In a pre-election debate, Ahmedinejad paid challenger Mohsen Rezaee (An arch conservative and former head of the Revolutionary Guards, who also holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Tehran University) ta’arof as one of the few candidates with ‘new ideas’. He then mocked Rezaee’s proposal to divide Iran into nine economic regions or ‘focal points’ as wholly unworkable: “How can one have economic federalism without political and administrative components? “, he asked.
Rezaee replied that he actually did mean economic federalism, not full federalism, and that matters of international policy, defense, etc. remain with the center. Rezaee explained that while there might be 40-45 provinces or more, each with their own devolved political and security functions, economic blocs would be much larger: “There might be nine economic administrators with full visibility on the activities of their respective regions. These would be responsible for their regional economic blocs and (report to) the president.” Ahmedinejad responded by saying that that dividing the country into nine administrative units was in fact not a new concept, as it had been proposed at one time by the Sepah (Revolutionary Guards). Furthermore, Ahmediejad told Rezai, “economic administration without political or social direction is without meaning.”
The federal question has been one that has plagued Iran for centuries, with decentralisation (or, more precisely, lack of central control) being both a cause of Iran’s economic stagnation, as well as the hallmark of some of the more productive periods in Iran’s past. As Springborg and Clement put it, Iran’s modern dysfunction has been a failure to globalize. Rezaee’s conception of economic federalism relates somewhat to the policies of former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, whose attempts at privatisation and export-promotion through China-esque Free- and Special Economic Zones have met with limited success. While these ideas are only sketches of plans thus far, they do constitute thought, in contrast to Ahmedinejad’s vigorous defense of the status quo.
–EDC
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