Government of Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005)
Encyclopedia
Government of Mohamamd Khatami was the 7th and 8th government of Iran after Iranian Revolution
.At that time, Mohammad Khatami
was president
.
Running on a reform agenda, Khatami was elected president on May 23, 1997 in what many have described as a remarkable election. Voter turnout was nearly 80%. Despite limited television airtime, most of which went to conservative Speaker of Parliament and favored candidate Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, Khatami received 70 percent of the vote. "Even in Qom, the center of theological training in Iran and a conservative stronghold, 70% of voters cast their ballots for Khatami." He was re-elected on June 8, 2001 for a second term and stepped down on August 3, 2005 after serving his maximum two consecutive terms according to the Islamic Republic's constitution.
Khatami supporters have been described as a "coalition of strange bedfellows, including traditional leftists, ... business leaders who wanted the state to open up the economy and allow more foreign investment" and "women and younger voters."
The day of his election, the 2nd of Khordad, 1376, in the Iranian calendar
, is regarded as the starting date of "reforms" in Iran. His followers are therefore usually known as the "2nd of Khordad Movement".
Khatami is regarded as Iran's first reformist president, since the focus of his campaign was on the rule of law, democracy
and the inclusion of all Iranians in the political decision-making process. However, his policies of reform led to repeated clashes with the hardline and conservative Islamists in the Iranian government, who control powerful governmental organizations like the Guardian Council
, whose members are appointed by the Supreme Leader. Khatami lost most of those clashes, and by the end of his presidency many of his followers had grown disillusioned with him.
As President, according to the Iranian political system, Khatami was outranked by the Supreme Leader
. Thus, Khatami had no legal authority over key state institutions: the armed forces, the police, the army, the revolutionary guards, the state radio and television, the prisons, etc. (See Politics of Iran
).
Khatami presented the so called "twin bills" to the parliament during his term in office, these two pieces of proposed legislation would have introduced small but key changes to the national election laws of Iran and also presented a clear definition of the president's power to prevent constitutional violations by state institutions. Khatami himself described the "twin bills" as the key to the progress of reforms in Iran. The bills were approved by the parliament but were eventually vetoed by the Guardian Council.
A year into his first term as president of Iran, Khatami acknowledged Iran's economic challenges, stating that the economy was, "chronically ill ... and it will continue to be so unless there is fundamental restructuring."
For much of his first term, Khatami saw through the implementation of Iran's second five-year development plan. On 15 September 1999, Khatami presented a new five-year plan to the Majlis. Aimed at the period from 2000–2004, the plan called for economic reconstruction in a broader context of social and political development. The specific economic reforms included "an ambitious program to privatize several major industries ... the creation of 750,000 new jobs per year, average annual real GDP growth of six percent over the period, reduction in subsidies
for basic commodities ... plus a wide range of fiscal and structural reforms." Unemployment remained a major problem, with Khatami's five-year plan lagging behind in job creation. Only 300,000 new jobs were created in the first year of the plan, well short of the 750,000 that the plan called for. The 2004 World Bank
report on Iran concludes that "after 24 years marked by internal post-revolutionary strife, international isolation, and deep economic volatility, Iran is slowly emerging from a long period of uncertainty and instability."
At the macroeconomic level, real GDP rose from 2.4 percent in 1997 to 5.9 percent in 2000. Unemployment was reduced from 16.2 percent of the labor force to less than 14 percent. The consumer price index fell to less than 13 percent from more than 17 percent. Both public and private investments increased in the energy sector, the building industry, and other sectors of the country's industrial base. The country's external debt was cut from $12.1 billion to $7.9 billion, its lowest level since the Iran-Iraq
cease-fire. The World Bank granted $232 million for health and sewage projects after a hiatus of about seven years. The government, for the first time since the 1979 wholesale financial nationalization, authorized the establishment of two private banks and one private insurance company. The OECD lowered the risk factor for doing business in Iran to four from six (on a scale of seven).
The government's own figures put the number of people under the absolute poverty line in 2001 at 15.5 percent of the total population — down from 18 percent in 1997, and those under relative poverty at 25 percent, thus classifying some 40 percent of the people as poor. Private estimates indicate higher figures.
