A Comparative Study of Local Associations and Islamic Councils: Pre- and Post-Revolutionary Periods

Following the Constitutional Revolution in Iran, the lawmakers paid attention to local associations and councils as the best way to develop democracy. This paper studies the developments in lawmaking in this respect during the past century. For this reason, it draws on the laws adopted by the Majles (the Parliament) concerning councils and associations since the Constitutional Revolution up to now, then it analyzes the data in a comparison between the pre- and post-revolutionary periods. A comparison of the texts and laws relating to local institutions and associations in the pre- and post-revolutionary eras demonstrates that despite the presence of common concepts and themes, there are numerous formal-structural and functional-essential differences which were affected by the circumstances of the time and the power of the establishment. In fact, the findings of the research shows that there was a conflict going on between centralism (on the part of the central government) and decentralization (on the part of the associations and councils) that for some reasons resulted in the victory of centralism over decentralization.