Privatization of State Assets in Iran (1989-2020) (Study of Islamic Parliament Research Center (IPRC) Reports)

In this article we study privatization policy in Iranian society since the end of Iran- Iraq war. After proving the problem, our research question is stated as follows: “How has the policy of privatization of government’s assets been emplemented?” Our theoretical framework for answering this question is David Harvey’s theory of “accumulation by dispossession” of people during privatization process. Unit of analysis is Iran during 1368-1399 and unit of observation, is the reports of Majlis Research Center, annual Budget Settlement Reports about privatization as well as some interviews with policy makers on privatization during this period. We use qualitative content analysis as our method for studying these documents. Our research shows that from the outset, implementation of neoliberal policy of privatization in Iran has had a rentier nature that has persisted throughout the last thirty years. Consequently, a small clique of political forces in Iran have gradually either taken over the ownership of privatized enterprises or have managed to guarantee their position as members of board of directors of companies after this latter’s devolution to the nongovernmental public sector and military institutes.