Iran, India, and Mexico are in extremely different parts of the world, making them very different from each other. The three countries have different histories, geographies, and natural resources that have shaped their development. Still, an analysis of Iran’s, India’s, and Mexico’s economic development and globalization, media access and coverage, and political leaders, shows that there are some undeniable similarities. Despite the three countries being similar in some ways, overall Iran, India, and Mexico are extremely different from each other; each country has a different historical background that has shaped it to be what it is today economically, socially, and politically.
I. Economic Development and Globalization
Iran:
In Iran, the economy relies on oil for much of the government’s revenue. Overall in Iran, the state has a very ineffective state sector, with statist policies that control much of what is economic policy. This creates a lot of economic issues, causing Iran’s economy to rely on oil. There is not much of a private sector in Iran besides small workshops, farming, and some manufacturing. The government’s price controls and subsidies often hinder private sector growth. In Iran, there is a good amount of informal economic exchange outside of government regulation, as well as corruption.
In the early 1990’s Iran’s government realized they needed to improve many factors of the economy. One major law created to improve the economy was President Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad’s Targeted Subsidies Law. The Majles, Iran’s national legislative body, passed this law in 2010 to reduce state subsidies on food and energy. Over a period of five years, Iran’s legislatures worked to remove subsidies from the economy that were very ...
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... be said for Iran and India. Mr. Singh, like many of the political elite in Mexico, is highly educated.
Although Iran, India, and Mexico are similar in some ways economically, socially, and politically, for the most part they are very different. Iran’s economy relies on oil, while India’s economy is more services-oriented. Still, Mexico’s economy is similar to India’s—both having significant private sectors. Also, Iran, India, and Mexico are similar in that each country has a state-run television broadcasting. However, Iran’s government is clearly the most strict with what its citizens can view and Mexico is less strict and has more broadcasting companies. Iran is also different from India and Mexico because Iran has a theocratic ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whereas the other two countries do not. Overall, these countries are very different from each other.
When the Iranian Revolution succeeded in 1979, Iran wanted to gain the admiration and the support of Arab countries, benefiting in particular from the support by the Shah of Iran and his relationship with Israel before the collapse of his regime. On this very first day of the victory of the revolution, Iran was keen to extend its bonds with the Islamic world, and when this was not possible in most cases, because of many complex causes of the revolution, Iran began to look for «organizations» instead of «regime’s or countries», in order to continue its role in Islamic issues. Iran was keen to show that this role was one of the foundations of the revolution and its beliefs, in order to free Iran from the charge of Persian racism.
Over the course of the last century, the Islamic Republic of Iran (formerly known as Persia) has seen colonialism, the end of a dynasty, the installation of a government by a foreign power, and just over three decades ago, the popular uprising and a cleric-led revolution. These events preceded what could be considered the world’s first Islamic state, as politics and fundamentalist religion are inextricably linked in contemporary Iran. Looking at Iran from the mid 1940’s until the present day, one can trace the path that led to the rise of fundamental Islam in Iran in three distinct periods. The first is that which began with the rise of secular nationalism and the decline of Islam. In the second, the secular, western-friendly government eventually gave way to the Islamic revival in the form of a government takeover by hard-line clerics and disillusioned, fundamentalist youth; both motivated and led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Rule of Iran by these fundamentalist clerics then led to the formation of the fundamentalist Islamic theocracy that governs present-day Iran. The current government has some democratic appearances, but all real power is in the hands of the supreme leader, an Ayatollah who is chosen by the Assembly of Experts, a group of clerics chosen by the Guardian Council. With the Iranian Revolution, political Islam was born, with the fundamentalists holding the reins of power in Iran to the present day.
You would think that two countries separated by a border and only 1,192 miles in between would have more similarities but in fact, it that’s not always true. Although Mexico is a fairly short distance from the United States, there are many differences between our two countries. Besides the most evident ones, such as language and food, Mexico and the United States differ in time, culture, government, and many other things. On the other hand, there are similarities as well which I will cover in my paper.
In 1952 during the Cold War, Iran was under the rule of their prime minister, Muhammad Mossadegh, who wanted to nationalize the country's oil industry. Iran had been a large producer of oil and its industry, controlled by Britain and America, was thriving. Britain and American corporations were not in favor of Mohammad Mossadegh’s newly developed oil policies, so they made a secret plan to overthrow him. They were successfully able to overthrow Muhammad Mossadegh, and in 1953 a new government was developed and controlled by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iran's new leader. The US has supported the Shah For twenty-six years and he became a central alley between the US and Iran. The Shah received military and political support from the US, and
In the 1970’s Iran, under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was a very centralized military state that maintained a close relationship with the USA. The Shah was notoriously out of touch with working class Iranians as he implemented many controversial economic policies against small business owners that he suspected involved profiteering. Also unrestricted economic expansions in Iran lead to huge government expenditure that became a serious problem when oil prices dropped in the mid 1970’s. This caused many huge government construction projects to halt and the economy to stall after many years of massive profit. Following this was high rates of inflation that affected Iranians buying power and living standards. (Afary, 2012) Under the Shah, political participation was not widely available for all Iranians and it was common for political opposition to be met with harassment, illegal detention, and even torture. These measures were implemented by the Iranian secret police knows as ‘SAVAK’. This totalitarian regime combined with the increasing modernisation of the country paved the way for revolution.
