An Investigation of the Consequences of Local Self-Governance in the Provinces of the Islamic Republic of Iran

The decentralized organization pattern of the Islamic Republic of Iran provinces, along with a variety of public services and climatic, ethnic, cultural and religious differences, have made the country encounter a number of problems. It is evident to everyone that decentralization is one of the most effective actions for the development of countries; however, the implementation of decentralization policies has not been successful in Iran’s provinces. In this research, the realization of local self-government is regarded as an aim for decentralization at the provincial level in order to scientifically identify the consequences of decentralization in the provinces. International status, geopolitical situation, unbalanced development and ethnic and religious variety have made Iran a special case of decentralization; hence, this study was carried out using a hybrid method. After studying the research background, 16 interviews with semi-structured elites were carried out. By analyzing the results of the interviews through content analysis method, seven outcomes of the Provincial Self-Governance include: "General Prosperity", "Income Sustainability", "Partnership", "Economic Agility", "Rule of Law", "Efficiency in Servicing", and "Separatism" was extracted from 20 categories, 112 concepts and 353 primary codes. Then, the model test by modeling the structural equations showed that the local self-government of the provinces has positive consequences in the social and economic spheres, as well as weakening separatism, terrorist activities, foreign interference and strengthening the Iranian-Islamic identity.