Among 155 countries in a 2001 world survey, Iran under Khatami was 150th in terms of openness to the global economy. On the United Nations
' Human Development scale, Iran ranked 90th out of 162 countries, only slightly better than its previous position at 97 out of 175 countries four years earlier. The overall risk of doing business in Iran improved only marginally from "D" to "C."
, there was no "clash of civilizations
", he favoured instead a "dialogue among civilizations
". Relations with the US remained marred by mutual suspicion and distrust, but during Khatami's two terms, Tehran increasingly made efforts to play a greater role in the Persian Gulf
region and beyond.
As President, Khatami met with many influential figures including Pope John Paul II
, Koichiro Matsuura
, Jacques Chirac
, Johannes Rau
, Vladimir Putin
, Abdulaziz Bouteflika and Hugo Chávez
. In 2003 Khatami refused to meet militant Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
After the 2003 earthquake in Bam
, the Iranian government rebuffed Israel
's offer of assistance. On April 8, 2005, Khatami sat near Iranian-born Israeli President
Moshe Katsav
during the funeral
of Pope
John Paul II
because of alphabetical order. Later, Katsav claimed that he shook hands and spoke with Khatami. Katsav himself is in origin an Iranian Jew, and from a part of Iran close to Khatami's home; he stated that they had spoken about their home province. That would make this incident the first official political contact between Iran and Israel since diplomatic ties were severed in 1979.
However, after he returned to Iran, Khatami was subject to harsh criticism from conservatives for having 'recognised' Israel by speaking to its president. Subsequently, the country's state-run media reported that Khatami strongly denied shaking hands and chatting with Katsav.
In 2003, Iran approached the United States with proposals to negotiate all outstanding issues including the nuclear issue and a two-state settlement for Israel and the Palestinians.
. Nevertheless, the currency continued to fall from 2,046 to 9,005 to the US dollar during his term as president.
banned thousands of candidates, including most of the reformist members of the parliament and all the candidates of the Islamic Iran Participation Front
party from running. This led to a win by the conservatives of at least 70% of the seats. Approximately 60% of the eligible voting population participated in the elections.
Khatami recalled his strong opposition against holding an election his government saw as unfair and not free. He also narrated the story of his visit to the Supreme Leader, Khamenei, together with the Parliament's spokesman (considered the head of the legislature) and a list of conditions they had handed him before they could hold the elections. The list, he said, was then passed on to the Guardian Council, the legal supervisor and major obstacle to holding free and competitive elections in recent years. The members of the Guardian Council are appointed directly by the Supreme Leader and were considered to be applying his will. "But", Khatami said, "the Guardian Council kept neither the Supreme Leader's nor its own word [...] and we were faced with a situation in which we had to choose between holding the election or risking huge unrest [...] and so damaging the regime." At this point, student protesters repeatedly chanted the slogan "Jannati
is the nation's enemy", referring to the chairman of the Guardian Council. Khatami replied, "If you are the representative of the nation, then we are the nation's enemy." However, after a clarification by students stating that "Jannati, not Khatami", he took advantage of the opportunity to claim a high degree of freedom in Iran.
When the Guardian Council announced the final list of candidates on January 30, 125 Reformist members of parliament declared that they would boycott the election
and resign their seats, and the Reformist interior minister declared that the election would not be held on the scheduled date, February 20. However, Khatami then announced that the election would be held on time, and he rejected the resignations of his cabinet ministers and provincial governors. These actions paved the way for the election to be held and signaled a split between the radical and moderate wings of the Reformist movement.
, President Khatami introduced the theory of Dialogue Among Civilizations
as a response to Samuel Huntington
's theory of Clash of Civilizations
. After introducing the concept of his theory in several international societies (most importantly the U.N.) the theory gained a lot of international support.
Consequently the United Nations
proclaimed the year 2001 as the United Nations' Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations
, as per Khatami's suggestion. Pleading for the moralization of politics, Khatami argued that "The political translation of dialogue among civilizations
would consist in arguing that culture, morality and art must prevail on politics."
