Mohammad Khatami's reforms


was elected as the President of Iran in 1997 after having based his campaign on a reform program promising implementation of a democratic and more tolerant society, the rule of law and improvement of social rights. After taking office, Khatami faced fierce opposition from his powerful opponents within the unelected institutions of the state which he had no legal power over, and this led to repeated clashes between his government and these institutions. After 8 years of presidency, he is widely considered to have lost the power struggle with his opponents. Many of his supporters have grown disillusioned with him and the reform programs that he was associated with.

The reforms

The promotion of civil society and the rule of law are the key elements in Khatami's reform program.
According to a famous statement made by Khatami, his government survived an average of one national crisis every nine days during his term of office. Highlights of important crises during his presidency include:
In September 2002 Khatami presented the so-called twin bills to Parliament. The twin bills addresses two issues: the first would curb the powers of the Council of Guardians, while the second would enhance presidential powers. The bills were rejected by Guardian council and Khatami withdrew them from the parliament eventually.

Reform within the framework of Iranian constitution

Criticism

Khatami's desire to not make reforms out of the framework of Islamic Republic constitution, caused many people to question the outcome of his programs in areas such as implementation of a democratic society or women's rights. He has received criticism inside and outside the Islamic Republic.

During a speech at Tehran University, a group of his former supporters who had grown disillusioned with him chanted, " No more lies! ". Many of them had gotten physically beaten by police and other security forces before the meeting and were frustrated with Khatami's lack of action. According to Khatami,"he reforms should come from within the regime. I consider the Islamic Republic to be a great achievement of the most popular revolution in my lifetime." Many of his supporter misunderstood this idea. With regard to those that were disillusioned with the epic of 23 May 1997, Khatami denounced a group that caused violence in the Iran student riots, July 1999 because of "their envy" and that they "created obstacles to implementation of the will of the people" referring to his opponents within the political establishment of the country. Additionally, he asserted,
In the same vein, he has ridiculed the idea of "exporting" Western-style democracy in the Middle East,
It seems that Khatami had commitment to reforming the systems. He tries to change the political currents of the country. At the same time he wants to add new controversial dimensions to the public discussions. Of course his administrations could not provide the wide range of social and political reforms promised..
The movement of 2nd khordad showed the last thread of ideology of Islamic republic in politics. This movement also insisted on the policymaking that Rafsanjani’s state has established.
Khatami called Iranians for respecting the concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists even if they do not believe in it. He reasoned that the concept is a part of Iranian constitution. A Paris-based analyst said,

According to the Iranian scholar, Azar Nafisi, "Khatami is a symptom and not the cause of change in Iran," .

Despite the fact that President Khatami was supportive of democratic reforms, Defenders of Human Rights Center which is Iran's main human rights organization, did not succeed in official registration and its qualification was not approved after three years of sending requests.

Defense

In his "letter for the future" President Khatami himself defended his government and his achievements. He wrote:
There have been changes of such an extent in social, cultural and political relations that it is impossible to return to the period of before the reforms.

President Khatami called for freedom of expression and asked people to publicly and openly criticize high-ranking politicians. Despite crackdown of the press by conservatives, Khatami succeeded in his plans to some extents. American journalist Ted Koppel who visited Iran in 2006, emphasized on the difference between Iran and other totalitarian regimes. In an interview Koppel said:
I have been over the years to many totalitarian countries as Soviet Union, China, Romania and North Vietnam. There is a sort of a feeling when you are in a totalitarian country. …that you can sense the moment you get off the plane. It’s almost like a hand around the throat ….People are very afraid to talk. ….That’s not Iran. By enlarge Iranians feel very free to talk, very free to criticize their president and our president … it is just a livelier place than what I was expected it to be. I guess that was the biggest surprise for me.

According to the political analyst and a former political prisoner, Hassan Yousefi Eshkevari, President Khatami's success can be listed as follows:
In 2006, University of St Andrews Students’ Association fully backs the decision to grant President Khatami an honorary doctorate of law. After many discussions the association concluded that:
Khatami himself predominantly adopted a brave stance to promote liberal values in the face of great adversity. This personal courage, combined with his subsequent work in building interfaith dialogue and communication, coupled with his notable achievements as a scholar, make him a very suitable candidate for such an award.''

During his two terms in office, Khatami was able to introduce some reforms to the Iranian political system, however all in all, he is widely considered to have lost the power struggle with his opponents. The root cause for his failures is widely considered to be the limited powers of the President in the Iranian political system. As President, Khatami had little or no authority over many key state institutions such as the judiciary, the state radio and television, the armed forces including the police, the military, etc..
Some people criticise president Khatami for the mass closure of reformist newspapers by the press court during the first term of his presidency. These critics are unaware of the fact that not only Khatami had no control over the judiciary as President, but also that the judiciary was widely known to be controlled by hardline opponents of Khatami at the time.
Of course He tries to make in tune the Islamic government with the aspirations of Iranian people. However it can be said that the movement of Khatami was a continuation of two earlier movements namely constitutional revolution and Islamic revolution in 1979 against Pahlavi regime. These revolutions are welcoming to modernity.

Aims of 2nd khordad movement

Among his primary aims in politics were cases such as more personal freedom, social justice, privacy, tolerance, public participation in the interior affairs of state, consolidation of the rule of law, open and free press, establishment of political parties, transparency in accountability and end to corruption. The movement is to undertake remodeling of Islamic republic, modernizing its structure and rationalize the bureaucracy. In other word, the whole groups follow to change the policy making in all dimension.