Iran Worksheet

Identify and explain the significance of the following people:

  1. Reza Khan-
  1. Muhammad Mossadegh-
  1. Ayatollah Khomeini-
  1. Muhammad Khatami-
  1. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montarezi-

Identify and explain the significance of the following

  1. jihad –
  1. modernizing tyrant –
  1. veleyat-e-faqih-
  1. hezbollahi –
  1. Pasdaran-
  1. What is meant by the phrase, “In the dawn of freedom, there is no freedom.”?
  1. Explain the differences between the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam.
  1. Explain how the Iranian and Bolshevik revolutions were similar.

Fill In

  1. The ______dynasty made the ______branch of Islam Persia’s state religion.
  2. The ______brought Persia’s first constitution and first elected parliament, the ______.
  3. With support from ______, ______, and ______, Mossadegh nationalized AIOC holdings.
  4. Iran has two heads of state, one ______, the other ______.
  5. The ______is made comprised of eighty-six Muslim expert, elected every eight years, chosen from among the purest and most learned Islamic jurists.
  6. The 2005 presidential is viewed as undemocratic due to the Council of Guardians screening out hundreds of candidates they deemed as ______and ______.
  7. The radicals in Iran favor state control over the ______, wish to keep out ______, and to continue ______.
  8. Reformists favor ______, ______, ______, ______, and ______.
  9. Islam has a structural problem in its combining of ______and ______, making it difficult to split ______and ______.
  10. The two impulses behind the 1979 Iranian revolution were the ______and the ______.
  11. Today’s student protesters in Iran are pushing for ______, ______, and ______.
  12. Unlike the Arab kingdoms on the southern shore of the Gulf, Iranian women ______, ______, ______, and ______.

Multiple Choice

  1. Since the Islamic Revolution, non-Muslims have been treated ______, especially the ______, Iran’s largest minority religion.
  1. Iran’s political system is unique in that it combines democratic characteristics with
  2. authoritarian ones
  3. theocratic ones
  4. confederal ones
  5. totalitarian ones
  6. corporatist ones
  1. The Safavid rulers introduced to Iran for the first time
  2. authoritarian political leadership
  3. separation of religious and political power
  4. democracy
  5. Sh’ism as the official state religion
  6. A strong enough army to conquer neighboring lands
  1. Muhammad Reza Shah’s White Revolution focused on
  2. increasing the power of the clerics
  3. land reform
  4. industrialization
  5. reestablishing traditional values and customs
  6. controlling inflation
  1. Fundamentalist religion as defined by Ayatollah Khomeini was characterized by all of the following EXCEPT
  2. social conservatism
  3. separation of religious and political power
  4. literal interpretation of Islamic texts
  5. resentment of the US and other western nations
  6. political traditionalism
  1. Which of the following socio-economic groups has been MOST likely to criticize clerical control of Iran?
  2. lower class farmers
  3. lower middle class white collar workers
  4. wealthy merchants
  5. professional upper middle class people
  6. retired workers on fixed incomes
  1. Which of the following is the best description of women’s involvement in national politics in Iran?
  2. Iran has had no women presidents, but women are much better represented in the legislature than they once were
  3. Iran has had women cabinet members and legislators for many years
  4. Iran has good representation of women on the state and local levels, but not on the national level
  5. Iran has had women judges that sit on national courts, but they have few women legislators
  6. Women are largely underrepresented in every area of government.
  1. The era of the Islamic Republic from 1989 to the present is distinct from the era from 1979-89 in that in the current era
  2. charismatic legitimacy is much less important
  3. rule of law is much weaker
  4. the Majles has more policy-making power
  5. the country has been plagued by war
  6. the Guardian council has more power
  1. Which of the following was the most important reason that reformers lost many seats in the 2003 Majles elections?
  2. the people blamed the reformers for the economic downturn that preceded the election
  3. the Supreme Leader publicly denounced them
  4. the Guardian Council disqualified many of their candidates
  5. their political parties were disorganized, and their candidates received little financial support
  6. prominent reformist leaders were involved in personal and political scandals in the months leading up to the election
  1. Ayatollah Khomeini’s statement, “Economics is for donkeys” was meant to
  2. explain why the Iranian economy was in such bad shape
  3. make fun of the reformist clerics that were trying to seize control of the economy
  4. emphasize the importance of oil to the Iranian economy
  5. affirm the superiority of religious, rather than secular leaders
  6. criticize the interference of the United Nations in Iran’s economic policy-making process
  1. Which of the following is not a power of the Iranian president?
  2. devising the budget
  3. proposing legislation to the Majles
  4. signing of treaties, laws and agreements
  5. vetoing decisions of the Guardian Council
  6. appointing provincial governors
  1. The political party system in Iran may be best characterized as
  2. fluid and unstable
  3. well established and competitive
  4. controlled tightly by reformists
  5. competitive between two broad-based parties
  6. highly ideological and not centered around individual personalities
  1. The main economic problem that has plagued the Islamic Republic is
  2. a falling GNP per capita
  3. instability in the price of oil
  4. a lack of educated citizens to take jobs created by the new economy
  5. overpopulation
  6. a large number of landholders who have refused to give their land to the government