. One of Khatami's academic mentors was Javad Tabatabaei
, an Iranian political philosopher. Later on Khatami became a University lecturer at Tarbiat Modarres University, where he taught political philosophy. Khatami also published a book on political philosophy in 1999. The ground he covers is the same as that covered by Javad Tabatabaei: the Plato
nizing adaptation of Greek
political philosophy by Farabi (d. 950), its synthesis of the "eternal wisdom" of Persian statecraft by Abu'l-Hasan Amiri (d. 991) and Mushkuya Razi (d. 1030), the juristic theories of al-Mawardi and Ghazali, and Nizam al-Mulk's treatise on statecraft. He ends with a discussion of the revival of political philosophy in Safavid Isfahan
in the second half of the 17th century.
Further, Khatami shares with Tabatabaei the idea of the "decline" of Muslim political thought beginning at the very outset, after Farabi.
Like Tabatabaei, Khatami brings in the sharply contrasting Aristotelian
view of politics to highlight the shortcomings of Muslim political thought. Khatami has also lectured on the decline in Muslim political thought in terms of the transition from political philosophy to royal policy (siyasat-i shahi) and its imputation to the prevalence of "forceful domination" (taghallub) in Islamic history.
In his "Letter for Tomorrow", he wrote:
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
.At that time, Mohammad Khatami
Mohammad Khatami
Sayyid Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s...
was president
President of Iran
The President of Iran is the highest popularly elected official in, and the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran; although subordinate to the Supreme Leader of Iran, who functions as the country's head of state...
.
Khatami's Presidency
Khatami supporters have been described as a "coalition of strange bedfellows, including traditional leftists, ... business leaders who wanted the state to open up the economy and allow more foreign investment" and "women and younger voters."
The day of his election, the 2nd of Khordad, 1376, in the Iranian calendar
Iranian calendar
The Iranian calendars or sometimes called Persian calendars are a succession of calendars invented or used for over two millennia in Greater Iran...
, is regarded as the starting date of "reforms" in Iran. His followers are therefore usually known as the "2nd of Khordad Movement".
Khatami is regarded as Iran's first reformist president, since the focus of his campaign was on the rule of law, democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and the inclusion of all Iranians in the political decision-making process. However, his policies of reform led to repeated clashes with the hardline and conservative Islamists in the Iranian government, who control powerful governmental organizations like the Guardian Council
Guardian Council
The Guardian Council of the Constitution , also known as the Guardian Council or Council of Guardians, is an appointed and constitutionally-mandated 12-member council that wields considerable power and influence in the Islamic Republic of Iran....
, whose members are appointed by the Supreme Leader. Khatami lost most of those clashes, and by the end of his presidency many of his followers had grown disillusioned with him.
As President, according to the Iranian political system, Khatami was outranked by the Supreme Leader
Supreme leader
A supreme leader typically refers to a figure in the highest leadership position of an entity, group, organization, or state, who exercises strong or all-powerful authority over it. In religion, the supreme leader or supreme leaders is God or Gods...
. Thus, Khatami had no legal authority over key state institutions: the armed forces, the police, the army, the revolutionary guards, the state radio and television, the prisons, etc. (See Politics of Iran
Politics of Iran
The politics of Iran take place in a framework of theocracy guided by an Islamist ideology. The December 1979 constitution, and its 1989 amendment, define the political, economic, and social order of the Islamic Republic of Iran, declaring that Shi'a Islam of the Twelver school of thought is...
).
Khatami presented the so called "twin bills" to the parliament during his term in office, these two pieces of proposed legislation would have introduced small but key changes to the national election laws of Iran and also presented a clear definition of the president's power to prevent constitutional violations by state institutions. Khatami himself described the "twin bills" as the key to the progress of reforms in Iran. The bills were approved by the parliament but were eventually vetoed by the Guardian Council.
Economic policy
Khatami's economic policies followed the previous government's commitment to industrialization. At a macro-economic level, Khatami continued the liberal policies that Rafsanjani had embarked on in the state's first five year economic development plan (1990–1995). On April 10, 2005 Khatami cited economic development, large-scale operations of the private sector in the country's economic arena and the six percent economic growth as among the achievements of his government. He allocated $5 billion to the private sector for promoting the economy, adding that the value of contracts signed in this regard has reached $10 billion.A year into his first term as president of Iran, Khatami acknowledged Iran's economic challenges, stating that the economy was, "chronically ill ... and it will continue to be so unless there is fundamental restructuring."
