Review of Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, Revolution and Its Discontents. Political Thought and Reform in Iran, Cambridge University Press, 2019 (Political Theology, 2021) (original) (raw)

I. Intellectuals in Post-Revolutionary Iran

This article provides an overview of the intellectual and sociopolitical roots of Iran's tortuous path toward "Islamic liberalism" and reform. It analyzes the shift in the ideological orientation of a major faction within the polit- ical elite from a radical to a relatively moderate and liberal interpretation of Islam. The authors trace the roots of this ideological shift to a series of political developments since the triumph of the Islamic revolution in 1979, including various failures of the revolutionary regime to fulfill its populist and egalitarian promises; a considerable erosion in the legitimacy of the ruling clerics; the successful (though largely silent) resistance of the youth and women against the culturally restrictive policies of the Islamic Republic; the rise of a distinctly anti-fundamentalist, liberal-reformist interpretation of Islam by a number of Iranian theologians and religious intellectuals; and the precipitous decline in the popularity of revol...

Becoming Mullah: Reflections on Iranian clerics in a Revolutionary Age

This paper deals with the cultural position of the clerics in Iran by surveying (a) the moral ambiguities of their roles, (b) the changing historical context of Islamic rhetorics, and (c) the nature of Khomeini's charisma. Beginning with Aqa Quchani's 1919 picaresque autobiography and Mehdi Haeri-Yazdi's expanations of Khomeini's appeal; charting five generations of Islamic reform; the pedagogies of the madrasseh system, the Karbala Paradigm as parallel to Walter Benjamini's analysis of Baroque Trauerspielen; and Khomeini's own life histories as a set of rhetorical forms, this article argues that what needs attention is the relationship between ideologies or rhetorics or pedagogies and social cleavages, contradictions, and forces. The relationship is not transparent and needs careful exploration.

After Khomeini

American Journal of Islam and Society

Drawing on the sociology of revolution, Arjomand’s book is set onexplaining the political developments of Iran and its rollercoaster-likedomestic and foreign policy realities during the past two decades. Accordingto the author, the greatest misconception about post-revolutionary Iran isthe notion that the revolution ended with the establishment of a “Brintonian”Thermidor through the rise to power of the pragmatist presidentHashemi-Rafsanjani (1989-97) and/or the reformist president Khatami(1997-2005). In contrast, “this book argues that the Islamic revolution didnot end with Khomeini’s death and that there was no return to ‘normalcy’the day after. Massive revolutionary violence abated while the revolutioncontinued” (p. 5) ...

Islam and the Charismatic Revolutionary Social Transformation of Iran

Totalitarian Movements & Political Religions, 2003

Contemporary explanations of revolution privilege material power and the interests of ‘rational’ actors over ideas. Drawing on Max Weber’s seminal insights and recent work by social constructivists, I argue that agents and ideas were important in both the revolutionary situation and outcome of the Iranian Revolution. The revolutionary outcome in particular was the result of the combination of the charismatic leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, the ‘agent,’ with the normative content of political Islam, the ‘structure.’ This suggests the emergence of a ‘fourth school’ in the literature on revolutions.