INVITATION TO
UNIVERSITY-WIDE MIDDLE EAST SEMINAR
co-organized by
History Department, Medieval Studies Department, Department of Sociology and
Social Anthropology, Department of International Relations and European Studies,
Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies and Religious Studies Program
Iran at a Crossroads of History:
the Imminence of anti-Clerical Revolution
JAKOB RIGI
Central European University / Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology
The revolution of 1979 gave a new twist to the struggle between democracy and dictatorship that had been (and still remains) the main internal political issue of the Iranian society since the Constitutional revolution (1905-1913). Although the resentment against the Shah’s dictatorship was the main cause of the revolution, theocracy took power and established a new autocracy by brutally repressing the secular movements and eliminating the democratic spaces that emerged during and in the immediate aftermath of the revolution. This oppression notwithstanding, the new constitution recognized the will of people as one of the two sources of legitimate power. The second source was the will of God. This talk explores the history of the antagonism between these two principles of sovereignty, arguing that their coexistence is not viable anymore. Either, the resurgent democratic movement topples the theocracy or the theocracy will decisively crash democracy, reducing any reference to people as an empty gesture. Although most internal and external conditions are in the favor of an anti-clerical democratic revolution, the democratic movement is enfeebled partially by Islamic reformists from within and partially by the threat of military intervention from abroad.
Tuesday, 31 January 2012, 17:30
Faculty Tower, 609
All are welcome