For much of his first term, Khatami saw through the implementation of Iran's second five-year development plan. On 15 September 1999, Khatami presented a new five-year plan to the Majlis. Aimed at the period from 2000–2004, the plan called for economic reconstruction in a broader context of social and political development. The specific economic reforms included "an ambitious program to privatize several major industries ... the creation of 750,000 new jobs per year, average annual real GDP growth of six percent over the period, reduction in subsidies
Subsidy
A subsidy is an assistance paid to a business or economic sector. Most subsidies are made by the government to producers or distributors in an industry to prevent the decline of that industry or an increase in the prices of its products or simply to encourage it to hire more labor A subsidy (also...
for basic commodities ... plus a wide range of fiscal and structural reforms." Unemployment remained a major problem, with Khatami's five-year plan lagging behind in job creation. Only 300,000 new jobs were created in the first year of the plan, well short of the 750,000 that the plan called for. The 2004 World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
report on Iran concludes that "after 24 years marked by internal post-revolutionary strife, international isolation, and deep economic volatility, Iran is slowly emerging from a long period of uncertainty and instability."
At the macroeconomic level, real GDP rose from 2.4 percent in 1997 to 5.9 percent in 2000. Unemployment was reduced from 16.2 percent of the labor force to less than 14 percent. The consumer price index fell to less than 13 percent from more than 17 percent. Both public and private investments increased in the energy sector, the building industry, and other sectors of the country's industrial base. The country's external debt was cut from $12.1 billion to $7.9 billion, its lowest level since the Iran-Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
cease-fire. The World Bank granted $232 million for health and sewage projects after a hiatus of about seven years. The government, for the first time since the 1979 wholesale financial nationalization, authorized the establishment of two private banks and one private insurance company. The OECD lowered the risk factor for doing business in Iran to four from six (on a scale of seven).
The government's own figures put the number of people under the absolute poverty line in 2001 at 15.5 percent of the total population — down from 18 percent in 1997, and those under relative poverty at 25 percent, thus classifying some 40 percent of the people as poor. Private estimates indicate higher figures.
Among 155 countries in a 2001 world survey, Iran under Khatami was 150th in terms of openness to the global economy. On the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
' Human Development scale, Iran ranked 90th out of 162 countries, only slightly better than its previous position at 97 out of 175 countries four years earlier. The overall risk of doing business in Iran improved only marginally from "D" to "C."
Foreign policy
During Khatami's presidency, Iran's foreign policy began a process of moving from confrontation to conciliation. In Khatami's notion of foreign policyPolicy
A policy is typically described as a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome. The term is not normally used to denote what is actually done, this is normally referred to as either procedure or protocol...
, there was no "clash of civilizations
Clash of Civilizations
The Clash of Civilizations is a theory, proposed by political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world....
", he favoured instead a "dialogue among civilizations
Dialogue Among Civilizations
Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami introduced the idea of Dialogue Among Civilizations as a response to Samuel P. Huntington’s theory of a Clash of Civilizations.-Introduction:...
". Relations with the US remained marred by mutual suspicion and distrust, but during Khatami's two terms, Tehran increasingly made efforts to play a greater role in the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
region and beyond.
As President, Khatami met with many influential figures including Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
, Koichiro Matsuura
Koichiro Matsuura
is a Japanese diplomat. He is the former Director-General of UNESCO. He was first elected in 1999 to a six-year term and reelected on 12 October 2005 for four years, following a reform instituted by the 29th session of the General Conference...
, Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
, Johannes Rau
Johannes Rau
Johannes Rau was a German politician of the SPD. He was President of Germany from 1 July 1999 until 30 June 2004, and Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1978 to 1998.-Education and work:...
, Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
, Abdulaziz Bouteflika and Hugo Chávez
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
. In 2003 Khatami refused to meet militant Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
After the 2003 earthquake in Bam
Bam, Iran
Bam is a city in and the capital of Bam County, Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 73,823, in 19,572 families.The modern Iranian city of Bam surrounds the Bam citadel. Before the 2003 earthquake the official population count of the city was roughly 43,000. There are...
