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=Conestoga Comparative Government Period 6: IRAN=

=**Iran **=



Background (HTJ) Formerally known as Persia until 1935, Iran initially ruled under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 overthrew Pahlavi and replaced the monarchial government with a theocratic government. Iran became a newly formed Islamic republic and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was the leader of the revolution, came into power.


 * Looking into AGE DISTRIBUTION:



//CONCLUSION: Shows that Iran's largest age distribution lies between 20-29 years old.//


 * Looking into DIVERSITY

//Persian 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Arab 3%, Lur 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1%//

CONCLUSION: Multitude of ethnic groups creates a ripe environment for cultural clash (however, as we will come to see, this has often been quelled by government measures).


 * Looking into EDUCATION

//Education spending (percent of total government expenditures): 17.7 percent//


 * Looking into POPULATION

//Overall population: 65,875,224 (20th out of 242)// //Population growth rate: 0.792 percent//

//Population living in urban areas: 67 percent//

//CONCLUSION: While Iran's population has steadily increased over the past few decades, it is beginning to slow down considerably.//


 * Looking into INDUSTRY

//Riches (GDP per capita): $12,900 (2009 estimate)// //CONCLUSION: Although inflation has fallen substantially because of lower oil prices, Iran continues to suffer from double-digit unemployment and underemployment. Underemployment among Iran's educated youth has convinced many to seek jobs overseas, resulting in a significant "brain drain."//


 * Looking into LANGUAGES

//Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2%//


 * Looking into GEOGRAPHY

//Total land boundaries: 5,440 km// //Border countries: Afghanistan 936 km, Armenia 35 km, Azerbaijan-proper 432 km, Azerbaijan-Naxcivan exclave 179 km, Iraq 1,458 km, Pakistan 909 km, Turkey 499 km, Turkmenistan 992 km//


 * Looking into MILITARY

//Personnel: 585,000 (11th of 170)

Weapon holdings: 5,901,000 (14th of 137)// //CONCLUSION: Iran possesses one of the largest missile inventories in the Middle East and has acquired complete missile systems and developed an infrastructure to build missiles indigenously. It has purchased North Korean Scud-Bs, Scud-Cs, and Nodong ballistic missiles. Meanwhile, Iran has also developed short-range artillery rockets and is producing the Scud-B and the Scud-C—called the Shehab-1 and Shehab-2, respectively.//

//Airports: 316
 * Looking into TRANSPORTATION

Pipelines: Condensate 7 km; condensate/gas 12 km; gas 19,246 km; liquid petroleum gas 570 km; oil 7,018 km; refined products 7,936 km (2008)//

//Roadways://

//Total: 172,927 km// //Country comparison to the world: 29// //Paved: 125,908 km (includes 1,429 km of expressways)// //Unpaved: 47,019 km (2006)//


 * Key Political Leaders: (JN)**

__Chief of State__ __Head of Government__  __Cabinet__
 * Supreme Leader Ali Hoseini-Khamenei (4 June 1989 - present)
 * appointed for life by the Assembly of Experts
 * President Mahmud Ahmadinejad (3 August 2005 - present)
 * First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi (13 September 2009 - present)
 * elected by popular vote for a four-year term
 * eligible for a second term and a third nonconsecutive term
 * Council of Ministers
 * selected by president with legislative approval
 * Supreme Leader has some control over some of the appointments

__Three Oversight Bodies__
 * Assembly of Experts [[image:http://www.wikispaces.com/i/c.gif width="78" height="22"]]
 * popularly elected body
 * determines succession of Supreme Leader, reviews his performance, and deposes him if deemed necessary
 * Expediency Council
 * exerts supervisory authority over the government
 * advises national religious leaders on matters of national policy
 * resolves legislative issues on which the Assembly of Experts and Council of Guardians disagree
 * Council of Guardians
 * determines whether proposed legislation is both constitutional and faithful to Islamic law
 * vets candidates in popular elections for suitability
 * supervises national elections

__Images (SG)__
A basic political map of the Islamic Republic of Iran, showing most major population centers.

A physical map of Iran, showing definining regions of the country, such as the vast Zagros Mountain range, which stretches over much of the nation, as well as the smaller but equally impressive Elbura and Bashakerd Mountains which surround the country. In the middle the country is primarily made up primarily of a series of basins collectively referred to as the Central Plateau. In general this plateau has an elevation of approx. 900 meters (3,000ft) but several mountains in the region and neighboring Zaggors tower above this. The eastern part of the basic is composed of two salt deserts, the Dasht-e-Kavir (Great Salt Desert) and Dasht-e-Lut, which except for a few oases are mostly uninhabitated, while possessing two lowlands, the Khuzestan plain in the southwest and the Caspian.



(Tehran at night): A modern metropolis, Tehran can hardly be distinguished from many other modern meccas of this world, and new construction projects are started and finished here almost daily.

This picture shows the generational conflict like no other. The "old guard" representing older, middle aged citizens (and much of Iran's present government) tend to have conservative and fundamentalist views, whereas the younger citizens between the ages of 18-34, wish to open up to the world, bringing things as simple as new fashion trends, and as complicated as democracy. Iran's present leadership now faces the challenge of having to deal with humanity's first truly 'global generation' and must find a way to strike a balance between the two opposing forces or suffer total collapse, a bloody glimpse of which was seen in the recent and persistent riots as to the credibility of the 2009 election.


 * __Additional Information (HTJ)__**

Climate: Iran has a variable climate. During December and January, northwest Iran has cold winters with heavy snowfall and subfreezing temperatures. Spring and fall are relatively mild, while summers are dry and hot. Southern Iran has mild winters and very hot summers, having average daily temperatures in July exceeding 38°C. Generally, Iran has an arid climate. Its only precipitation falls during October through April. In most of the country, yearly precipitation averages 25 centimeters or less. The major exceptions are the higher mountain valleys of the Zagros and the Caspian coastal plain, where precipitation averages at least 50 centimeters annually. In the western part of the CAspian, rainfall exceeds 100 centimeters annually and is distributed relatively evenly throughout the year. This contrasts with some basins of the Central Plateau that receive ten centimeters or less of precipitation annually.

Natural Resources: Petroleum, natural gas, coal, chromium, copper, iron ore, lead, manganese, zinc, sulfur

Biggest Exports: Petroleum 80%, chemical and petrochemical products, fruits and nuts, carpets

Biggest Imports: Industrial raw materials and intermediate goods, capital goods, foodstuffs and other consumer goods, technical services

Unemployment rate: 12% (2007 est.)

Group Assignments:

1) Seth: Representation of Iran using 15 statistical terms

2) Sid: Please include a map or two on this page. I would include both a physical map and a political map. If you find any other cool maps that would be great!! Also, pease include pictures of the country. Present the country so that students who have never been there before will get a sense of what it is like.

3) John: Please include a section on key political leaders within the country. (e.g. - President, Prime Minister, Chairman of the Party). A good source to use is the CIA World Fact book (you can Google it).

4) Hyun-Tae: Present other information such as: climate, natural resources, biggest exports, imports, unemployment rate.