Who is Entitled to Oppose Planning Decisions? Politics of Rightful Resistance in Tehran

Abstract

People's oppositions to planning decisions are on the rise even in exclusionary‐repressive systems. However, in such contexts, decades of dismantling social networks, repressing the circulation of information, and criminalising dissent make oppositions short‐lived, fragile, and risky. Rightful resistance, studies suggest, presents a modality of contestation which mitigates such risks. This paper seeks to contribute to the literature on this modality, focusing on, first, the intermeshed and co‐evolving relations of the rightful resisters and different sections of the state in the context of contingent citizenship, and second, the interactions of rightful resisters with the larger community. Through a detailed analysis of a case study of rightful resistance in Tehran, the paper complicates the often one‐sided narratives of improvisation of individuals that the literature depicts. More importantly, the paper reveals the possibilities that such modalities of contestation reproduce, reinforce, and re‐affirm the exclusionary‐repressive practices of the state.