The Quest for Democracy in Iran: A Century of Struggle Against Authoritarian Rule

Contents Preface Note on Transliteration Prologue: In Search of a National Covenant Part I. Constituting a National Community (1906-1953) 1. Constitutional Trial and Error 2. Pahlavist Absolutism 3. Restoration of Parliamentary Politics Part II. Authoritarian Supremacy: Consolidation and Collapse (1953-1979) 4. The Trajectories of Monarchism 5. Revolution: Chronicle of an Implosion 6. The Edifice and Emplacements of Royal Rule 7. Elective Affinities: Western Imperial Interests and Authoritarian Monarchy 8. The Architecture of Royalist Hegemony 9. A Culture of Confrontation Part III. The Eclipse of Popular Sovereignty: Iran since 1979 10. The Unfolding of Clerical Rule: Oligarchy by Divine Right? 11. The Culture of Politics: The Presence and Absence of the Past 12. Predicaments and Prospects Epilogue: The Resilience of Modernity Abbreviations Notes Index

Fakhreddin Azimi is Professor of History at the University of Connecticut.

For Azimi, all Iranian history after 1905 is an attempt to fulfill, partially accommodate or circumvent the ideals of a constitutional movement that placed popular representation at the fore of its priorities. He traces how at various moments public alienation and resentment have been articulated or expressed and finally, how "a culture of confrontation" emerged. His book goes a long way toward recuperating a history of Iranian democracy that has been expunged by Orientalists who wonder aloud if there is something about Muslim lands that makes them inhospitable to democracy or, alternatively, those who have dismissed periods of hectic parliamentary activity as mere chaos. -- Negar Azimi The Nation 20090211 Fakhreddin Azimi's The Quest for Democracy in Iran is particularly strong on retrieving the importance of the Constitutional Revolution and threading it through to the Islamic Republic's current dialectic between republicanism and theocracy. -- David Gardner Financial Times 20090425 The sophistication of [Azimi's] concepts of democracy and authoritarianism, his command of the sources, and his intellectual clarity and energy have combined to produce an insightful book that will draw the attention of all interested in Iranian culture and history. -- L. J. Alderink Choice 20081201