Authors:

Iran is hard to understand. Although it is ruled in an authoritarian manner, it's not a state in which everything is controlled from one center. There are many forces that work in parallel: the military, the intelligence service, the Revolutionary Guard, the clergy and the government. They all share a fear of the nation's youth.

"Rapper Najafi on the Fatwa: 'Fundamentalists Can't Take a Joke'". Interview with Georg Bonisch and Tobias Rapp, www.spiegel.de. May 28, 2012.
Iran is hard to understand. Although it is ruled in an authoritarian manner, it's not a state in which everything is controlled from one center. There are many forces that work in parallel: the military, the