The Shi'i State and the socioeconomic challenges of the Sunni communities in Iran: historical and contemporary perspectives

Abstract

Although Iran is one of the most diverse nations in the Middle East, the state historically has been reluctant to adapt a pluralistic approach to both socio-political and economic development. This chapter focuses on the Sunni population in Iran, which is often overlooked in studies dealing with state-minority relations in Iran. It examines the socio-economic challenges of the Sunni population under both the Pahlavi dynasty and the Islamic Republic. Although the Islamic Republic based its ideology both on redistribution of wealth and empowerment of the impoverished, the ethnic Sunni Iranians who lived in the most impoverished regions of the country received very little attention from the new post-revolutionary order.