Hassan Hakimian

Oil, Economic Diversification and the Democratic Process in Iran

Since 1979, Iran has witnessed important socio-economic and institutional changes and has been affected by significant economic and political upheavals. These years have witnessed a succession of oil booms and busts, external war, trade sanctions and of course, more recently, heightened internal strife within the state. After 25 years, however, Irans political outlook seems opaque to most observers and the economic record is equally lacklustre with many Iranians experiencing a considerable retrogression in their living standards by regional and international standards.1 Since the second half of the 1990s and with the surfacing of a reformist faction within the ruling hierarchy, Iranian state has been beset by a divisive political struggle with different political factions openly competing for political and legislative supremacy. Partly as a consequence of this and partly because of Irans ability to live off its oil rent, the agenda for economic reform has often been put on the back burner, postponing the largely overdue modernization of Irans ailing economy.2 In this paper we argue that without fundamental economic and political reform the long term prospects of the Iranian economy will not be bright. First, we offer

Trade Policy and Economic Integration in the Middle East and North Africa: Economic Boundaries in Flux

The recent globalization trends have revived a long-standing interest in regional integration in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Despite numerous attempts to encourage economic integration in MENA in the past few decades, there is broad consensus that progress has been painstakingly slow and the record of economic integration in the MENA region is largely beset by failure. This book examines the impact of recent changes in the world economy on trade policy within the MENA region and its economic relations with the rest of the world. It considers regional integration and prospects for trade blocs; trade liberalization and economic restructuring; resource endowments and employment trends; and changes in economic boundaries, especially as a result of labor migration and regional conflicts.

Wage Labour and Migration: Persian Workers in Southern Russia, 1880-1914

It is common knowledge of Iranian history that at the turn of the present century iran was undergoing important social transformations. A notable feature of this period that witnessed the rising movement for constitutional reforms was a heightening of social tensions and contradictions in a traditional society that had now become subject to potent forces of change from within and without. The disintegration of the political power of the Qajar dynasty went hand in hand with an accelerating trend of economic decline, while the social fabric of the country at large was unraveled by a growing tendency for outbursts of massive social agitation and popular unrest.

The Impact of the 1970s’ Oil Boom on Iranian Agriculture

This article challenges the dominant strand of thinking on Iranian agriculture, which has hitherto stressed the depressing effects of the 1970s’ oil boom on the rural economy. In highlighting the nature of the economic boom both in the rural and urban areas, it delineates new constraints imposed on agriculture and offers a new explanation as to its outcome. The precipitated outflow of agricultural workforce in this period is thus shown to have been a common source of difficulty to the sector, and not a mere manifestation of its demise. The reasons for this process are located in new developments in the rural non‐farm and urban construction sectors, rather than in the ‘decay’ and ‘disintegration’ of agriculture.