Religion and politics in contemporary Iran: clergy-state relations in the Pahlavī period

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. 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 Frontmatter ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (page viii) GLOSSARY (page ix) A NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION (page xiii) PREFACE (page xiv) CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION (page 1) CHAPTER TWO: CLERGY-STATE RELATIONS BEFORE 1941 (page 23) CHAPTER THREE: REVIVAL OF 'ULAMA5 INFLUENCE AND CLERGY-STATE ALIGNMENT, 1941-1958 (page 60) CHAPTER FOUR: ULAMA '-STATE CONFRONTATION AND THE DEFEAT OF THE CLERGY, 1959-1963 (page 91) CHAPTER FIVE: THE TWO CLERGY REFORM MOVEMENTS AND STATE BUREAUCRATIZATION OF POWER IN THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES (page 117) CHAPTER SIX: THE ULAMA, ISLAMIC GOVERNMENT, AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE BUREAUCRATIC STATE (page 159) CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSIONS (page 181) APPENDIXES (page 187) NOTES (page 209) INDEX (page 241) Shahrough Akhavi. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes.