About the seminar:

Title 1: Protests as Weapon: The US Sanction Strategy and Social Bargaining in Iran

The US has partly justified the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran with reference to the rising level of protests in the country. The US administration and the several Iranian exile groups it supports claim that social unrest is or can quickly become part of a broader movement demanding democracy in Iran. Tougher sanctions are believed to lead to a cascade in protest intensity, thus increasing the likelihood of regime change without the need for direct military intervention. Using novel data on contentious politics in Iran, I question this theory. Focusing on labour, I argue instead that protests should be seen as an emerging and increasingly common bargaining strategy between state and society.

About the speaker:

Zep Kalb is a doctoral student in sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is currently working on two projects.

1. The first project is on contentious politics in Iran: using novel quantitative data on protest repertoires, diffusion and practices. The focus of this project is on labor, which continues to constitute the most active group making public claims in Iran. Kalb is interested in particular in how associations created by the state can become platforms for social mobilization.
2. The second project is on social mobility, stratification and inequality: relying on intergenerational survey data, in this project Kalb explores how the 1979 revolution in Iran affected the chances for different social groups to experience up- or down-ward social mobility. An initial article based on this research, coauthored with Kevan Harris, is forthcoming in the Journal of Agrarian Change. The paper looks at how land reform pursued during the 1960s created a group of peasants whose grandchildren are still benefitting from the differentiating effects of these reforms in various ways.

About the speaker:

James Landale is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author. He has reported on British politics and foreign affairs for more than two decades - in print and on the airwaves - covering six general elections and interviewing every prime minister since John Major. James is currently the BBC's Diplomatic Correspondent. In February 2018 he was nominated for a Royal Television Society Scoop of the Year award. In December 2015, he was named Broadcaster of the Year by the Political Studies Association for what they called his "huge contribution to the public understanding of politics". James began his career in 1992 at The Times, working mostly as a Political Correspondent and as a Brussels Correspondent. In 2003 he was headhunted by the BBC where he was swiftly promoted to Chief Political Correspondent before becoming Deputy Political Editor in 2009. He has been the BBC's Diplomatic Correspondent since 2016. 

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