The Rule of the Clerics in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Abstract

Direct rule by Islamic clerics in Iran is an important new phenomenon in Middle Eastern politics. The legitimacy of clerical rule is based on an ideology developed from Shiite thought by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his neofundamentalist followers. This ideology is embodied in the Iranian Constitution, which institutionalizes rule by Islamic clerics. Their sense of legitimacy has been reinforced by Khomeini's commitment to maintaining clerical rule, by his claim to leadership on the basis of a divine calling, and by a monopolization of the interpretation of the sacred law. The principal themes of clerical rule include grandiosity, an insistence on unity, ascription of hostile motives to the actions of other states, a preference for military solutions to political problems, and a belief in ultimate victory. Replication of the Iranian pattern of clerical rule elsewhere in the Middle East will be problematic without the emergence of a figure like Khomeini or the assistance of Iran.