Recording

Abstract

Sanctions against Iran were designed to undermine the country's manufacturing base. Yet, Iranian industrial production has expanded significantly in the recent sanction period. In this talk, I use a sociological lens to understand this puzzle, focusing on the ways in which the Iranian state disciplined employers and limited predatory behavior. 

Integrating unique qualitative and quantitative material, I find that Iran’s political elites responded to sanctions by launching top-down campaigns that appealed to workers, promoted capital-labor unity, and demanded state commitment to development. These campaigns facilitated widespread labor protests that further empowered the state to block capital flight and steer firms into more profitable, growth-oriented routes. Labour ‘resistance’ thus unexpectedly helped to realize the Supreme Leader’s calls for a ‘Resistance Economy’. These findings suggest that top-down and bottom-up mobilizations can help demand institutional capacity in sanctioned states, with significant consequences for our global understanding of economic statecraft, development, and labor movements.

Bio

Zep Kalb comes to us from the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His research examines state-making, social movements, and economic development from a comparative-historical perspective. He received his Ph.D. in May 2024. Based on his dissertation, Kalb will be working on his book: Manufacturing Resilience: Labor Protest and Politics in Iran. The book investigates how international pressure against Iran over the past hundred years has supported labor movements and government responses that have, in turn, shaped the institutions of the Iranian state. His book project uses unique archival, qualitative, and statistical data, including a large dataset of labor protests that he has collected. Kalb is also involved with the Iran Social Survey, one of the most comprehensive surveys currently conducted inside the country, which is also a project that is supported by the Mossavar-Rahmani Center.