technical policy areas demonstrate the different scopes of freedoms for advocacy NGOs. The contrasting narratives of the civil activists and policymakers imply paradoxes and shifts in the arrangement of opportunities for action and advocacy, although the leadership and structure of the regimeremained unchanged during the period of study.

Mohsen Moheimany holds a PhD in political science from Dublin City University. He received his MA of public policy from The University of Nottingham. Mohsen’s area of interest is mostly Iran’s civil society, with the experience of writing for local and international publications and media. Previously, Mohsen published a book chapter with Routledge publication about the changing civil society and the hybrid regime in Iran.

"Mohsen Moheimany's book is an empirically grounded and theoretical sophisticated study of the political trajectories Iran has experienced over the course of the last two decades and how they influenced the real of civil society. The back and forth between reformism and conservatism demonstrates clearly how policies are shaped in Iran, highlighting the complexity of social and political relations in the Islamic Republic. This study is a brilliant effort to shine the light on policy-making in an authoritarian context."

Professor Francesco Cavatorta, Political Science, Laval University