The durability of authoritarianism in Iran, the case of Khamenei's leadership

The persistence of Khamenei's leadership stems not only from his authoritarian rule but also from his ability to organize status groups in Iran. These status groups received prestige and recognition from Ayatollah Khamenei. Khamenei's status groups consisted of young Islamists jurists, those Islamists who held no personal backing or history of resistance against the Shah regime, the IRGC's new generation of generals, those who did not play a role in decision making at the times of the Iran-Iraq war or the consolidation of the Islamic regime, and new generation of politicians, those not in office during Khomeini's leadership. This paper is a qualitative case study. A qualitative approach is employed to explain how Khamenei's status groups preserved Khamenei's power in country's political institutions. As such, Khamenei's status groups contributed Khamenei to overcome his clerical weakness, eliminated the first generation of IRGC generals and dissuaded middle class Iranians from demanding political reform.