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This book is the first comparative and interdisciplinary study of
constitutional politics and constitution-making in the Middle East.
The historical background and setting are fully explored in two
substantial essays by Linda Darling and Said Amir Arjomand, placing
the contemporary experience in the contexts, respectively, of the
ancient Middle Eastern legal and political tradition and of the
nineteenth and twentieth century legal codification and political
modernization. These are followed by Ann Mayer's general analysis
of the treatment of human rights in relation to Islam in Middle
Eastern constitutions, and Nathan Brown's comparative scrutiny of
the process of constitution-making in Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq
with reference to the available constitutional theories which are
shown to throw little or no light on it. The remaining essays are
country by country case studies of Turkey, Afghanistan and Iraq,
the case of Iran having been covered by Arjomand as the special
point of reference. Mehmet Fevzi Bilgin examines the making and
subsequent transformation of the Turkish Constitution of 1982
against current theories of constitutional and deliberative
democracy, while Hootan Shambayati examines the institutional
mechanism for protecting the ideological foundations of the Turkish
Republic, most notably the Turkish Constitutional Court which
offers a surprising parallel to the Iranian Council of Guardians.
Arjomand's introduction brings together the bumpy experience of the
Middle East along the long road to political reconstruction through
constitution-making and constitutional reform, drawing some general
analytical lessons from it and showing the consequences of the
origins of the constitutions of Turkey and Iran in revolutions, and
of Afghanistan and Iraq in war and foreign invasion.
Dismissing oversimplified and politically-charged views of the
politics of Shi'ite Islam, Said Amir Arjomand offers a richly
researched sociological and historical study of Shi'ism and the
political order of premodern Iran that exposes the roots of what
became Khomeini's theocracy.
This study of messianism and revolution examines an extremely rich
though unexplored historical record on the rise of Islam and its
sociopolitical revolutions from Muhammad's constitutive revolution
in Arabia to the Abbasid revolution in the East and the Fatimid and
Almohad revolutions in North Africa and the Maghreb. Bringing the
revolutions together in a comprehensive framework, Said Amir
Arjomand uses sociological theory as well as the critical tools of
modern historiography to argue that a volatile but recurring
combination of apocalyptic motivation and revolutionary action was
a driving force of historical change time and again. In addition to
tracing these threads throughout 500 years of history, Arjomand
also establishes how messianic beliefs were rooted in the earlier
Judaic and Manichaean notions of apocalyptic transformation of the
world. By bringing to light these linkages and factors not found in
the dominant sources, this text offers a sweeping account of the
long arc of Islamic history.
For many Americans, Iran is our most dangerous enemy--part of
George W. Bush's "axis of evil" even before the appearance of
Ahmadinejad. But what is the reality? How did Ahmadinejad rise to
power, and how much power does he really have? What are the chances
of normalizing relations with Iran?
In After Khomeini, Said Amir Arjomand paints a subtle and
perceptive portrait of contemporary Iran. This work, a sequel to
Arjomand's acclaimed The Turban for the Crown, examines Iran under
the successors of Ayatollah Khomeini up to the present day. He
begins, as the Islamic Republic did, with Khomeini, offering a
brilliant capsule biography of the man who masterminded the
revolution that overthrew the Shah. Arjomand draws clear
distinctions between the moderates of the initial phrase of the
revolution, radicals, pragmatists, and hardliners, the latter best
exemplified by Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Taking a chronological and
thematic approach, he traces the emergence and consolidation of the
present system of collective rule by clerical councils and the
peaceful transition to dual leadership by the ayatollah as the
supreme guide and the subordinate president of the Islamic Republic
of Iran. He explains the internal political quarrels among
Khomeini's heirs as a struggle over his revolutionary legacy. And
he outlines how the ruling clerical elite and the nation's security
forces are interdependent politically and economically, speculating
on the potential future role of the Revolutionary Guards. Bringing
the work up to current political events, Arjomand analyzes Iran's
foreign policy as well, including the impact of the fall of
Communism on Iran and Ahmadinejad's nuclear policy.
