The Constitution of Iran: Politics and the State in the Islamic Republic

Chronicling and analyzing political life in Iran since the revolution, this text sets out to demonstrate the gradual transformation of the state from intended theocracy and republic to a hierocracy in which Islam and the shari"a play a subordinate role. The author addresses the major contradictions inherent in the Iranian constitution - between its legalistic and democratic components on the one hand, and between the alleged potential of a legally and ideologically interpreted Islam to resolve social problems and the growing evidence that this Islam is an inadequate legal and political basis for government. He charts the gradual replacement of Islamic legalism with a political practice based centrally on the interests of the state, and points to a growing crisis of the shari"a that will open the way for possible developments of Islam in the future.