Is Iran Democratizing?

Observers who focus too much on elections have failed to grasp the maturation of Iranian civil society, even as hard-liners have come to dominate the government.

In hotly contested parliamentary elections, candidates supportive of President Khatami’s reforms won an overwhelming victory.

Iran is in the midst of an ideological crisis. Growing numbers of Iranians are rejecting the religious underpinnings of the Supreme Leader’s rule, and turning their backs on the Islamic…