Contemporary Identity Policy in Iran

Every society needs national identity to reach national unity and social cohesion. More cohesion، the stronger the social consensus would be. The constitutive essences of Iranian identity from the Constitutional Revolution till now are ancient Iranian civilization، Islamic civilization، and Modern civilization. A deep study of this period has clarified the fact that all governments have applied unbalanced identity policy towards constitutive essences of identity. It is hard to find out a balanced combination between the three mentioned civilizations. The governments usually take one or two essence (s) let the third aside intentionally and introduce it inimically the otherness of his/her selfness. What are the consequences of the governments'' identity policy on possible status of next political powers? With studying analytically the contemporary Iranian history، this article shows the governments'' identity policies were intemperate and such unbalanced approach has led to instability in national identity. Secondly it affirms the kind of one dominant identity policy may articulate the possible status of next political power. Achieving a stable national identity requires laying away reductionist-essentialist viewpoints to identity، using simultaneously all identity essences to set up consensus. This consensus should include all legitimate and respectful interests of the society.