An Analysis of the Time Periods of Islamic Revolution Discourse with an Emphasis on Imam Khomeini's Leadership

If we take discourse as a semantic system that is organized around a signifier and under the influence of time and place, the analysis of this discourse in various periods of time becomes highly significant. This is because discourses are not ideal and eternal. Instead, they are historical and time-bound from the beginning. Therefore, better differentiation of the intervals and probable breaks will greatly help discourse analysis of the Islamic Revolution. While expressing discourse differences, these interval differentiations bring about proving the existence of various other subjects, consequently facilitating the nature of political atmosphere and the performance of leaders. This research paper intends to expound on the position of Imam Khomeini as the permanent leader of Islamic revolution in all intervals based on the concept of subject.
In this paper, the authors have differentiated three different intervals (1977 until before presentation of the draft Constitutional Law, compiling and ratifying the Constitutional Law, and the time after ratification of the Constitutional Law). They are of the opinion that the position of Imam Khomeini has changed in intervals from agent subject to founding subject and then to agent subject based on the degree of innovation and creativity in discourse presentation – that is a must for a creator and founding subject – as well as the involvement of agent subject in the determinism of previous structures. While explaining the revolutionary process, this study places emphasis on democratic path of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and Imam Khomeini's performance based on the principles of democracy.