Transition to Democracy for Iran - Part 0: Foreword

All indications show that Iranians are unsatisfied with the political rule of the Islamic Republic regime (IR regime) and, if possible and without loss of life, livelihood and property, would opt for a democratic political system that respects human rights. Of course, the IR regime is not willing to let go of the power it has.  

We are hence faced with the important question “how can a population that is being ruled by a semi-totalitarian, theocratic dictatorship, produce a positive change in direction of a democracy?”  

Each opposition group of course claims that they have the right answer. And yet, after over 40 years, none of them has been able to achieve a meaningful change. Execution or assassination of important opposition figures, imprisonment of critics and brutal crackdown on critical organizations and groups continue as before.  

The most important reason why these opposition groups have so far failed and why, if left to their own accord, they will continue to fail, is that they have overseen a very crucial and important fact: ruling a populous, large country is not a simple task. In effect governing is a science and changing that ruling system also requires a science on its own.   

The latter is called the science of transition to democracy. If an Iranian opposition group hopes to achieve its goals and produce a meaningful, positive change, it must learn from the wealth of knowledge and experience offered by this branch of science. Only by utilizing these can we hope to achieve a non-violent regime change in order to establish an institutionalized democracy in Iran.

The "Transition to Democracy" articles published here in 9 parts describe the application of this science for Iran. The individual chapters are

1.   A Fair and Just System of Social Cooperation

2.   The Structure of the IR Regime

3.   Legitimacy

4.   The Roots of Laws in Modern Societies

5.   Conditions for Regime Change

6.   Forced, Fundamental Structural Reforms

7.   The Process of Transition to Democracy

8.   The Missing Link - A Consolidated Leadership

9.   The Iranian Parliament in Exile as the Best Tool for Developing Leadership