Iran’s political landscape is complex to say the least, and despite popular American belief it is not fair to classify Iran and the government as a totalitarian regime (Kesselman, Krieger and Joseph 615). A traditional definition of a totalitarian regime is a government in which the leaders, generally a small group of elites, exercise control of public and private life (Kesselman, Krieger and Joseph ch. 1). While it is true that Iran has an assembly of religious clerics whom play a role in determining how the country is run, in recent years the control over public and private life have slipped. Furthermore, the people are responsible for electing the president and legislative branch, Islamic Majles. Iran also maintains a constitution that is a mix of democracy and th...
Mexico politics take framework of presidential representative whose government that is based on congressional system. The country has the president as head of both state and government, and multi-party system. The government represents Mexico and divided by three branches that are: executive, legislative and judicial. Currently the president of Mexico is Enrique Pena Nieto that is trying to transform Mexico for a better future. The paper, New Internationalist, expressed doubt because he comes from the Inst...
Modernization is loosely defined as the transition from a traditional society to a contemporary nation-state, often coupled with the adoption of Western values and systems (Gelvin 69). Drawing from the success of Mussolini and Hitler’s corporatist models, Mustafa Kemal, commonly known as Ataturk, chose to modernize Turkey in order to establish itself as a nation-state alongside the ever-growing European colonial powers. Consequently, Reza Shah of Iran emulated Ataturk’s paradigm for state building, and thus, when comparing the two rulers and their respective nation-states, many similarities are found. However, the implementation of modernization had vastly different consequences between Iran and Turkey, the reason for which stems from the conditions of both countries during the time of their
Mexico, a country filled with diversity and culture, has endured many political changes and threats throughout the course of history. Prosperity, independence, and democracy were prevalent during specific time periods in Mexico. However, Mexico faced a series of conflicts, economic distress, and inequality that led to political instability for many years. Ultimately, Mexico overcame these challenges to have a secure and stable government, but new threats to civil society have emerged.
Even though the United States and Mexico share a common border the difference in culture between the two is significant. cultural Mexico has a very different history than the United States, and therefore is different in many ways. Both countries differ from equality/inequality, collectivism/individualism, gender roles, uncertainty avoidance, indulgence, restrains, and power distance index. In comparison with the United States, Mexico 's culture is more family-oriented and family is their first priority. Their children are celebrated, sheltered and wives fulfill domestic roles. Mexico places more importance on well-defined power and authority structures in organizations, and prefers more certainty and predictability. In the United States,
If one were to visit different countries and societies throughout the world, they may notice the many differences and similarities each region shares. This makes the world a very unique place because there is constant change and diversity everywhere we look, no matter the distance traveled. A prime example of this would be the similarities and differences between the United States of America and Mexico. Although the two are neighboring countries, there is a great deal of diversity amongst them that deserve a thorough examination.
Hooglund, Eric. "Iranian Revolution (1979)." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Ed. Philip Mattar. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 1125-1127. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 7 May 2014.
In business Mexico diplomats make decisions respecting the feelings of their personal relationship of their partners. Egalitarianism and Hierarchy Egalitarianism is defined as how people tried to distribute and share power evenly, minizine status different as, special privileges and opportunities for people due to higher authority. Mexican society and business are highly stratified and vertically structured. They emphasize hierarchical relationships, respecting authority and look to those above them for guidance and decision making. Mexico is a very prime example of a hierarchical culture. “In hierarchical cultures, people expect power differences, follow leaders without questioning them, and feel comfortable with leaders receiving special privileges and opportunities.” (Candor, 2013 pg.
The introduction to Persepolis gives a great deal of background information to the unrest in Iran leading up to the Islamic revolution. Iran had been in a state of unrest for “2500 years” (page11). Iran was ruled by foreign nations and exploited by the western world for its rich expanses of oil. In 1951 the prime minister of Iran tried to take back his country’s wealth by nationalizing
Although the Iranian Revolution was caused by combination of political and religious motivations and ideas, the desires of the people supporting the movement were more dominantly religious ideas that were wished to be imposed in society and in a new government. The Shah, or king, of Iran at the time was Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, who had developed relations with nations in “western” world, specifically with the United States. The United States supported the White Revolution, which was a series of social reformations the Shah made to remove Islamic v...