Presidential Elections in Iran

Islamic Idealism since the Revolution

Mahmoud Pargoo, Shahram Akbarzadeh

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781108834506
• eBook ISBN: 9781108999335
• Topic: Politique et relations internationales
• Subtopic: Politique du Moyen-Orient

The dominant narrative of Iranian society and politics heralds the reformist movement as the epitome of Iran's transition to secularity, while conservative political forces are positioned as advocates of Islamization and a bulwark against secularization. Examining all the presidential elections since the revolution, Mahmoud Pargoo and Shahram Akbarzadeh argue that in contrast, political and cultural imagination and expectations in Iran have actually secularized regardless of the reformist/conservative divide. Exploring the evolution of campaign discourses from the 1980s elections which brought Abolhassan Banisadr, Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Ali Khamenei to power, to the more recent campaigns of Mohamad Khatami, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hassan Rouhani, this book suggests that current debates in Iranian domestic politics are not between secularists and their opponents, but rather, between different kinds of secular forces.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 Theoretical Framework
• 2 The Age of the ‘Imam’
• 3 The Era of Reconstruction and Reform
• 4 Ahmadinejad and Secularisation: Rupture or Continuity?
• 5 Consolidation of Secularity
• Conclusion
• Appendix Presidential Elections in a Nutshell
• Bibliography
• Index