, the Iranian government rebuffed Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
's offer of assistance. On April 8, 2005, Khatami sat near Iranian-born Israeli President
President of Israel
The President of the State of Israel is the head of state of Israel. The position is largely an apolitical ceremonial figurehead role, with the real executive power lying in the hands of the Prime Minister. The current president is Shimon Peres who took office on 15 July 2007...
Moshe Katsav
Moshe Katsav
Moshe Katsav is an Israeli politician. He served as the eighth President of Israel, a leading Likud member of the Israeli Knesset, and a Cabinet Minister in its government....
during the funeral
Funeral of Pope John Paul II
The funeral of Pope John Paul II was held on 8 April 2005, six days after his death on 2 April. The funeral was followed by the novemdiales devotional in which the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches observe nine days of mourning....
of Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
because of alphabetical order. Later, Katsav claimed that he shook hands and spoke with Khatami. Katsav himself is in origin an Iranian Jew, and from a part of Iran close to Khatami's home; he stated that they had spoken about their home province. That would make this incident the first official political contact between Iran and Israel since diplomatic ties were severed in 1979.
However, after he returned to Iran, Khatami was subject to harsh criticism from conservatives for having 'recognised' Israel by speaking to its president. Subsequently, the country's state-run media reported that Khatami strongly denied shaking hands and chatting with Katsav.
In 2003, Iran approached the United States with proposals to negotiate all outstanding issues including the nuclear issue and a two-state settlement for Israel and the Palestinians.
Currency crisis
During 1995-2005, Khatami's administration successfully reduced the rate of fall in the value of the Iranian Rial bettering even the record of MousaviMir-Hossein Mousavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh is an Iranian reformist politician, artist and architect who served as the seventy-ninth and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He was a Reformist candidate for the 2009 presidential election and eventually the leader of the opposition in the post-election...
. Nevertheless, the currency continued to fall from 2,046 to 9,005 to the US dollar during his term as president.
Khatami and Iran's 2004 parliamentary election
In February 2004 Parliament elections, the Guardian CouncilGuardian Council
The Guardian Council of the Constitution , also known as the Guardian Council or Council of Guardians, is an appointed and constitutionally-mandated 12-member council that wields considerable power and influence in the Islamic Republic of Iran....
banned thousands of candidates, including most of the reformist members of the parliament and all the candidates of the Islamic Iran Participation Front
Islamic Iran Participation Front
The Islamic Iran Participation Front is a reformist political party in Iran...
party from running. This led to a win by the conservatives of at least 70% of the seats. Approximately 60% of the eligible voting population participated in the elections.
Khatami recalled his strong opposition against holding an election his government saw as unfair and not free. He also narrated the story of his visit to the Supreme Leader, Khamenei, together with the Parliament's spokesman (considered the head of the legislature) and a list of conditions they had handed him before they could hold the elections. The list, he said, was then passed on to the Guardian Council, the legal supervisor and major obstacle to holding free and competitive elections in recent years. The members of the Guardian Council are appointed directly by the Supreme Leader and were considered to be applying his will. "But", Khatami said, "the Guardian Council kept neither the Supreme Leader's nor its own word [...] and we were faced with a situation in which we had to choose between holding the election or risking huge unrest [...] and so damaging the regime." At this point, student protesters repeatedly chanted the slogan "Jannati
Ahmad Jannati
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati Massah is a hardline Iranian politician, fundamentalist Shi'i cleric and a founding member of Haghani school with close ties with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mesbah-Yazdi...
is the nation's enemy", referring to the chairman of the Guardian Council. Khatami replied, "If you are the representative of the nation, then we are the nation's enemy." However, after a clarification by students stating that "Jannati, not Khatami", he took advantage of the opportunity to claim a high degree of freedom in Iran.
When the Guardian Council announced the final list of candidates on January 30, 125 Reformist members of parliament declared that they would boycott the election
Election boycott
An election boycott is the boycotting of an election by a group of voters, each of whom abstains from voting.Boycotting may be used as a form of political protest where voters feel that electoral fraud is likely, or that the electoral system is biased against its candidates, or that the polity...
and resign their seats, and the Reformist interior minister declared that the election would not be held on the scheduled date, February 20. However, Khatami then announced that the election would be held on time, and he rejected the resignations of his cabinet ministers and provincial governors. These actions paved the way for the election to be held and signaled a split between the radical and moderate wings of the Reformist movement.