Few countries loom larger in American foreign relations than Iran.
In this rich and insightful account, an expert on Iranian society
and politics untangles the complexities of a nation still riding
the turbulent wake of one of history's great revolutions."
In January 2003, RAND called together a group of renowned experts
with knowledge in the fields of Islamic law, constitution writing,
and democracy, and with specific country and regional expertise.
Keeping in mind the realities of Afghanistan's current situation
and drawing from the experiences of other countries, the group
identified practical ideas, particularly about the treatment of
Islam in the constitution, for those involved in the drafting of
Afghanistan's new constitution.
The Iranian revolution still baffles most Western observers. Few
considered the rise of theocracy in a modernized state possible,
and fewer thought it might result from a popular revolution. Said
Amir Arjomand's The Turban for the Crown provides a thoughtful,
painstakingly researched, and intelligible account of the turmoil
in Iran which reveals the importance of this singular event for our
understanding of revolutions.
Providing crucial historical background, Arjomand examines both
the structure of authority in Shi'ism (one of the two main branches
of Islam) and the impact of the modern state on Iranian society,
two factors essential to the comprehension of the revolution of
1979. He then describes the emergence of Khomeini; the infusion of
petrodollars into the economy; the blatant political corruption;
and Khomeini's disposal of Bakhtiar, Bani-Sadr, and Bazargan,
consolidation of religious rule, and establishment of a
constitution based on a new interpretation of Islamic principles.
This book is the first comparative and interdisciplinary study of
constitutional politics and constitution-making in the Middle East.
The historical background and setting are fully explored in two
substantial essays by Linda Darling and Said Amir Arjomand, placing
the contemporary experience in the contexts, respectively, of the
ancient Middle Eastern legal and political tradition and of the
nineteenth and twentieth century legal codification and political
modernization. These are followed by Ann Mayer's general analysis
of the treatment of human rights in relation to Islam in Middle
Eastern constitutions, and Nathan Brown's comparative scrutiny of
the process of constitution-making in Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq
with reference to the available constitutional theories which are
shown to throw little or no light on it. The remaining essays are
country by country case studies of Turkey, Afghanistan and Iraq,
the case of Iran having been covered by Arjomand as the special
point of reference. Mehmet Fevzi Bilgin examines the making and
subsequent transformation of the Turkish Constitution of 1982
against current theories of constitutional and deliberative
democracy, while Hootan Shambayati examines the institutional
mechanism for protecting the ideological foundations of the Turkish
Republic, most notably the Turkish Constitutional Court, which
offers a surprising parallel to the Iranian Council of Guardians.
Arjomand's introduction brings together the bumpy experience of the
Middle East along the long road to political reconstruction through
constitution-making and constitutional reform, drawing some general
analytical lessons from it. He also shows the consequences of the
fact that the constitutions of Turkey and Iran had their origins in
revolutions, and those of Afghanistan and Iraq, in war and foreign
invasion.
In this pioneering volume, leading international scholars argue for
the development of a new approach to social theory that draws on
regional studies for the conduct of comparative analysis in the
global age. "Social Theory and Regional Studies in the Global Age"
moves beyond facile generalizations based on the historical
experience of modernization in the West by highlighting differences
rather than similarities and contrasts rather than commonalities,
and by examining civilizational processes and culturally specific
developmental patterns distinctive of different world regions.
Essays combine comparative and historical sociology with
civilizational analysis and the study of multiple and alternative
modernities. Different patterns of modernization are compared
within the framework of global/local compressed communication and
interaction that results from globalization. The introductory
chapter puts the present effort in the context of the seminal work
of three generations of comparative sociologists, and what follows
is a penetrating analysis of modernization and globality, opening
the way for rectifying the erasure of the historical experience of
a very sizeable portion of humankind from the foundation of social
theory.
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