Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-11T17:57:46.402Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Accountability of Para-governmental Organizations (bonyads): The Case of Iranian Foundations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Ali A. Saeidi*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Social Science in Tehran University

Abstract

This paper attempts to explain the emergence and development of para-governmental organizations (bonyads) in Iran and demonstrate their contradictory position in the Iranian political economy. These organizations represent the dual power structure in Iran which reinforces the financial authority of religious leaders without accountability. By analyzing the functions of these organizations, the paper sets out to probe their economic policies in line with the government's populist macroeconomic policies. The paper demonstrates the adverse effects of these organizations on political development and economic reforms in the post-Khomeini era when the struggle for accountability soared.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 The International Society for Iranian Studies

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I am grateful for comments on an earlier draft of this paper by Abbas Vali. I also wish to thank Bijan Riazi-Farzad, who kindly read through my analysis and pointed out inaccuracies, and Nematollah Fazeli for reading the manuscript and providing excellent advice. I am also indebted to the Journal's anonymous reviewers who made valuable suggestions for strengthening the paper's thesis and improving its structure. But I alone am responsible for the views expressed here.

References

1 The Nicaraguan revolutionaries behaved in a similar way by confiscation of all properties of Somoza, his family, his close allies, and the high-ranking military officers (approximately 25 percent of industrial plants and 21 percent of the area under cultivation). It resulted in the rise of para-governmental organizations under Sandinistas (see further Farhi, Farideh, States and Urban-Based Revolutions: Iran and Nicaragua (Urbana, 1990), 121Google Scholar and Ocampo, J. A., “;Collapse and (Incomplete) Stabilization of the Nicaraguan economy,” in The Macroeconomics of Populism in Latin America, ed. Rudiger, Dornbusch and Edwards, Sebastian (Chicago, 1991)Google Scholar.

2 Farhi, States and Urban-Based Revolutions, 119.

3 Khomeini, Ruhollah, Nameh'i as Imam Musavi Kashif al-Ghita (Tehran, 1356/1976), 4142Google Scholar; and Enayat, H., “Iran: Khumayni's Concept of ‘Guardianship of the Jurisconsult,’” in Islam in the Political Process, ed. Piscatori, James (New York, 1983), 160180Google Scholar.

4 Awqaf are religious endowments, properties giving revenues. Awqaf are administered by managers or a charitable foundation, which are in charge of ensuring that all revenues end up in the right pockets. Awqaf leaders are mostly ulama and local religious leaders, working independently from the state. In the modern world awqaf are important means of financing the administration of mosques and religious schools. The institution of awqaf as charitable organizations has played a major role in the development of economies and the accumulation of landed property in Islamic societies for centuries, serving as mechanisms for untaxed saving and investment.

5 Maloney, S., “Agents or Obstacles? Parastatal Foundations and Challenges for Iranian Development,” in The Economy of Iran: Dilemmas of an Islamic State, ed. Alizadeh, Parvin (London and New York, 2000), 149Google Scholar.

6 Eqbal, Abbas, Khanedan-i Nawbakhti (Tehran, 1357/1978), 212, 249Google Scholar.

7 Algar, Hamid, Religion and State in Iran, 1785–1906 (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1969), 18CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Quran, trans. Marmaduke M. Pickthall (London, 1930). It can be found in the verse (8:41): “know that whatever you acquire as material gain a fifth belongs to God and to the Prophet and to those related and the orphans and the poor and the wayfarers.”

9 Halm, Heinz, Shi‘a Islam: From Religion to Revolution (Princeton, 1997), 91Google Scholar; Sachedina, A., “Al-Khums: The Fifth in the Imami Shi‘i Legal System,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 39 (1980): 275289CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Calder, N., “Khums in Imami Shi‘i Jurisprudence, From the Tenth to the Sixteenth Century A.D.,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 45 (1982): 3947CrossRefGoogle Scholar; also see Hossein Ben Babveyeh, Men Layahzar al faqih, vol. 2 (Beirut, n.d): 25–49.

10 Clarke, L., “The Shi‘i Construction of Taqlid,” Journal of Islamic Studies 12, no. 1 (2001): 40CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 Arjomand, Said Amir, The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam (Chicago and London, 1984), 138141CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Clarke, “The Shi‘i Construction of Taqlid,” 40.

12 Musavi, A. Kazemi, “The Basis and Nature of ulama’s authority in Qajar Iran,” Iran Nameh, 15, no. 2 (2000): 199Google Scholar.

