In The Disguise Of Democracy : Biopower as a tool of authoritarianism in Iran
- Naisha Srivastav
- Apr 10, 2024
- 6 min read
Why are rules imposed in a society ? It is claimed that rules and regulations help to streamline society and create a sense of security , but what if these rules are imposed to enforce certain norms that instead of creating security end up creating insecurity for some groups and start to impinge on their personal lives ? Moreover what if the threat to these people is not recognized ?
Women Police in Law Enforcement Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran | Wikimedia Commons
According to Michael Foucault democratic governments use two types of power to govern a society , first is governmentality which is the use of power to govern an entire population and establishing a code of conduct for the population at large and disciplinary power that aims at determining how each individual should conduct himself or herself , power here is aimed at individuals rather than the entire population . Governments take certain measures through the exercise of these powers that they claim are for the welfare of citizens , however these powers are actually used to channelize authoritarian power in the disguise of democracy . These powers make it acceptable for governments to impinge on the private and personal lives of individuals; this is called biopower . Moral Policing is a reflection of biopower . Moral policing refers to the enforcement of certain codes of conduct in the society by an entity that holds authority and power and establishing certain norms that govern the personal lives of people; these norms are based on cultural or religious values . Violating these norms can attract punishments .
Moral Policing is present in many countries across the world however the country that has come into scrutiny for it recently is Iran . On 16 September 2022 Mahsa Amini a 22 year old Iranian woman lost her life after being tortured by ‘Gasht-e-Ershad’, the morality police of Iran, after they took her into custody for violating the Hijab Law that mandates that women in Iran should always cover their heads with a hijab . Some other things that invite punishment via morality police are , public sightings of unmarried couples , wearing clothing that reveals skin , wearing western clothing like ripped jeans , wearing too much makeup , and acts that constitute as adultery . The law also prohibits the acknowledgement of the LGBTQIA+ community and people from the community are also victims of moral policing . While both men and women are subjected to this law , women are the popular target .The punishments are wide ranging from beating by the police to shredding of inappropriate clothing , declaration of being mentally ill , monetary fines , prison sentence of a few days or weeks and lashes and stoning .
Religious laws like the Sharia allow the government to impose these moral norms in the society that people are afraid of violating. Surveillance is an important tool for establishing control and regulation in Iran . CCTV cameras are installed everywhere and are closely monitored by the police. Hence it is not only criminals who feel insecure in Iran, it's also regular citizens who are made to feel insecure on a daily basis because of the mass surveillance that infringes on their personal lives and governs the choices they make everyday .
According to a Reuters report published in April 2023 , in an attempt to rein in the increasing number of women defying Iran's compulsory dress code, authorities are installing cameras in public places to identify and penalize unveiled women. Authorities in Iran stated that surveillance was important to prevent resistance against the hijab law because such resistance tarnished Iran's spiritual image and spread insecurity. It is interesting to note how insecurity is understood by the authorities as being born out of protests and breaking of norms and not by surveillance that impinges on private lives .
It is extremely difficult to oppose the morality police in Iran because of the government backing that it has , however Mahsa Amini’s deaths sparked outrage all across the nation and the world. People protested not only by chanting slogans and rallying in support of the victims but women removed their Hijabs in protest . Through this they made a powerful statement that they refused to be governed by draconian laws , such performativity is used by people when there is no other option to make their voices heard because there is no one to hear their cries ,there are no judicial processes that will protect them , so instead of being heard they focus on being seen .
Iranians living in Greece take part in a demonstration following the death in Tehran of Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the country's morality police. | Sakis Mitrolidis/AFP
A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during an anti-hijab demonstration in Iran. (Photo: AFP)
What were the results of these protests ? According to an article published by Al Jazeera in 2024 , 551 protesters were killed by the security forces, among them at least 49 women and 68 children . The government cracked down on protesters by detaining 22,000 of them. Despite this the protests did not stop. Finally in December of 2022 the protests resulted in the withdrawal of the morality police for the very first time in 16 years . There was hope that laws would change, however in July of 2023 the police was reinstalled and now they were even more stricter , in October a 16 year old girl Armita Geravand was assaulted at a metro station by the morality police for not wearing a Hijab , CCTV footage shows that she fell possibly because she was pushed . This resulted in a serious brain injury , after 28 days of being in the ICU she went into a coma and died on 28th October 2023 .
This is proof that it is extremely difficult to change the ways of authoritarian governments and regulate the use of biopower, it is extremely difficult to securitize some issues using speech acts because speaking up against these issues only invites trouble for those who protest . At the end of the day it is the state who has power to determine what is a security issue and what is not . Moreover not everyone protests against these issues because of the fear of the state or because they actually agree with the norms laid down by the state . The state does need some support to impose these norms and to legitimize the use of extraordinary measures to impose these norms , this support in Iran comes in the form of religious leaders and conservatives.
Iran was criticized internationally however that also did not result in any changes this is because these issues do not fall in the realm of international security because they are understood as being contained within a certain area and are not seen as being of concern to the entire international community , individualization of issues prevents them from being effectively securitized and this prevents recognition of certain issues as issues of security .
Moral Policing as a form of biopower takes places in countries even when it is not clearly mandated by law , instances of moral policing have occurred in India as well such as conservative mobs targeting those who wear western clothes claiming that they are hampering Indian culture , there have also been instances where sex education programs in high schools have been stopped from taking place because they “pollute” young minds .
Thus biopower is a tool in the hands of governments that claim to be democratic, they use it to impose authoritarian rules and regulations in society that help in the concentration of power in their hands and push their agendas and ideologies , biopower is disguised as a tool of providing security however what it often leads to is insecurity .
References : -
Foucault, Michel. (1978). The history of sexuality / by Michel Foucault ; translated from the French by Robert Hurley. New York : Pantheon Books
Wæver, O. (1995). Securitization and Desecuritization. In R. D. Lipschutz (Ed.), On Security (pp. 46-87). Columbia University Press.
Hansen, L. (2000). The Little Mermaid’s Silent Security Dilemma and the Absence of Gender in the Copenhagen School. Millennium, 29(2), 285-306. https://doi.org/10.1177/03058298000290020501
Reuters “ Iran installs cameras in public places to identify, penalise unveiled women” Reuters , 11 April 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-installs-cameras-public-places-identify-penalise-unveiled-women-police-2023-04-08/
Motamedi , Maziar “Teenage Iranian girl Armita Geravand dies weeks after train incident” Al Jazeera , 28 October , 2023 , https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/28/teenage-iranian-girl-armita-geravand-dies-weeks-after-train-inciden
Yang , John et al “What’s changed for women in Iran one year after Mahsa Amini’s death” PBS , 16 September 2023 https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/whats-changed-for-women-in-iran-one-year-after-mahsa-aminis-death
AFP “ Protest-hit Iran abolishes ‘morality police’ ” The Hindu (sourced from AFP), 4 December , 2022
Thank you for your insightful exploration of biopower and authoritarianism in Iran. Your analysis of moral policing and its impact on individual freedoms offers a compelling perspective on the complexities of state control.
It's distressing to witness how authoritarian governments wield biopower to silence dissent and perpetuate their agendas, often with little regard for human rights or international criticism. Your comparison with instances of moral policing in other countries, such as India, underscores the global relevance of this issue.
Thank you for such a wonderful insight on moral policing and the Iranian hijab protests. The link to Foucault's theory of biopower is also exceptional. Could you elaborate on the intersectional impact of authoritarian state practices such as moral policing on marginalized communities such as the LGBTQIA+ community or religious minorities?