DIALOGUE OF CIVILIZATION AND POLITICAL DISCOURSE IN IRAN AMONG THE YOUTH

Nasser Fakouhi

Dr. Fakouhi holds a PhD in Political Sociology and
Anthropology from the University of Paris. He is Assistant Professor in the
Department of Anthropology at the University of Tehran, Senior Researcher in
the Housing and Urbanism Research Center, and Publisher and Managing
Director of Abnousse Editions. His published works include: Political
Violence, Theories, Forms, and Solutions, Political Mythology, Art and
Power, From Culture to Development, and Political
Anthropology.

By the 1996 Presidential election in Iran, began democratic
evolution due to a social dynamism dissimulated until that time. The principal
basis of this dynamism is formed by the youth, i.e., a vast stratum whose social
presence represents two specific characteristics: 1. It contains a great weight
of aspirations and expectations left unsatisfied and consequently critical. 2.
It's the main part and the great consumer of political discourse, understanding
the social reality as a text.

During the three years of relative liberalization especially in
the field of the press, we can consider the movement as a big Agora whose
participants, beyond the intellectuals and politicians are millions of
university students and high school pupils. The political participation of the
youth whose form is a sort of an everyday life ritual, must be considered under
a strong influence of the globalization process. This process has been the main
factor to introduce some intellectual concepts as the "Civil Society" in the
Iranian political discourse. This discourse is one of the most important
elements to be considered in the process of "Dialogue among Civilizations"
because the dialogue is a good way to encourage an understanding of the world.
Our aim, in this article, from a political anthropology point of view, is to
describe and to analyse the evolution of this process in social reality amongst
the youth.