13 Algar, Religion and State, 14.

14 Maloney, “Agents or Obstacles?” 147.

15 Lambton, Ann K. S., Landlord and Peasant in Persia (London, 1953), 129130Google Scholar.

16 Curzon, George N., Persia and the Persian Question, vol.1 (London, 1892), 163Google Scholar.

17 Algar, Religion and State, 15.

18 For a detailed list of Astan-e Qods-e Razavi assets in forms of waqf in the city of Heart (now in western Afghanistan) in the pre-Mongol history, see Karimiyan, Ali, Asnad-e Astan-e Qods-e Razavi dar Herat (Tehran, 1378/1999)Google Scholar; for more on Goharshad Mosque uprising (in Mashhad) see Maki, Hossein, Tarikh-e Bist saleh-ye Iran, vol.5 (Tehran, 1362/1993)Google Scholar; ‘Atarodi, Azizollah, Tarikh Astan-e Qods-e Razavi, 2 vols. (Tehran, Vezarat-e Ershard-e Islami, 1371/1992 and 1372/1993)Google Scholar; Tafreshi, Majid and Bahar, Jalil, Shenasnameh, Zendegani va Asar-e Sheikh Ahmad Bahar (Tehran, 1377/1998), 3435 and 462H–462LGoogle Scholar; Sa‘id Vahed, Qiyam-e Goharshad (Tehran, n.d); and Yate, L C, Khurasan and Sistan (Edinburgh and London, 1900), 332, 333, and 344Google Scholar.

19 This foundation, with its historical background as one of the most important traditional religious charities, is controlled by the supreme leader. The word Bonyad was added to the title of this organization after the 1979 revolution. The position of his representative is not the same as the Shah's representative (Nayeb al- Tqwliyeh) during the Pahlavi era. For more, see Azizollah ‘Atarodi, Tarikh Astan-e Qods-e Razavi.

20 Amirahmadi, H., “Bonyad,” in Encyclopaedia of the Modern Islamic World, vol. 1, ed. Esposito, John L. (London, 1995), 234235Google Scholar. As the Bonyads have not published their balance sheet and economic reports the reliability of the estimation is in doubt.

21 Cited in Adelkhah, Fariba, Being Modern in Iran (London, 1998), 12Google Scholar.

22 Khomeini, Ruhollah, Sahifeh-ye Nur [Pages of Light: A Collection of Speeches and Pronouncements], vol. 17 (Tehran, 1363/1984): 124Google Scholar.

23 According to sura 8:41 Quran, “whatever ye take as spoils of war, lo! a fifth thereof is for God, and for the messenger and for the kinsman (who hath need) and orphans and the needy and the wayfarers.” The verb ghanima is ambiguous in Arabic. It means both “to achieve or profit” and “to take as spoils.” The Sunnis interpret this verse according to the latter definition and apply it only to justify the taxation of war spoils. The Shi‘i ulama, however, interpret ghanima as “to earn” in its broadest sense and since time immemorial have understood the “fifth” as a type of income tax. Halm, Shi‘a Islam: From Religion to Revolution, 91–92.

24 Khomeini, Sahifeh-ye Nur, 17: 124.

25Qanun-e Hemayat va Tawse‘eh-ye Sanaye‘” [The Law for Protection and Development of Iranian Industries] Ruznameh-ye Rasmi-ye Keshvar, 9 Mordad (1358/31 July 1979): 10031.

26 Keyhan, 14 Tir 1358/1979; and Rahnema, Ali and Nomani, Farhad, The Secular Miracle (London and New Jersey, 1990), 242Google Scholar.

27 See Saeidi, A., “Charismatic Political Authority and Populist Economics in the Post-Revolutionary Iran,” Third World Quarterly 22, no. 2 (2001): 219236CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

28 Giddens, Anthony, A Contemporary Critique of Historical Materialism, vol. 1 (London, 1985): 50Google Scholar.

29 Ettela‘at, (Tehran, 19 Aban 1374/1994).

30 In its purest form, charismatic authority exists only in the process of originating. Afterwards, it becomes either rationalised or traditionalised, or a combination of both, because it is temporary and unstable. In the short term, the leader may change his or her mind, possibly in response to being ‘moved by the Spirit’. In the longer term he or she will die. For that reason, charismatic authority is often ‘routinized’ during the lifetime of the new leader, so that he or she will be succeeded either by a bureaucracy vested with rational-legal authority or by a return to the institutionalized structures of tradition to which the charismatic impetus has now been incorporated. For more, see Eisenstadt, Shmuel Noah, Introduction to Max Weber on Charisma and Institution Building (Chicago, 1958), xxiGoogle Scholar; and Weber, Max, Economy and Society (New York, 1988), 241242Google Scholar and Marshall, Gordon, ed., A Dictionary of Sociology (Oxford University Press, 1998)Google Scholar.

31 This is entirely based on my personal observation and conversation with people involved in Iranian politics in post-revolutionary era.

32 Ashraf, A., “Charisma, Theocracy, and Men of Power in Postrevolutionary Iran,” in The Politics of Social Transformation in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan, ed. Banuazizi, Ali and Weiner, Myron (Syracuse, 1994), 118Google Scholar.

