Contemporary and Critical Encounter of Dr. Shariati with Democracy

As a renowned theorist and religious intellectual in 60s, Dr. Ali Shariati tried to analyze the ongoing political debates in his time to find appropriate answers to the questions on the nature of democracy. His response to that demand of the time was an important theory he called "committed democracy". This theory was presented in an antagonistic process and in contradiction to superficial or liberal democracy. To redefine his committed or guided democracy, Shariati refers to the early Islamic concepts such as Bay'ah (pledge of allegiance) and Shura (consultation), and defends the religious theory of "Umma and Imamate" (Islamic nation and leadership). He analyzes political Islamism apart from the traditional Salafi-centered approaches but parallel to the methods and demands of modern-day world in the best possible manner. Based on a mechanism coming from the generality of "Modern Shia Islam", Shariati transferred the concept of committed democracy to the mindset of the generation of religious youths in his time. Doing so, he played a key role in creating ideological foundations for the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In this research work, we have tested articulation of floating signifiers around the central signifier of committed democracy through the discourse analysis framework presented by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe.