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The Politics of Sadness: Paralyzing the Masses in Post-Revolutionary Iran

Social riots, popular uprisings, and revolutions are among the threats that could have jeopardized the stability of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) in its recent history. Since 1979, the clerical establishment has utilized a number of institutions, used several social groups, and applied various strategies to control Iranian society and neutralize such threats, including policies used to silence the masses and force public allegiance to the Islamic Republic. One of Iran’s key strategies involves social manipulation, which includes the “engineering” of the minds, bodies, and emotions of its population. In addition to distributing massive amounts of propaganda and regulating and disciplining citizens’ bodies, the Islamic Republic has deliberately been depressing Iranian citizens through a policy which I the “politics of sadness”. Through this strategy, the IRI has promoted despondency and hopelessness to the extent that citizens become paralyzed and incapable of challenging the political status quo.

Saeid Golkar is a lecturer for the Middle East and North African Studies Program at Northwestern University, and senior fellow of Iran policy at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. His research interests encompass politics of authoritarian regimes, state and society relationships, civil military gaps, social movements and new Information technologies and politics all with a focus on the Middle East.

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