Analysis of the Iranian Student Movement (1941-1979) based on Hannah Arendt's "Practice" Components

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor in Political science, Faculty of Administrative Science and Economics, Arak University، Arak.

2 Master of Political Science, Faculty of Humanities, University of Guilan

10.22034/ipsa.2025.553
Abstract
The Iranian student movement, as an important part of the country's history and a phenomenon focused on activism that aims to concoct and reform, has always been involved in politics, both during the Pahlavi and Islamic Republic periods. In this article, student movements were analyzed according to Hannah Arendt's theory and from the perspective of action components. The condition for action is to observe the micro-components that Arendt presented for a free and humane political society, and they must be observed in the case of revolutions and movements in order to truly realize the politics. Components such as speaking, appearing/ being seen, freedom, plurality, self disclosure, presence in public arena, rejection of fanaticism are considered characteristics of Arendt's practice. The main question is: How many types of Iranian student movements existed before the 1979 revolution, and what extent did they possess the components of Arendt's practice? In response to this question, three types of student movements were identified: leftist (Marxist), nationalist, and religious (Islamic). Considering Arendt's political thought, different aspects of the movement were analyzed with a comparative approach. Further studies showed that each type of student movement, despite the expansion of social forces and public mobilization in different periods, did not inspire Arendt's concept of action and rather raised group and ideological demands rather than action in the Arendtian sense of the word that had the capacity to connect with freedom and politics.

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Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 07 December 2025

  • Receive Date 10 June 2025
  • Revise Date 12 September 2025
  • Accept Date 20 October 2025