Religion and Politics in Contemporary Iran

By Shahrough Akhavi

Subjects: Islam
Paperback : 9780873954563, 255 pages, June 1980
Hardcover : 9780873954082, 255 pages, June 1980

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Table of contents

Acknowledgments

Glossary

A Note on Transliteration

Preface

Chapter One: Introduction

Chapter Two: Clergy-State Relations Before 1941

Chapter Three: Revival of 'Ulama'Influence and Clergy-State Alignment, 1941 - 1958

Chapter Four: `Ulama'-State Confrontation and Defeat of the Clergy, 1959-1963

Chapter Five: The Two Clergy Reform Movements and State Bureaucratization of Power in the Sixties And Seventies

Chapter Six: The `Ulama', Islamic Government and The Collapse of the Bureaucratic State

Chapter Seven: Conclusions 18

Appendixes

Notes

Index

Description

Indispensable for understanding the recent conflicts in Iran, Religion and Politics in Contemporary Iran provides a political history of the fluctuating relationships between the Islamic clergy and Iranian government since 1925. How different factions of the clergy, or ulama first lost and then regained a powerful position in Iran is the subject of this book.

Akhavi analyzes how various factions within the clergy have responded to the government's efforts to encourage modernization and secularization, giving particular attention to the changes in the madrasahs, or theological colleges. He examines the main themes of the AyatullaH Khymayni's book, Islamic Government, and concludes by examining the alignments among the clergy in the past that indicate how they may develop in the future.

Shahrough Akhavi is Associate Professor of Government and International Studies at the University of South Carolina. Religion and Politics in Contemporary Iran is based on research for the Islam and Social Change Research Seminar at the University of Chicago.