فصلنامه رهیافت انقلاب اسلامی
پیاپی 12 (بهار و تابستان 1389)

A study of the Islamic Revolution of Iran from the perspective of the effect of political establishment’s lack of institutionalization on the Islamic Revolution demonstrates that a combination of two factors, namely economic and social developments, along with the lack of political development constitute one of the most important factors which led to the collapse of Pahlavi’s political apparatus and formation of the Islamic Revolution of Iran. Although the regime’s economic and social developments from 1953 to 1978 caused the creation and emergence of certain new strata and forces which demanded political participation, the regime, due to the nature of its political structure, not only did not allowthem to participate in the political process by blocking the channels of political participation but started confronting them because it was afraid of them. Therefore, the closure of participation channels ultimately led to an explosion of participation by these groups which were new to the political scene. This was one of the most important factors which caused the Islamic Revolution of Iran. The present paper, by focusing on the subject of the lack of institutionalization in the Pahlavi regime, studies its consequences in the occurrence of Islamic Revolution.

Although the constitutionalist clergy and Westernized intellectuals are considered as ideological leaders of the Constitutional Revolution, these two lines of thinking had deep differences and contradictions which ultimately separated them from each other. The root of these differences can be attributed to the disparity between their epistemological tenets and worldviews. The constitutionalist clergy expressed their viewpoints on thebasis of the values of Islam (Shi’ism) and its teachings but the intellectuals, by emulating their European counterparts, sought to establish in Iran certain new structures which were mostly products of humanist, secularist, rationalist and scienticist schools of thought. Although their political mottos were relatively identical, they offered varying interpretations of them due to the differences in their worldviews. These interpretations were contradictory and sometimes conflicting insofar as the two trends frequently confronted each other especially in the wake of the victory of the movement. Thepolitical thinking of intellectuals was rooted in the ideas of European Renaissance which sought to separate religion and religious institutions from terrestrial matters, e.g. politics, economy, culture etc. Therefore, the above two intellectual trends could never get along with each other

In this paper, using the structuralist theories for the study of symbolism in the field of politics, it has been sought to define and delineate the term “people” as a symbol within the politico-intellectual framework of principlism. Therefore, I have first studied and explained the position of symbols in the whole system of language from the viewpoint of the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. Then I have explained the ideas of RolanBart concerning the functional mechanism of symbols, the two concepts of explicit and implicit meanings and the concept of myth and its relation with implicit indication. Then, referring to the above theoretical arguments, the politico-intellectual trend of principlism has been made subject to a symbolistic analysis as text. Therefore, the relation between two components of the symbols of principlism (i.e. indicator and meaning) and the relation of the symbols of this system with each other have been explained. Then themeanings of the term “people” have been studied from a symbolistic perspective and its various meanings in different textures and texts have been explained. In view of this, symbols such as Islam, divine codes,guardianship of jurisprudent and the relation of its substitution with Western style democratic or secularist governments in the words of principlist political thinkers, especially Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, have been examined.

Althought the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies in 2003 led to the collapse of the Ba’thist regime, it caused certain social problems in the country. This paper, with the aim of grasping the social situation of the new Iraq, seeks to answer the question how has Iraq’s social situation been since the collapse of the Ba’thist regime. To answer this question using the historical studies method and taking advantage of available resources and documents, the social situation of the Iraqi people after the fall of Saddamhas been explored from various aspects. Upon a study of the social situation of the Iraqi society in terms of its ethnic-sectarian and economic conditions as well as its educational, health and medical system, it has been concluded that not only the social situation of the lives of Iraqi people has not been improved during seven years of occupation and making ineffective policies, but also many new problems have been created.

The effects of the rebellion of the modern Western thought against ancient philosophy have not been as widespread as in the field of history. The contemporary critics believe that ancient philosophy has not been anything but a philosophy of history. They claim that not only all of the realities but also all of the facts are historical. Accordingly, this paper’s question is how Muslim historians, especially Ibn Khaldun, looked at historical issues? The author holds that Ibn Khaldun has explained the causes and factors leadingto the creation, continuation and fall of states in the framework of four categories, namely causality, identity, explanation and values. Therefore, the present paper, examining the whole issue of history and its four areas, will discuss the thoughts and historical methods of some of the main Muslim historians and will explore Ibn Khaldun’s historical method, as its ideal type, in more detail. Obviously, all of the efforts at the historiography of Islamic Revolution, as a phenomenon constructed based on the heart of Islamic culture, must be made by Muslim scholars. Therefore, such type of researchis highly necessary for a scholarly and methodical grasp of Islamic Revolution

The transmission of values, norms and beliefs from one generation to another and the effort to protect values against the waves of a nonindigenous culture is one of the main concerns and functions of cultural authorities in every society. In fact, cultural institutions work, while safeguarding the tested intra-cultural methods, to keep those methodsdynamic and up-to-date. Among the wide range of such tools and agents, including family, school, university, media etc., pulpit and sermon, with its long history and religious character, can play a significant role in this regard. During the time of the struggles which led to the victory of Islamic Revolution, this media acted as the communication channel between the masses and the clergy and continued this task during the period of ImposedWar. However, following the end of the war, the cultural atmosphere of the society was influenced by the extensive cultural waves of the West and targeted the third generation of revolution. Therefore, now in the fourth decade after the revolution, pulpit, as one of the agents of socialization process, has a role and tasks different from the past.

In addition to providing security and establishing order, various political systems highlight different purposes for the state. Some suggest economic justice, some propose political development and others underscore economic development and minimal state. The main characteristic of such systems is that they limit state’s task to the provision of man’s basic needs such as housing, food, health services and provision of citizens’ material rights.However, they consider addressing ethical, spiritual and religious affairs as outside the scope of state’s goals. This paper will explore the most important intermediate goals of Islamic state, namely social justice, social liberty, economic development and ethical, cultural and spiritual training from the perspective of Nahjul-balaghah. If these goals are realized, society will move toward the main goal which is characterized by closeness to God and human perfection. In sum, in addition to worldly aims and establishment of justiceand development in various fields, the scope of the ideals of Islamic state also includes such goals as those belonging to the hereafter and eternal happiness and provision of man’s spiritual needs as well as his material requirements.