Rule of Law and Rule of Sharia in Iran
Introduction
All the government which is in the Middle East part of the world face some set of difficulties but none are as crucial as the ones addressing the socioeconomic and the issue of governance that helped in the 2011 trigger the popular uprising and which continue to raise more debates and dispute. The region faces a tremendous challenge of reducing the number of the unemployed especially in the graduate sector and the young people as a whole (Enayat, 2013). The countries that depend on the exports of energy continue to look for ways in which they can diversify their paths while those that depend on the domestic production look for ways in which they can improve the market from domestic to the international world. According to this program that began in the late 1990s; the focus was mainly on developing the laws and legal systems which were in support of increasing the trade liberalization and diversification economically (Qubādzādah, 2017). The program has conducted many trade agreements and capacity building schedules with the sole aim of improving the state of Middle East. The program has also assisted in devising the commercial laws, company laws, lending laws and also the insolvency laws in support of entrepreneurship and diversification. A regional judicial conference was conducted in the year 2005 in the Middle East to raise the judge’s capacity and the lawyers with an aim of ensuring that the commercial laws are in line with the international standards of governance.
The rule of law cannot be defined with just a general meaning but can be defined in terms of how much change the rule of law brings to the society at large (Black et al., 2013). For example, the respect for every fundamental human right, being accountable, and the possibility of the public to access the justice system can be used to determine and define the rule of law in Iran. The World Justice Project index can be used in this case since it focuses on the results formulated from measuring how well a country can achieve productivity by use of the performance indicators on every country which implements the rule of law act.
The rule of law in Iran has always been in conflict with the monarchical power and the principles of the rule of Sharia. Through the revolution of the constitution in 1906 to 1911 and the revolution of the Islamic in 1979, there has been progressing in terms of the rule of law and the development of the Islamic Republic but this lead to a totally different issue causing the fallout on the rule of Sharia according to article 4 of the constitution of Iran. This rule of law indicated that all the penal financial, civil, administrative, political, economic, cultural and administrative laws and regulations have to always consider the Islamic criteria. Promoting the civil society and rule of law has been the key consideration for individuals who want to be the leaders in Iran. Reforming the movement in terms of the constitution in Iran is the main focus in politics (Qubādzādah, 2017). Constitutional politics in Iran is all about trying to define the social and political orders. The principles of order for the organizations and among the groups amount to the political struggle for the Iran constitution and the urge for development. The said principles are similarly very contradictory and heterogeneous in nature. Organizations and groups that are contending for the constitutional politics are at crossroads and the only option remaining is for them to reconcile the logic behind the contradictory principles of order through concession, compromising, and interpreting the order once again in order to have a translation of the laws into some institutional order which will be sustained into an order through an effective force. Since 1997 there has been a tremendous power struggle, politics that involve mobilizing war, privatization, nationalization, clerical control, functionalism, and regionalism have dominated the Iran rule of law.
The respect for human rights by a country is an open indication that a nation is surely committed to preserving the rule of law, honesty, and the humanitarian principles in the public affairs (Arjomand & Brown, 2013). The current judicial system in Iran is an independent power and it is used for mainly giving a judgment or investigation the grievances and enforcing the laws of the Islamic community. The foreign policies professionals have applied the use of an administrative reform as a strategy to combat corruption in Iran. Code of professional ethics and the code of conduct have also been enforced in terms of development in fighting the corruption in Iran and this has seen the foreign policies utilize them in its undertakings.
The Iranian constitution of 1979 played a vital role in emphasizing on the Islamic laws and how they relate to the establishment of Iran and the legal system in Iran (Qubādzādah, 2017). Particular methodologies have been applied in order to reduce the corruption levels in Iran and in the Middle East. Some of the methods used are closely related to the rule of law or the Sharia laws which help in governing the country. Such methods include the use of force to reduce the activities of the government agencies caught with corruption issues. The rule of law indicates that the individual has to be investigated and a verdict heard on the case and the Sharia laws also indicate a similar act (Arjomand & Brown, 2013). Paying off the servants well enough can help reduce the corruption activities in the Middle East and this is a strategy that will enhance the country’s economy through lack of bribery in efforts to maintain a clear state of service. The rule of law calls for transparency in all its undertakings and also the anticorruption agencies apply this system to help fight corruption at all levels of the government. The government agents are responsible for handling the cash flow of the government, collecting the taxes, tapping every capital market with an aim of raising revenue, gets the foreign aids and allocate the necessary resources to each sector with an aim of making sure that there is balance in development (Enayat, 2013). If the system of governance is not clear then there will be numerous cases of corruption and abuse of resources and thus the need for the anticorruption strategies to reduce such acts.
In the Middle East, Iran is the only nation that has its executives not in control of the military forces. The Middle East is mostly affected by the issue of nuclear weapons as a national security issue. Other states such as the United States have developed policies in the Middle East and specifically in Iran which have implicated the force against which the Iranian government can solve the corruption issues in Iran. The United States was heavily involved in the revolution that took place in 1979 and thus changing the perspective which the Iranian government views the relationship (Qubādzādah, 2017). The policies that have been used in Iran have been colliding with the efforts by the anticorruption agencies. Such particular ways such as the administration of power and foreign aids have caused a reduction in the efforts against corruption. Leaders who are known to coincide with the foreign policies have continued with the act of bribery thereby rendering the acts by the government unfruitful.
The president in Iran is fully elected by the citizens and has the power to appoint an ambassador and signs the legislation in the Iranian government. The members of the parliament are elected after every four years publicly and are responsible for the legislation and its drafting. The judicially is headed by a ultimate leader who again assigns the leader of the magistrates and the head of the magistrates will assign the leader of the Supreme Court and also assign a prosecutor in the same act (Arjomand & Brown, 2013). The president since the 1997 elections has been trying to formulate rules that will assist in the delivery of good governance through the changing of the rules as stipulated in the constitution. Changing the rule of law to allow democracy to work has been the slogan making the society yearns for a more civilized rule of law. The major judicial history of the Iranian constitution is the constitutional revolution which occurred in 1906. Iran is the only Islamic state that has held on to the previous rules of government in the Middle East region.
Conclusion
Changing the rule of law in Iran is a difficult task since the country has a religious belief which governs the society at large. Implementing the rule of law in Iran requires the total support of the civil society and the civil organizations (Black et al., 2013). Iran is a country that has received more cases of collision between the rule of law and the rule of Sharia, the Sharia laws must be compromised in order to allow for the rule of law recognized internationally to take charge. This can only be done if there are petitions developed and directed to the Iranian society by the world communities for a social society.
References
Arjomand, S. A., & Brown, N. J. (2013). The rule of law, Islam, and constitutional politics in Egypt and Iran. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Black, A., Esmaeili, H., & Hosen, N. (2013). Modern perspectives on Islamic law: Black. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Botero C. Juan & Ponce A (2016). World Justice Project. Retrieved from: https://worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/documents/RoLI_Final-Digital_0.pdf
Enayat, H. (2013). Law, state, and society in modern Iran: Constitutionalism, autocracy, and legal reform, 1906-1941.
Qubādzādah, N. (2017). Religious secularity: A theological challenge to the Islamic State. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
USAID Case. Retrieved from: https://dec.usaid.gov/dec/home/Default.aspx