33 Habibi, N., “Allocation of Educational and Occupational Opportunities in the Islamic Republic of Iran: A Case Study in the Political Screening of Human Capital in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Iranian Studies 22, no. 4 (1989): 23CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

34 Habibi, “Allocation of Educational and Occupational Opportunities,” 19–46.

35 Ashraf, “Charisma, Theocracy, and Men of Power,” 120.

36 For more on cultural activity of one of them see Mawlawi, A. et al, “Astan-e Qods-e Razawi,” in Encyclopaedia Iranica (London and New York, 1987), 826837Google Scholar.

37 Mawlawi, “Astan-e Qods-e Razawi,” 124.

38 Ahmad, E., “Social Security and the Poor: Choices for Developing Countries,” The World Bank Research Observer 6, no. 1 (1991): 105 and 108CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

39 Khomeini, Sahifeh-ye Nur, 15: 8.

40 Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, 23 September 2000.

41 Amuzegar, Jahangir, Iran's Economy under the Islamic Republic (London and New York, 1993), 101Google Scholar.

42 Iran, Bank-e Markazi-ye Jomhuri-ye Islami-ye, Barresi-ye Tahavvolat-e Eqtesadi-ye Keshvar Tey-ye Salha-ye 1361–1369. [Iran's Economic Development, 1982–1990] (Tehran, 1373/1994), 817Google Scholar.

43 Akhbar-e Eqtesad, 12 Isfand 1378/2000: 19.

44 This committee was established a month after the 1979 revolution. See Khomeini, Sahifeh-ye Nur, 188.

45 Amar, Markaz-e, Salnameh-ye Amari-ye Keshvar 1378/1999 (Tehran, 1379/2000), 558Google Scholar.

46 Based on personal observation and interviews with rural people of some villages in Ziba-Kenar, Bandar Anzali, Gilan, 1989–1991.

47 Resalat, Tehran, 19 Isfand 1374/1995.

48 Behdad, S., “Winners and Losers of the Iranian Revolution, a Study in Income Distribution,” International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 21, no. 3 (1989): 327358CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

49 MEED, Nov. 8, 1992: 16; Feb. 19, 1993: 7; and Dec 25, 1992: 8.

50 See Giddens, A Contemporary Critique of Historical Materialism, 108; Saeidi, Ali A., “Sociological Obstacles to the Development of a Market Economy in Iran,” chapter 1 (Unpublished PhD thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 1999)Google Scholar.

51 Because there is no sustained flow of accounting information open to the public in these organizations we cannot analyse their economic activities. Most information published by the foundation has occurred on special occasions in order to propagate the foundation's activities. Thus, they are general statements and too unreliable for comprehensive assessment. For a case study on this foundation see Maloney, “Agents or Obstacles? Para-statal Foundations and Challenges for Iranian Development,” 153–169.

52 The term “protective” state means the state provides the two public goods, property and contract rights. Another basic task of state is to correct all market failures in order to aim for Pareto efficiency as a “productive” state. See further, Buchanan, James, The Limits of Liberty (Chicago, 1975)Google Scholar. The “protective” function of state is to protect and enforce contracts without discretionary interpretation. If the state does not accomplish this task, it leads to severe problems of credibility and the hampering of economic growth. For more on the reasons why the protective state can work as the solution to economic growth and development, see Borner, Silvio, Brunetti, Aymo, and Weder, Beatrice, Political Credibility and Economic Development (New York, 1995), 2028CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

53 Borner et al, Political Credibility, 36.

54 Haan, J. and Siermann, C., “Political Instability, Freedom, and Economic Growth: Some Further Evidence,” Economic Development and Cultural Change 44, no. 2 (1996): 339350CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

55 These terms are introduced by Kronman, A., “Contract Law and the State of Nature,” Journal of Law, Economics and Organization 1 (1985): 532Google Scholar.

56 Borner et al, Political Credibility, 267.

57 Akbar Torkan, head of the state-owned Industrial Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO), clearly confirmed that the government was inclined to recover the properties that had been confiscated and nationalized. However, the government holdings are inconsequential in comparison to those of some para-statal organizations, such as the Oppressed and Disabled Foundation (Bonyad-e Mostaz‘afan va Janbazan). RFE/RL Iran Report 2, no.19 (10 May 1999).

58 Saeidi, “Charismatic Political Authority,” 221–222.

59 See Stigler, G. J., “The Economics of Information,” Journal of Political Economy 69. no. 213 (1961): 157171CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Schwartz, A. and Wilde, A. L., “Intervening in the Market on the Basis of Imperfect Information: A Legal and Economic Analysis,” University of Pennsylvania Law Review 127, no. 630 (1979): 245269CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

60 Amuzegar, Jahangir, Iran's Economy Under the Islamic Republic (London and New York, 1993), 100Google Scholar.

61 Jennings, & Marsh, , Securities Regulation, Cases and Materials (New York, 1987), 210Google Scholar; Stevenson, R. B., Corporations and Information (Baltimore, 1980), 80Google Scholar.

