Islam and the Charismatic Revolutionary Social Transformation of Iran

Contemporary explanations of revolution privilege material power and the interests of 'rational' actors over ideas. Drawing on Max Weber's seminal insights and recent work by social constructivists, I argue that agents and ideas were important in both the revolutionary situation and o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Totalitarian movements and political religions
Main Author: Acuff, Jonathan (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Taylor & Francis 2003
In: Totalitarian movements and political religions
Year: 2003, Volume: 4, Issue: 2, Pages: 133-156
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Contemporary explanations of revolution privilege material power and the interests of 'rational' actors over ideas. Drawing on Max Weber's seminal insights and recent work by social constructivists, I argue that agents and ideas were important in both the revolutionary situation and outcome of the Iranian Revolution. The revolutionary outcome in particular was the result of the combination of the charismatic leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, the 'agent', with the normative content of political Islam, the 'structure'. Given the relative explanatory power of this method, the emergence of a 'fourth school' in the literature on revolutions is warranted.
ISSN:1743-9647
Contains:Enthalten in: Totalitarian movements and political religions
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/14690760412331326148