Director of the School of Policy and International Affairs
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Bahman Baktiari is the Director of the School of Policy and International Affairs, University of Maine and effective July 2009, Director, Middle East Center, University of Utah.
Iranian society has changed dramatically over the past 30 years, and bears little resemblance either to the expectations of or the picture painted by the leadership of the Islamic Republic. Indeed, as much as the ruling clerics like to project self-confidence and the ability to predict the future, they could not have envisaged a society with these characteristics. While many of these surprising developments have occurred because of the policies of the Islamic Republic, others have occurred despite or regardless of them.
