Peyman Jafari (Tehran, 1976) graduated in Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. He is working on a PhD-project on the social basis of the political power structure in Iran. By delving into power structures such as social classes, state-society relations and international political economy and the role of social movements of labour, women and students, the research aims to answer two interrelated questions: which factors explain the resilience of the post-1979 socio-political system in Iran? why did the process of political liberalization, which started under the presidency of Khatami (1997-2005), give way to authoritarian populism under president Ahamdinejad (2005 - present).