An important politician in contemporary Iran – he was also twice appointed Minister for Culture between the eighties and the nineties as well as director of the Iranian National Library and a member of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution – Khatami is one of the leaders of the Green Movement that was opposed to the government led by former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose work and conservative policies he criticised openly.

Elected in 1997 with almost 70% of the votes following an electoral campaign based mainly on the need for reform and political-economic liberalisation, Khatami governed for two terms, committed to promoting the principles of tolerance, democracy, freedom of expression, civil society’s involvement in decision-making processes and trying to improve diplomatic relations with other countries – in particular Western ones. He also incentivised foreign investments in Iran and market liberalisation. Such reformist openness, however, repeatedly clashed with the government’s more conservative elements and Iran’s political-religious establishment, which control powerful government organisations such as the Guardian Council, the members of which are appointed directly by the Supreme Guide (the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei since 1989). The Supreme Guide also exercises legal authority over numerous and important institutions in Iran, such as, for example, the armed forces, the police, the national media and prisons, which effectively confers to the Supreme Guide and the religious elite more power than that of the president himself.

In these conditions, without forgetting that although a reformist Khatami is a man of the “apparatus”, unlike many of the activists and philosophers we are speaking of, most of the reforms promised by the president’s government (among them vast privatisation programmes and the country’s industrialisation) were never achieved, disappointing many of his supporters. Although some results were achieved in reducing unemployment and foreign debt, increasing the GDP and foreign investments in Iran, this was not enough to prevent a gradual fall in the numbers of Khatami’s supporters towards the end of his second term.

Finally, as far as the former Iranian president’s commitment to foreign policy is concerned, one must bear in mind that it was he who suggested to the United Nations the idea of proclaiming 2001 “The Year of Dialogue between Civilisations”; in order to oppose the rising atmosphere of a “clash of civilizations” theorized by Samuel Huntington. Consistent with his commitment to promote dialogue and democratic progress, Khatami has founded two NGOs, The International Institute for Dialogue among Cultures and Civilizations and, following the reformist spirit that inspired his presidency, the BARAN (“rain”) Foundation, the Persian acronym for the Foundation for Freedom, Growth and Development in Iran. He is also the author of many books published in Persian, Arabic and English.