Attitudinal and Behavioral Orientation of the New Generation of Youth toward the Republican Pillar in the Islamic Republic of Iran (Generations Born in the 1990s and 2000s)

In the contemporary era of theoretical, technological, generational, and intellectual transformations at the global level, new conceptual and theoretical shifts have emerged in domains such as citizenship, governance, and democracy—necessitating a critical rereading of classical models of liberalism and republicanism. This study, employing a qualitative field-exploratory method through open-ended questionnaires and drawing upon post-structuralist, neo-institutionalist, and several political-sociological theoretical approaches, seeks to examine the intellectual, attitudinal, and generational impact of Iranian youth born in the 1990s and 2000s (Generations Y and Z) on the perception, reinterpretation, and evaluation of the republican principle enshrined in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Ultimately, the study presents the proposals offered by students, as representative voices of the current young generation, for the enhancement and fuller realization of the republican pillar within the Islamic Republic.

The central research question is: how do the new generations of youth, situated within a context of digital lived experience, networked activism, and encounters with governance challenges in Iran, understand and evaluate the principles of republicanism in the Constitution? Findings indicate that these generations, drawing upon new forms of cultural capital, social media, and informational capacities, adopt a more critical stance toward official interpretations of republicanism. They call for a redefinition of the relationship between republicanism and Islamism, emphasizing dimensions such as interactive governance with broad civil society and youth participation, greater accountability of state institutions, and the democratic reform and modernization of governance structures based on justice, transparency, and responsiveness. In this field study, the surveyed students—through linking generational transformations with theoretical developments in republicanism—highlighted the necessity of institutional reconsideration, strengthening dialogue with the younger generation, and rebuilding the political system’s social capital in light of global and national transformations.Within the context of conceptual–theoretical and procedural transformations in an era of rapid socio-political changes and the communications revolution, new notions of citizenship—such as “glocal citizenship” and “multiple citizenship”—have emerged and turned into both national and global demands. Naturally, these accelerating transformations in most countries have generated and expanded challenges to conventional democratic practices, liberal and republican models, and classical methods of governance. They have driven a transition toward new forms of interactive governance with society and citizens, and have necessitated a critical rereading of majoritarian interpretations of classical liberal and republican paradigms.

From the perspective of post-structuralist philosophy and the “new institutionalism” approach, all phenomena are contingent and emergent. In this regard, the structures of political systems, democratic regimes, political dynamics, conceptions of republican and liberal models, and the majority rule principle must inevitably undergo critical and contextualized reinterpretation in light of the emergence of a new generation of citizens and youth, alongside their rapid intellectual and generational transformations within national and global conditions. Consequently, political and social institutions of governance, constitutions, and models of republicanism and liberalism are inherently unstable and subject to change.

From this standpoint, one may argue that theories of political sociology concerning the relations and conflicts between state and society have undergone a significant transformation. In contemporary political sociology, there is a discernible shift away from classical state-centered and party-centered paradigms toward interactive governance between state and society, with an emphasis on citizen-centeredness