The Erosion of Consent: Protests and State Violence in Iran

This article examines the rapid erosion of political consent in the Islamic Republic of Iran through an analysis of protest cycles from 1999 to the nationwide uprising that began in December 2025. Drawing on human rights documentation and independent reporting, the paper argues that recurring protest movements have evolved from isolated episodes of dissent into increasingly broad challenges to state legitimacy. Early student protests in 1999 marked a generational rupture from post-revolutionary political cohesion. The 2009 Green Movement deepened critiques of electoral governance, and economic protest waves in 2017 and 2019 expanded dissent into working-class and provincial constituencies. The Woman, Life, Freedom protests of 2022 introduced a moral and ideological challenge to state authority, particularly through the central role of women and diverse social groups. The latest protests, sparked by acute economic decline in late 2025, quickly became the largest nationwide mobilization since 1979, encompassing a widening social base and intensifying demands for systemic change. In response, the Iranian state has increasingly relied on lethal repression and coercive governance strategies. Verified reports document mass unlawful killings by security forces during early January 2026, extensive arbitrary arrests, and a near-total internet blackout imposed to conceal the scale of violence and limit independent monitoring. The United Nations Human Rights Council condemned these abuses and extended investigative mandates, highlighting the international concern over the state’s use of force. The cumulative evidence suggests that the Islamic Republic’s authority is sustained less by popular consent than by coercion, with profound implications for legitimacy, state–society relations, and the prospects for political transformation in Iran.

Keywords: Iran, Protest Movements, Political Legitimacy, State Violence, Erosion of Consent.