The Formation of Civil Society in Modern Iran : Public Intellectuals and the State

This book investigates the development of contemporary Iranian civil society and the role of public intellectuals, looking in particular at how different reformist public intellectuals used civil society to craft their vision of Iran's socio-political future. "Drawing on in-depth elite interviews and documents, this book investigates how and why the Iranian reformists used the language and concept of civil society to enhance the reformists' positions of power. Mohebi focuses especially on reformist public intellectuals as agents of change, especially effective because of the role they played in introducing new ideas to a wider constituency, and examines how different reformist intellectuals used civil society to craft their vision of Iran's socio-political future. Mohebi also examines how conservative figures with different underlying values and political agendas appropriated civil society for their own ends. The book argues that, although the concept of civil society may be deployed to serve conflicting objectives, its lasting legacy is pluralism and an opening up of the public sphere"-- Provided by publisher Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction....Pages 1-17 Theoretical Foundations: Civil Society, Social Movements, and Intellectuals....Pages 19-43 Exploring the Iran Case....Pages 45-66 Reformist Intellectuals and Civil Society....Pages 67-97 The “Practitioners” of Modern Iranian Civil Society....Pages 99-125 Adopting and Adapting a Liberal Concept: A Conservative Perspective....Pages 127-146 Conclusion....Pages 147-153 Epilogue....Pages 155-163 Back Matter....Pages 165-185