Title:
From Guardianship to Enablement: The Architecture of Cultural Governance in Six Muslim-Majority Societies and Its Implications for Iran
Authors:
Mehdi Mahdavian Sadr
(Corresponding Author
)
Islamic Azad University of Sciences and Research, Tehran, Iran.
(Corresponding Author
)
Islamic Azad University of Sciences and Research, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract:
Background: Over the past four decades the number of cultural documents and institutions in Iran has grown steadily, yet existing assessments have concentrated on the content of those documents rather than on the institutional architecture expected to implement them, leaving the persistent gap between adoption and implementation unexplained.
Objective: This study explains the patterns of cultural governance in six Muslim-majority societies whose religious and historical settings are close to Iran's, and argues that the divergence in their cultural outcomes owes less to the intensity of state intervention than to the way governance functions are arranged.
Methods: The study is a qualitative comparative inquiry using structured focused comparison. Six cases — Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia — were selected purposively on a most-similar logic. Their legal instruments, cultural council resolutions, national programmes and official reports between 1990 and 2025 were coded through a three-function framework (guardianship and gatekeeping; provision and enablement; evidence and evaluation) across three arenas (heritage and the arts; media and platforms; creative industries). All data are documentary; no questionnaire was used.
Findings: Four architectural types emerged: centralized guardianship, layered and polycentric guardianship, state-directed enablement, and participatory enablement. Iran records the highest guardianship-to-enablement ratio and the weakest evidence function among the six cases, and its distinguishing feature is the combination of concentrated authority with authority dispersed among several same-level bodies, described here as fragmented centralism. The Saudi case shows that movement across this map is achievable in under a decade even in a conservative setting.
Conclusion: Reform in Iran is not a matter of reducing the state's role but of redistributing its functions. Separating the guardian role from the funder role, moving measurement to a body outside the implementing agency, and devolving part of cultural authority to provincial levels and specialized agencies are the three decisive steps.
Objective: This study explains the patterns of cultural governance in six Muslim-majority societies whose religious and historical settings are close to Iran's, and argues that the divergence in their cultural outcomes owes less to the intensity of state intervention than to the way governance functions are arranged.
Methods: The study is a qualitative comparative inquiry using structured focused comparison. Six cases — Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia — were selected purposively on a most-similar logic. Their legal instruments, cultural council resolutions, national programmes and official reports between 1990 and 2025 were coded through a three-function framework (guardianship and gatekeeping; provision and enablement; evidence and evaluation) across three arenas (heritage and the arts; media and platforms; creative industries). All data are documentary; no questionnaire was used.
Findings: Four architectural types emerged: centralized guardianship, layered and polycentric guardianship, state-directed enablement, and participatory enablement. Iran records the highest guardianship-to-enablement ratio and the weakest evidence function among the six cases, and its distinguishing feature is the combination of concentrated authority with authority dispersed among several same-level bodies, described here as fragmented centralism. The Saudi case shows that movement across this map is achievable in under a decade even in a conservative setting.
Conclusion: Reform in Iran is not a matter of reducing the state's role but of redistributing its functions. Separating the guardian role from the funder role, moving measurement to a body outside the implementing agency, and devolving part of cultural authority to provincial levels and specialized agencies are the three decisive steps.