Iranian Media
The post-revolutionary state in Iran has tried to amalgamate ‘Sharia with electricity’ and modernity with what it considers as ‘Islam’. While sympathetic to private capital, through quasi anti-capitalist politics, the state began to restrict market-relations, confiscate major assets of sections of the Iranian bourgeoisie, and nationalize major aspects of Iran’s industry, including its communications system. Since the end of war with Iraq and the start of the process of ‘reconstruction’, market-driven development and economic policies have been key aims of the state.
Gholam Khiabany teaches in the Department of Applied Social Sciences, London Metropolitan University, and is the author (with Annabelle Sreberny) of Blogestan: The Internet and Politics in Iran.