Dialogue Among Civilizations
Following earlier works by renowned philosopher Dariush ShayeganDariush Shayegan
Dariush Shayegan is one of Iran's prominent thinkers, cultural theorists and comparative philosophers.Shayegan studied at Sorbonne University in Paris...
, President Khatami introduced the theory of Dialogue Among Civilizations
Dialogue Among Civilizations
Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami introduced the idea of Dialogue Among Civilizations as a response to Samuel P. Huntington’s theory of a Clash of Civilizations.-Introduction:...
as a response to Samuel Huntington
Samuel Huntington
Samuel Huntington may refer to:* Samuel Huntington , American jurist, statesman, and revolutionary leader* Samuel H. Huntington , American jurist* Samuel P. Huntington , American political scientist...
's theory of Clash of Civilizations
Clash of Civilizations
The Clash of Civilizations is a theory, proposed by political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world....
. After introducing the concept of his theory in several international societies (most importantly the U.N.) the theory gained a lot of international support.
Consequently the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
proclaimed the year 2001 as the United Nations' Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations
Dialogue Among Civilizations
Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami introduced the idea of Dialogue Among Civilizations as a response to Samuel P. Huntington’s theory of a Clash of Civilizations.-Introduction:...
, as per Khatami's suggestion. Pleading for the moralization of politics, Khatami argued that "The political translation of dialogue among civilizations
Dialogue Among Civilizations
Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami introduced the idea of Dialogue Among Civilizations as a response to Samuel P. Huntington’s theory of a Clash of Civilizations.-Introduction:...
would consist in arguing that culture, morality and art must prevail on politics."
Khatami as a scholar
Khatami's main research field is political philosophyPolitical philosophy
Political philosophy is the study of such topics as liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what, if anything, makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it...
. One of Khatami's academic mentors was Javad Tabatabaei
Javad Tabatabaei
Dr. Javad Tabatabai is a political philosopher, historian and university professor.Tabatabai studied law at Tehran University. He then shifted to philosophy and did his doctorate works at Sorbonne University. Tabatabai was a professor of philosophy at University of Strasbourg as well as Tehran...
, an Iranian political philosopher. Later on Khatami became a University lecturer at Tarbiat Modarres University, where he taught political philosophy. Khatami also published a book on political philosophy in 1999. The ground he covers is the same as that covered by Javad Tabatabaei: the Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
nizing adaptation of Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
political philosophy by Farabi (d. 950), its synthesis of the "eternal wisdom" of Persian statecraft by Abu'l-Hasan Amiri (d. 991) and Mushkuya Razi (d. 1030), the juristic theories of al-Mawardi and Ghazali, and Nizam al-Mulk's treatise on statecraft. He ends with a discussion of the revival of political philosophy in Safavid Isfahan
Isfahan (city)
Isfahan , historically also rendered in English as Ispahan, Sepahan or Hispahan, is the capital of Isfahan Province in Iran, located about 340 km south of Tehran. It has a population of 1,583,609, Iran's third largest city after Tehran and Mashhad...
in the second half of the 17th century.
Further, Khatami shares with Tabatabaei the idea of the "decline" of Muslim political thought beginning at the very outset, after Farabi.
Like Tabatabaei, Khatami brings in the sharply contrasting Aristotelian
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
view of politics to highlight the shortcomings of Muslim political thought. Khatami has also lectured on the decline in Muslim political thought in terms of the transition from political philosophy to royal policy (siyasat-i shahi) and its imputation to the prevalence of "forceful domination" (taghallub) in Islamic history.
