About Rasool Nafisi
Rasool Nafisi teaches the sociology of development at Strayer University in Virginia. He contributes to various news agencies, including the Voice of America, BBC, and Radio France International. His website is here.
Articles by Rasool Nafisi
Iran: revolution beyond caricature
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, made a significant remark in his speech on 3 August 2009 that both endorsed and inaugurated the second term of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president.
Iran’s majlis elections: the hidden dynamics
The result of the elections for the eighth majlis (parliament) in Iran on 14 March 2008 was on the surface predictable, with conservatives winning around two-thirds of the seats and reformists about one-third. The two-thirds figure is decisive since it gives that the winning side the ability to control the legislative agenda, and by the same token prevents the losers from sponsoring any major legislation (unless via unlikely coalition with other forces). Yet behind the results, these elections highlight several distinctive features of the current state of Iranian politics that may influence the outcome of the presidential elections due in 2009.
Haleh Esfandiari: Iran's cultural prison
The detention of Haleh Esfandiari, a senior Iranian scholar based in the United States who had returned to Iran to visit her elderly mother and to touch the roots of her beloved country, has refocused the attention of political analysts on the Islamic Republic of Iran's motives. In seeking an explanation for the new wave of arrests - of which Esfandiari's is only one - some western observers have repeated the threadbare argument that American policy toward Iran is itself the culprit.
Ramin Jahanbegloo: a repressive release
The Iranian regime's treatment of the independent philosopher is a lesson in its new tactics for quelling dissent, says Rasool Nafisi.
The meaning of Ramin Jahanbegloo's arrest
The authorities in Tehran have silenced Ramin Jahanbegloo – philosopher, democratic voice and advocate of non-violence. Rasool Nafisi asks why.
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