Ganji - 08/13/06 - Afra's Photos- powered by SmugMug

Akbar Ganji visited Stanford, hosted by the new Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies. Director Milani was the host and the translator.

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Afra > Ganji's talk was titled "Transition to Democracy in Iran: Three Paradigms". The main question was: what form of democracy can Iran transition to, and how.

Afra > The three paradigms are constitutional monarchy, constitutional Islamic democracy, and democracy.

Afra > Ganji defined three types of dictatorial systems: Fascist Totalitarian, Military Junta, and Sultanist. He did not distinguish between the first and the third very well, however, focusing mostly on their similarities.

Afra > Ganji interpreted and criticized Hajarian's approach, which considers Islamic democracy as the first step. He showed that under the current regime, there is no way to lawfully change the system.

Afra > Ganji straddled two roles, in giving a talk as a sociologist and as an activist.

Afra > This led to a bit of discomfort for me as I believe the roles should be clear. For example, he repeatedly used the word "All", which my dad pointed out correctly isn't quite a scientific term, especially in the soft sciences.

Afra > Ganji considered all constitutional monarchists to be interested in Foreign intervention.

Afra > There were many jokes. For instance, Ganji characterized Hajarian's goal as turning the "Velayat-e-Faqih" to the Queen of England.

Afra > Ganji suggested President Bush to find better advisors about the Middle East. As Milani's already in the Hoover Institute, the wheels seem to be in motion.

Ganji's talk was titled "Transition to Democracy in Iran: Three Paradigms". The main question was: what form of democracy can Iran transition to, and how.

Camera: Canon (Canon Eos 20d) |

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Original size: 3504px x 2336px |

Current: 400px x 267px |

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