In his "Letter for Tomorrow", he wrote:
Cabinet Members
| Ministry | Minister | Time in office |
|---|---|---|
| President President of Iran The President of Iran is the highest popularly elected official in, and the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran; although subordinate to the Supreme Leader of Iran, who functions as the country's head of state... |
Mohammad Khatami | 1997–2005 |
| First Vice President Vice President of Iran Vice President of Iran is defined by article 124 of the Iranian constitution, as anyone appointed by the President to lead an organization related to Presidential affairs. , there are 12 Vice Presidents in Iran... |
Hassan Habibi Hassan Habibi Hassan Ebrahim Habibi is an Iranian politician and scholar, presently the Head of Academy of Persian Language and Literature , and a member of the High Council of Cultural Revolution.Habibi was the 1st First Vice President of Iran from 1989 to 2001, eight years under President Rafsanjani and... |
1997–2001 |
| Mohammad Reza Aref Mohammad Reza Aref Mohammad Reza Aref is an Iranian academic, electrical engineer and politician and a professor at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. From 2001 to 2005, he was the Vice President of Iran under President Mohammad Khatami. He was succeeded by Parviz Dawoodi.Aref was a chancellor of the... |
2001–2005 | |
| Foreign Affairs Minister of Foreign Affairs (Iran) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is an Iranian government ministry. The Minister for Foreign Affairs is the Cabinet member in charge.... |
Kamal Kharrazi Kamal Kharrazi Seyed Kamal Kharazi is an Iranian politician and diplomat who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs from August 20, 1997 to August 24, 2005 as appointed by President Mohammad Khatami serving for eight years... |
1997–2005 |
| Agricultural | Issa Kalantari Issa Kalantari Issa Kalantari is an Iranian politician. He was the Iranian Minister of Agriculture in Mohammad Khatami cabinet.... |
1997–2000 |
| Mahmoud Hojjati | 2000–2005 | |
| Commerce | Mohammad Shariatmadar | 1997–2005 |
| ICT | Mohammad Reza Aref Mohammad Reza Aref Mohammad Reza Aref is an Iranian academic, electrical engineer and politician and a professor at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. From 2001 to 2005, he was the Vice President of Iran under President Mohammad Khatami. He was succeeded by Parviz Dawoodi.Aref was a chancellor of the... |
1997–2000 |
| Ahmad Motamedi Ahmad Motamedi Seyyed Ahmad Motamedi is an Iranian politician. He was the Iranian Minister of Communication and Information Technology until August 24, 2005, and was replaced by Mohammad Soleimani.... |
2000–2005 | |
| Cooperatives Ministry of Cooperatives (Iran) The Ministry of Cooperatives established in 1991 and dissolved in 2011, was an Iranian government body responsible for the oversight of Cooperative business in Iran.-External links:*... |
Morteza Haaji | 1997–2001 |
| Ali Soufi | 2001–2005 | |
| Culture | Attaollah Mohajerani | 1997–2000 |
| Ahmad Masjed-Jamei Ahmad Masjed-Jamei Ahmad Masjed-Jamei is an Iranian reformist politician, who served as Culture Minister under President Mohammad Khatami from 2000 to 2005, and was elected a Tehran City Councillor in 2006.-Culture Minister:... |
2000–2005 | |
| Defense | Ali Shamkhani Ali Shamkhani Ali Shamkhani is an Iranian admiral and politician. He was the Minister of Defense from August 19, 1997 until August 24, 2005 and was replaced by Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar.He is born in 1955 in Ahvaz, Khuzestan, he earned a B.S... |
1997–2005 |
| Economy | Hossein Namazi | 1997–2001 |
| Tahmasb Mazaheri | 2001–2004 | |
| Safdar Hosseini Safdar Hosseini Safdar Hosseini is an Iranian politician. He was the Minister of Economy and Finance Affairs of Iran in cabinet of the President Mohammad Khatami, replaced by Davoud Danesh-Jafari on August 24, 2005 in the cabinet of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Before that, he was the Minister of Labour and... |
2004–2005 | |
| Education | Hossein Mozzafar | 1997–2001 |
| Morteza Haaji | 2001–2005 | |
| Power | Habibolah Bitaraf Habibolah Bitaraf Habibolah Bitaraf was Energy Minister of Iran for 8 years during the Mohammad Khatami presidency. He is a University of Tehran alumnus. During his serving as Energy minister, many huge national projects were launched such as numerous power plants and dam construction projects.-References:... |
