Copenhagen University’s brilliant Ali Alfoneh, who has been sitting at AEI the last few months while finishing his dissertation writing and has made the daily Iran News Round Ups as comprehensive as they have become, also pens what stands as the best Iran election analysis out there.

…The IRGC is changing the nature of the Islamic Republic. While still ruled by the clergy, in practice the Islamic Republic has begun to resemble other third world military regimes, with a military-industrial complex running the state machinery and controlling civil society. The Islamic Republic’s militarization, however, follows a different pattern from other military regimes. Rather than power being seized by force, the transformation in Iran will be gradual. Nevertheless, the March parliamentary elections are bound to mark a milestone in this creeping coup d’etat.

His early work on the IRGC’s take-over of the Iranian economy is here.