Journal of World Sociopolitical Studies

Abstract This article covers the emergence of resistance economy in the Islamic Republic of Iran within the context of international sanctions, arguing that this policy ought to be understood beyond the historical context in which it emerged. The article captures the historical, political, and economic context in which the first comprehensive economic discourse of the post-revolutionary establishment emerges, and seeks to account for its scope, concerns, and objectives. Rather than another word for protectionism, import-substitution industrialisation, economic diversification of a rentier state or a mere response to sanctions, resistance economy as espoused by Ayatollah Khamenei, is a comprehensive economic policy discourse affecting all levels of state and society in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Rather than mitigating the impact of sanctions, resistance economy is an economic discourse that seeks to realise the revolutionary objective of economic independence, whilst transforming the economy of the Islamic Republic from a source of weakness to a source of strength in its pursuit of a new, more equitable international order.

Abstract Following the independence of 1947, India adhered to a mixed model of nationalist and socialist policies in the early years, with protectionism and closed-borders attitude dominating its approach to foreign relations and global economy. In the aftermath of the economically precarious circumstances during the 1980s, and the subsequent economic crisis in the early 1990s, paradigmatic reforms, widely known as liberalization, were officially announced. However, considering Indian liberalization as a gradually evolving process, rather than a one-off project, this paper intends to take a political economy approach and employ historical analysis in order to scrutinize the pre-1991 contextual trajectory through which India underwent liberalizing its economy. The paper explicates the implemented economic approaches by studying the key primary sources, the Five-Year Plans in particular, and the relevant secondary sources. The authors propound the notion that India, since its independence till the early 1990s, appears caught in a cycle of oscillations between protective measures on one hand and attempts to move towards a liberalized economy on the other. The statist model of development that overwhelmingly disfavored interaction with the global economy at the outset was gradually replaced by a decentralized model that sought to open up the Indian economy to the world.

Abstract Although the 2011 uprisings in Egypt led to the fall of Hosni Mubarak, they have not yet been able to change the nature of the country’s political system. A year after the country’s first non-military president took office, Egypt’s political situation became more or less similar to the way it had been before 2011. The structure of the relationship between the state and the society in Egypt, highly affected by vast military influence, could be explained through Guillermo O'Donnell’s model of “Bureaucratic Authoritarianism”. The Islamists’ weakness in establishing a powerful government granted  a proper excuse for the military to obtain direct rule over the country through a modern 21^st-century coup d’état. The basis for legitimizing this move, in addition to the Islamists’ weakness, was the claim that the 2011 coup d’état had the same public support as the 1952 coup d’état. Consequently, the military enacted legal mechanisms and introduced a presidential candidate who ultimately won the elections, giving back the military its previous position. It seems that the military authoritarian government in Egypt would enjoy relative legitimacy by focusing on providing economic and political stability, while paving the way for preserving its own long-term politico-economic interests. Therefore, it is likely that if the status quo– which relies upon widespread repression of the Islamists and the weakness and passivity of the liberal movements– is maintained, the authoritarian military rule over Egypt will continue.