Study on the State-formation in the era of the Islamic Republic (1979-1989), with emphasis on agency of Ayatollah Khomeini

In this article, the process of state-formation in the first decade of the Islamic Republic (1979-1989), based on leadership agency, has been studied. The claim of this research is that after the collapse of the previous legal order in 1979, the process of state-formation began with the focus on Ayatollah Khomeini’s agency and the duality of the executive body was established in the constitution. The question of this article is as follows: "How was Ayatollah Khomeini’s agency in the process of state-formation after the revolution in 1979?" According to the theoretical claim, this post-revolutionary state is compatible with the characteristics of a qualitative total state in which the possibility of bureaucratization, that is, the rule of law without personal interference, is minimized, and constant communication with society takes different forms. This text is methodologically based on a configurational approach in which historical data are analyzed at both case level and set relations level. Evidences show that in the first two periods of state-formation, the possibility of moving towards a democratic state with the participation of the majority of the forces involved in the revolution was greater than in later periods. After the revision of the constitution, the characteristics of a qualitative total state are complemented by the dual authority that emerges in the executive body itself.