1997–2005 |
| Health | Mohammad Farhadi | 1997–2001 |
| Masoud Pezeshkian Masoud Pezeshkian Masood Pezeshkian was Minister of Health and Medical Education of Iran between 2001 and 2005. He was also the chancellor of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences for 7 years. He is a heart surgeon and he is an academic member of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences at the present time. He is... |
2001–2005 | |
| HUD | Ali Abdolalizadeh | 1997–2005 |
| Industrial | Gholamreza Shafei | 1997–2001 |
| Eshaq Jahangiri Eshaq Jahangiri Eshaq Jahangiri Kouhshahi is an Iranian politician. Jahangiri was governor general of the province of Isfahan until 20 August 1997 when the Iranian Parliament accepted President Mohammad Khatami's request that Jahangiri become the Minister of Mines and Metals... |
2001–2005 | |
| Intelligence | Ghorbanali Dorri Najafabadi | 1997–1998 |
| Ali Younesi Ali Younesi Hojatoleslam Ali Younesi was the director of the Ministry of Intelligence and a member of the Supreme National Security Council during the presidency Mohammad Khatami in Iran.... |
1998–2005 | |
| Interior | Abdollah Nouri | 1997–1998 |
| Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari Hojjatoleslam Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari was the interior minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami.He was born in Tehran... |
1998–2005 | |
| Justice | Mohammad Ismaeil Shooshtari | 1997–2005 |
| Labour | Hossein Kamali Hossein Kamali Hossein Kamali is an Iranian politician. He was the Minister of Labour under President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a post he retained under the government of Mohammad Khatami.-References:... |
1997–2001 |
| Safdar Hosseini Safdar Hosseini Safdar Hosseini is an Iranian politician. He was the Minister of Economy and Finance Affairs of Iran in cabinet of the President Mohammad Khatami, replaced by Davoud Danesh-Jafari on August 24, 2005 in the cabinet of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Before that, he was the Minister of Labour and... |
2001–2004 | |
| Nasser Khaleghi | 2004–2005 | |
| Petroleum Ministry of Petroleum of Iran The Ministry of Petroleum manages the oil industry, the producer of oil and petrochemical products. MoP is in charge of all issues pertaining to exploration, extraction, exploitation, distribution and exportation of crude oil and oil products. In addition, according to the "", issuing import... |
Bijan Namdar Zangeneh Bijan Namdar Zangeneh Bijan Namdar Zangeneh is an Iranian politician.Zangeneh was born in the western city of Kermanshah in 1953. He spent his early school years in his hometown before moving to Tehran where he received his high school diploma... |
1997–2005 |
| Roads | Mahmoud Hojatti | 1997–2000 |
| Rahman Dadman Rahman Dadman Rahman Dadman was an Iranian politician born in Ardabil. He was the Minister of Roads and Transportation, under President Mohammad Khatami until May 18, 2001 when he died in an air accident with about 30 other passengers in the crash of an Iranian YAK-40 plane, 13 miles from the city of Sari, Iran... |
2000 | |
| Ahmad Khorram Ahmad Khorram Ahmad Khorram is Iranian politician.Khorram was the Minister of Roads and Transportation, under President Mohammad Khatami, until October 3, 2004, when he was impeached by the Majlis of Iran by 188 votes out of 258 present members of the parliament... |
2000–2004 | |
| Mohammad Rahmati | 2004–2005 | |
| Science | Mostafa Moeen Mostafa Moeen Mostafa Moeen, M.D. , is an Iranian politician and professor of Pediatrics, and an advisor to the former President Mohammad Khatami. He was a presidential candidate for the 2005 Iranian presidential election... |
1997–2003 |
| Jafar Towfighi | 2003–2005 | |
| Welfare Ministry of Welfare and Social Security (Iran) The Ministry of Welfare and Social Security established in 2004 and dissolved in 2011, was an Iranian government body responsible for the oversight of Social security in Iran.-See also:*Social security in Iran*Health care in Iran*Subsidy reform plan... |
Mohammad Hossein Sharifzadegan | 2004–2005 |
See also
- Mohammad KhatamiMohammad KhatamiSayyid Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s...
- Cabinet of IranCabinet of IranThe Cabinet of Iran is a formal body composed of government officials, ministers, chosen and led by a President. Its composition must be approved by a vote in the Parliament...