Title: THE MAKING AND UNMAKING OF KURDISH ETHNO-NATIONALISM IN IRAN
Author: MEHRI GHAZANJANI
Place of publication: Canada
Publisher: Department of Sociology
McGill University, Montreal
Release date: 2019

This project provides a comprehensive analysis of the Kurdish ethno-nationalist movements ofIran. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Kurdish experts, leaders and members of majorIranian Kurdish organizations, and archival data:First, it will be argued that the level of political expression in an ethno-national community isdependent on its organizational resources, the opportunity structure of its environment, and itssubjective assessment of the chances of success. The major Iranian Kurdish ethno-nationalistuprisings only emerged in significant form at times when the Iranian state was weak: the 1920s(armed revolts), 1945-1946 (ethno-nationalist separatism), and the early 1980s (full-scale war).These were all instances when the state’s willingness and capacity to repress were severelycompromised, when powerful allies were available, the institutionalized channels were closed,and Kurdish leaders had a high level of optimism about the prospects of insurgency.Second, focusing on Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, I look at the dual dimensions of ethnicmobilization: individuals’ decision to participate in conflict, and the effect of organizationalrecruitment strategies on this decision. I argue: first, individual decisions are motivated by familyconditions, friendship networks and emotional relationships, prison experience, grievances,material and nonmaterial incentives; and second, the organization proactively engages inrecruitment strategies and determines the processes through which individuals can learn about itsactivities by engaging young individuals in clandestine urban cells in Iran, on social media, andin prison.Third, I look at the geopolitics of ethno-nationalist insurgencies to argue that the Kurdishproblem has not been isolated from regional developments, and certainly is not immune tooutside interference. Ultimately, the common state policy of the regional powers (Iran, Iraq, andturkey) to use each other’s Kurdish population has resulted in the divisiveness amongst theKurds and has served as an impediment to the formation of a coherent and unitary Kurdish front.[1]