Machine summary:
Iran’s Intellectual Revolution, by Mehran Kamrava, offers an overview of the three major political orientations that have evolved in Iran since the Islamic revolution of 1979, especially since the death of Khomeini in 1989.
The first chapter examines the silent, and often not-so-silent, revolution that Book Reviews has taken place in Iran over the past few decades; the second and third chap- ters contextualize these emerging Iranian discourses; and the fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters focus on the religious conservative, religious reformist, and secular-modernist discourses.
Chapter three surveys the religious conservative discourse of Khomeini, Khamenei, Montazeri, Mesbah Yazdi, Rafsanjani, and Amoli.
As the author explains, proponents of absolute wilayah believe that the jurist has the divinely sanctioned right to rule regardless of the people’s wishes, a view that contradicts traditional Shi`i teachings and the sunnah of the Prophet and the Imams.
” After President Ahmadinejad’s victory in the 2005 presidential election, Mesbah Yazdi asserted that elections were no longer needed as Iran finally had its first Islamic government, words many Shi`ites interpreted as an insult directed at Khomeini.
Mesbah Yazdi even claims that Khomeini deceived the people regarding popular participation under Islamic rule.
Given that Mesbah Yazdi is Ahmadinejad’s “spiritual advisor,” wishes to replace Khamenei as Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and has strategically placed his supporters in powerful positions to ensure his succession, Kamrava should have devoted greater attention to his ideas.
Finally, although we have employed the author’s terminology in this review, applying terms like conservative, reformist, and modernist to Iranian politics is problematic.