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Paola Rivetti is Lecturer in Politics of the Middle East & North Africa and International Relations at the School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, Ireland. She is the secretary of the Italian Association of Middle Eastern Studies (SeSaMO) and a co-founder and board member of the Lund University-based European Iran Research Group. She published in the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Journal of European Integration, Democratization, Middle Eastern Studies, ‘Mediterranean Politics, Alternatives: Global Local Political, Foreign Policy-Middle East Channel and Jadaliyya, and the Chaillot Paper Series. She co-edited Continuity and change before and after the Arab uprisings in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt (forthcoming for Routledge) and Civil Society Effect. Practice and rhetoric in Iran, Lebanon, Egypt and Morocco (2010, in Italian).
Informal Activism and New Subjectivity in Authoritarian Settings: Iran’s “New Activists”
In times of repression, informal networks are useful to keep activism alive as they offer a way to activists for organizing. This short piece examines the background of informal activism in Iran and its possible implications.
Upgrading Civil Society in Iran: Dynamics of Adaptation
Since the end of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government in June 2013 and the election of the moderate Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s diplomatic activity has changed, specifically its engagement in nuclear talks. The possibility of an agreement reignited enthusiasm for and attention to Iran’s civil society, which played an important role in supporting a diplomatic solution to the nuclear dispute. While many lauded Minister of Foreign Affairs Javad Zarif as the champion of the diplomatic breakthrough, others interpreted the progress in the negotiations to be the result of effective collective efforts by pro-democracy activists.
