Wartime Losses and Political Gains: State-Led Mobilization Through War Memorials in Iran

Ali Kadivar, Boston College
Saber Khani, Boston College

State-led mobilization is a key tool for autocratic regimes to consolidate power, yet its dynamics remain understudied. Synthesizing existing research, we identify two strategic logics that underpin state-led mobilization: threat, in which regimes mobilize supporters in response to perceived challenges, and resonance, in which they leverage events that align with local sentiments. We extend this literature by examining how war fatalities enable autocratic regimes to organize post-war state-sponsored mobilization, particularly through war memorials. These events serve dual functions: preventing war-related frustrations from fueling dissent and reinforcing authoritarian nationalism. We analyze Iran’s post-war mobilization following the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988), a paradigmatic case given its prolonged conflict and sustained high levels of state-led mobilization. Using an original dataset of 190,000 war fatalities matched with pro-government events (2015–2019), we find a strong positive association between war fatality rates and war memorial events. By disaggregating fatalities and controlling for pre-war regime support, we show that war fatalities—not prior regime strength—drive this effect. Our findings highlight the strategic use of war memorials as a mechanism of state-led mobilization in autocratic regimes, demonstrating how states transform war losses into political assets. This study advances research on authoritarian resilience, memory politics, and the long-term political consequences of war.

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 Presented in Session 214. How States Make Society