62 See Bank-e Markazi, Barreisi-ye Tahavvolat-e Iqtisadi, 461–463.

63 Bank-e Markazi, Barreisi-ye Tahavvolat-e Iqtisadi, 469.

64 Ettela‘at, 18 Mordad 1374/1995.

65 Ruznamah-ye Rasmi-ye Keshvar (Tehran, 1994).

66 Ettela‘at, Tehran, 18 Mordad 1374/1995. For details of the discussion of Majlis-e Shora-ye Islami, see Ruznameh-ye Rasmi-ye Keshvar, 14395 (1373/1994).

67 Saeidi, A., “Dislocation of the State and Emergence of the Political Factionalism in Post-Revolutionary Iran,” Political Geography 21, no. 4 (2002): 543CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

68 Algar, Hamid, Islam and Revolution, Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini (Berkeley, 1981), 291Google Scholar.

69 Khomeini, Sahifeh-ye Nur, 15: 245.

70 Garfinkel, Harold, Studies in Ethnomethodology (Englewood Cliffs, 1967)Google Scholar; Harre, Rom, Social Being, (Oxford, 1979)Google Scholar; Silverman, D., “Accounts of Organizations—Organizational Structure and the Accounting Process,” in Processing People: Cases in Organizational Behaviour, ed. McKinlay, J. B. (London, 1975)Google Scholar.

71 Giddens, Anthony, Central Problems in Social Theory (London, 1979)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

72 Cremer, D. de and Dewitte, S., “Effect of Trust and Accountability in Mixed-Motive Situations,” Journal of Social Psychology 142, no. 4 (2002): 544CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.

73 Boeninger, E., “Governance and Development: Issues and Constraints,” Supplement to the World Bank Economic Review and the World Bank Research Observer (1992): 278 and 311Google Scholar.

74 There are strong indications that the Oppressed and Disabled Foundation plays a significant role in the informal market. For more, see Khalatbari, F., “Underground Economy,” in The Economy of Islamic Iran, Between State and Market. Ed. Coville, Thierry (Tehran, 1994), 120Google Scholar; and RFE/RL Iran Report vol. 1. no. 4 (December 21, 1998) and vol. 3, no. 43 (November 13, 2000).

75 In 1999 the Bonyad announced that it might not be able to continue running eight textile factories with more than 8,000 workers. Iran Times, January 12, 1999.

76 Interview with Head of the Bonyad's Textile Department, Emruz, February 13, 1999; Kar va Kargar, January 13, 1999 and Iran Times, January 12, 1999.

77 Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, July 7, 1999.

78 Economist 360, no. 8231 (September 7, 2001): 55.

79 The reformist journals were marked by the notion of public inquiry. For more, see A. Saeidi, “The Bonyad and Transparency,” Iran Daily, August 14, 1999 and interview with Iranian economists, Ali Rashidi, Fariborz Ra'isdana, and Jamshid Pezhuyan, Iran Daily, August 25, 1999. All experts emphasized the needs for auditing and investigating the bonyads's activities by independent inspectors.

80 Iran State T.V, November 4, 2000 cited in RFE/RL Iran Report 3, no. 43 (November 13, 2000).

81 Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, August 15, 2000.

82 J. Kooroshy, paper presented to the Middle East Studies Association conference, November 2000, cited in RFE/RL Iran Report 3, no. 43 (November 13, 2000).

83 RFE/RL Iran Report 2, no.35 (September 6, 1999).

84 Iran Daily, October 30, 2000.

85 Ettela‘at Daily, 25 Esfand 1378/1999.

86 By rational-legal political authority, I mean a function of explicit laws or rules that define the legitimate uses of power. Instead of depending upon particular individuals or sacred practices or traditions, rational-legal power is vested in offices or positions alone. Max Weber viewed this type of authority as an “ideal type”—rarely if ever encountered in their pure forms—and took particular interest in the social consequences that followed from these different forms, and in their combinations, which tended to entrench support for a particular regime of power. For more see Dictionary of the Social Sciences, ed. Calhoun, Craig (New York, 2002)Google Scholar; Weber, Max, Economy and Society, ed. Roth, Guenther and Wittich, Claus (New York, 1968)Google Scholar; Mommsen, Wolfgang, The Age of Bureaucracy (Oxford, 1974)Google Scholar and Beetham, David, Max Weber and the Theory of Modern Politics, 2d ed. (Cambridge, U.K., 1985)Google Scholar.