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Faculty Member, Political Science Department, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch
Abstract
"The Subsidy Targeting Law was implemented in 2010 (1389 in the Iranian calendar) with the aim of improving the equitable distribution of income and the optimal allocation of resources. The issue this article addresses is the rationale and methodology behind subsidy targeting, as well as its successes and failures. The central question is: how did the intellectual foundations and political discourse governing the political economy approach of the Ahmadinejad administration influence the implementation of the Subsidy Targeting Law policy? The main hypothesis is that contradictions within the intellectual foundations and the political discourse of social justice that underpinned the Ahmadinejad government's economic and social policies led to the deviation and inefficiency of the Subsidy Targeting Law. The theoretical framework of this article is the discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe, and the research method used is descriptive-analytical. The lack of a clear and coherent theoretical framework and political-economic discourse, the lack of sincerity in the declared and actual goals, and the populist nature of the Ahmadinejad government created a contradictory and inconsistent relationship between this discourse and the implementation of the law. This resulted in inefficiency in the implementation of the Subsidy Targeting Law policy and its stated goals. The takeaway from this article emphasizes the immediate necessity of subsidy targeting, the inefficiency of a command economy, adherence to the principles of economics and a productive and competitive economic approach, while considering the cultural and historical context of Iran within a market economy framework that incorporates social justice, or what might be termed welfare marketism
jalilian, B., Soltani, A., & Tohidfam, M. (2025). Conceptual Foundations of the Ahmadinejad Government's Subsidy Targeting Policy. State Studies of Contemporary Iran, (), -.
MLA
Bahman jalilian; Alireza Soltani; Mohammad Tohidfam. "Conceptual Foundations of the Ahmadinejad Government's Subsidy Targeting Policy", State Studies of Contemporary Iran, , , 2025, -.
HARVARD
jalilian, B., Soltani, A., Tohidfam, M. (2025). 'Conceptual Foundations of the Ahmadinejad Government's Subsidy Targeting Policy', State Studies of Contemporary Iran, (), pp. -.
VANCOUVER
jalilian, B., Soltani, A., Tohidfam, M. Conceptual Foundations of the Ahmadinejad Government's Subsidy Targeting Policy. State Studies of Contemporary Iran, 2025; (): -.