Land Rent, Geopolitical Conflicts, and Urban Development in Iranian Capitalism
Farahani, Ilia LU
(2026)
International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE) (16th Annual Conference): Capitalism Moving Beyond Neoliberalism: Crises, Changes, and What Comes Next
- Abstract
- The Iranian economy and politics remain a topic of debate among Marxist scholars. The existing literature mostly splits into two camps: one blames economic struggles primarily on external pressures like imperialist interference and sanctions, while the other downplays external influences and emphasizes the human toll of brutal repression under a neoliberal regime of accumulation. Neither, however, fully captures how all these interact with the inner workings of Iranian capitalism. This paper proposes an analytical framework to better understand the peculiarities of Iranian capitalism, especially amid intense regional inter-imperialist rivalries. Using the urban housing and construction sector as a case study, it shows that the sector... (More)
- The Iranian economy and politics remain a topic of debate among Marxist scholars. The existing literature mostly splits into two camps: one blames economic struggles primarily on external pressures like imperialist interference and sanctions, while the other downplays external influences and emphasizes the human toll of brutal repression under a neoliberal regime of accumulation. Neither, however, fully captures how all these interact with the inner workings of Iranian capitalism. This paper proposes an analytical framework to better understand the peculiarities of Iranian capitalism, especially amid intense regional inter-imperialist rivalries. Using the urban housing and construction sector as a case study, it shows that the sector benefits most from the sanction-influenced political economy due to its high land rent contributions to sectoral profits. It also underlines the severe economic exploitation faced by mostly migrant workers, both domestic and international, and largely powerless labor forces in the sector. The central argument in a nutshell is that economic grievances and extreme inequalities faced by Iranian workers and toilers are structurally rooted in how Iranian capitalism operates and its reliance on regional quasi-imperialist strategies by the regime. These strategies, in a region without a clear hegemon, enable the economy to withstand sanctions by maintaining politically super-exploitative labor relations and by facilitating intersectoral capital flows. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/9eb6b998-c7e1-445e-9fdc-2d1c01693d2d
- author
- Farahani, Ilia
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-09-12
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- conference name
- International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE) (16th Annual Conference): Capitalism Moving Beyond Neoliberalism: Crises, Changes, and What Comes Next
- conference location
- Lisbon, Portugal
- conference dates
- 2026-09-09 - 2026-09-12
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 9eb6b998-c7e1-445e-9fdc-2d1c01693d2d
- date added to LUP
- 2026-09-14 08:45:11
- date last changed
- 2026-09-23 11:02:47
@misc{9eb6b998-c7e1-445e-9fdc-2d1c01693d2d,
abstract = {{The Iranian economy and politics remain a topic of debate among Marxist scholars. The existing literature mostly splits into two camps: one blames economic struggles primarily on external pressures like imperialist interference and sanctions, while the other downplays external influences and emphasizes the human toll of brutal repression under a neoliberal regime of accumulation. Neither, however, fully captures how all these interact with the inner workings of Iranian capitalism. This paper proposes an analytical framework to better understand the peculiarities of Iranian capitalism, especially amid intense regional inter-imperialist rivalries. Using the urban housing and construction sector as a case study, it shows that the sector benefits most from the sanction-influenced political economy due to its high land rent contributions to sectoral profits. It also underlines the severe economic exploitation faced by mostly migrant workers, both domestic and international, and largely powerless labor forces in the sector. The central argument in a nutshell is that economic grievances and extreme inequalities faced by Iranian workers and toilers are structurally rooted in how Iranian capitalism operates and its reliance on regional quasi-imperialist strategies by the regime. These strategies, in a region without a clear hegemon, enable the economy to withstand sanctions by maintaining politically super-exploitative labor relations and by facilitating intersectoral capital flows.}},
author = {{Farahani, Ilia}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{09}},
title = {{Land Rent, Geopolitical Conflicts, and Urban Development in Iranian Capitalism}},
year = {{2026}},
}