Ethnography of Political Parties in Iran: Case Study, Fasa Political Parties

The history of political parties in Iran and the world indicates they are a modern phenomenon. According to legal documents, the number 21 principle of the Persian Constitutional Revolution and number 26 principle of the constitutional law of the Islamic Republic of Iran enjoin establishing political parties. Regarding this history, we can now sociologically and anthropologically study the structure, legitimacy, and policy of political parties in Iran. Mainly, sociological analysis of political parties in Iran has been theoretical, quantitative, and macro-level, and large-scale, and analysis of political parties based on fieldwork and at micro-level has not been noticeable. This study will analyze and redescribe the politics and logic of performance of political parties of Fasa by ethnographical interviews. This study concentrates on legitimacy and institutionalization, how political parties present in elections, and education and their encounter with other institutions such as ethnicity. This analysis is based on interviews with political actors and assumes them as “experts.”  These experts, by articulating their percepts manifest particular ontology and influential relations that conduct what in this field is called “political party.”  The results show that the specific presence of political parties in Fasa has caused a schism between people and the political parties. The hierarchy in political parties, their dependence on the center, inability to performing their role as mediator between the state and people, and injection of values are significant also in this schism.