President Raisi’s public funeral and the “hidden social capital”

In a note published on the Khabaronline national news website on June 1, Mohammad Reza Dadgostar, GPTT senior researcher discussed how President Raisi’s death affected the Iranian social capital. According to him, in the social arena, regardless of the political conduct of the late president, which had supporters and opponents among the citizens, Iranians vastly attended his funeral, commemoration, and memorial services and a relatively general atmosphere of sadness engulfed the society. The social consequences of this accident indicated that a series of sudden events can speed up or slow down the decline of social capital. Dadgostar emphasized that the art of a politician is to prevent social capital from turning into “social division” and consolidate it by making smart decisions. Until the elections are held and the next government takes office, the administration should be as predictable as possible for the citizens and call for political stability. Considering the sudden end of the Raisi administration, policy rationality requires that the next government gradually lead the possible change of the policy model and dedicate enough time for the senior and middle managers of the previous government to complete the political projects of the outgoing government. He concluded that the social capital formed due to the grief over the loss of President Raisi has a short life and is a fleeting social phenomenon. However, a policy window has been opened to make this situation stable and avoid the return of society to the state of social division.

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