Creating an Islamic State: Khomeini and the Making of a New Iran

by Vanessa Martin

Overview

How did the Ayatollah Khomeini create his Islamic state? What were the ideas which drove him and his movement? What organization and methods helped bring him to power? This book analyses the ideaological roots of an Islamic state as conceived by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Surprisingly, the author finds much of the inspiration behind Khomeini's political thinking being influenced by Western sources - his writing on the supreme Islamic Jurist being affected by Plato's notions of the philosopher-king and his views of state power and centralism being closely linked to his understanding of Marxist/Leninist totalitarianism. Vanessa Martin considers the dynamics of the Iranian Revolution and the Islamist revival in a book which is especially relevant in the context of the debate arising out of Iran's elections.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781860649004
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/14/2003
Series:	Library of Modern Middle East Studies
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Vanessa Martin is lecturer in Modern Middle Eastern History at Royal Holloway College, University of London. She is author of *Islam and Modernism: The Iranian Revolution of 1906* (I.B. Tauris).

Table of Contents

The Historical Background
• Early Years and the Influence of ‘Irfan
• Restructuring, Organization and the Emergence of the Nahzat
• Mutahhari: Towards an Islamic Ideology and the Battle for Control of Political Islam
• Visions of the Islamic State I
• Visions of the Islamic State II
• The Establishment of the Islamic State
• The Western Media and the Iranian Revolution
• The Contemporary Muslim Perspective on the Iranian Revolution

Editorial Reviews

"This book makes a valid contribution on the dynamics of the Iranian Revolution and the Islamic revival...."—Fred Rhodes, Middle East Magazine
"...Creating an Islamic State...should be read by all students of comparative and modern history in general." —Gene R. Garthwaite, Professor of History, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire

From the Publisher