Discourse Analysis of the Official Documents and Reports of the Urmia Lake Restoration Headquarters under the Eleventh and Twelfth Administrations; From the Possibility of Hegemony to Institutional Failure

Authors

1 Department of Sociology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran

Abstract

Under the influence of the state-centered developmental discourse, the delicate ecological equilibrium between society and nature in Iran has been altered since the mid-20th century. This transition exacerbated exploitative resource utilization patterns and progressively removed resources like Lake Urmia from the policymaking process. Since the early 2010s, Lake Urmia has served as a “empty siginifier” of environmental crises, water governance failures, and identity-territorial threats. This situation paved the way for the emergence of a national demand that, during the 2013 presidential elections, was articulated through the discourse of “restoration” and institutionalized with the establishment of Urmia Lake Restoration Headquarters (ULRH) by the Eleventh Administration. The objective of this investigation is to examine the discursive logic of the ULRH and investigate the factors that contribute to its deficiencies and the challenges it faces in accomplishing its stated goals. Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis and Laclau and  discourse theory are combined in this research. Interviews with two former directors of the Department of Environment, official documents, and pertinent media texts comprise the data. These were collected through theoretical sampling until conceptual saturation and analyzed using triangulation.
Finding indicates that, despite the ULRH’s relative and temporary success in halting the Lake's complete desiccation and implementing certain infrastructural projects, the realization of full ecological recovery and sustainable restoration was impeded by a number of factors, including the absence of investment in alternative employment, the instability of farmers' livelihoods, the lack of articulation between the restoration discourse and broader socio-economic structures, and weak basin-scale governance. Ultimately, the restoration discourse itself perpetuated the dichotomy of “technological solutions vs. social realities” and failed to progress toward participatory governance. The study concludes that sustainable restoration necessitates the simultaneous articulation of water policy with welfare policies, agricultural transition, local participation, and policy alignment at the Urmia basin scale.

Keywords

References

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The Journal of Community Development (Rural-Urban)
Volume 17, Issue 2 - Serial Number 33
Autumn and winter 2025
January 2025
Pages 427-446

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