Democracy in Modern Iran: Islam, Culture, and Political Change

by Ali Mirsepassi

Overview

New perspectives on Iran's relationship to democracy

Can Islamic societies embrace democracy? In Democracy in Modern Iran, Ali Mirsepassi maintains that it is possible, demonstrating that Islam is not inherently hostile to the idea of democracy. Rather, he provides new perspective on how such a political and social transformation could take place, arguing that the key to understanding the integration of Islam and democracy lies in concrete social institutions rather than pre-conceived ideas, the every day experiences rather than abstract theories. Mirsepassi, an Iranian native, provides a rare inside look into the country, offering a deep understanding of how Islamic countries like Iran and Iraq can and will embrace democracy.

Democracy in Modern Iran challenges readers to think about Islam and democracy critically and in a far more nuanced way than is done in black-and-white dichotomies of Islam vs. Democracy, or Iran vs. the West. This essential volume contributes important insights to current discussions, creating a more complex conception of modernity in the Eastern world and, with it, Mirsepassi offers to a broad Western audience a more accurate, less clichéd vision of Iran’s political reality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814758649
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	238
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Ali Mirsepassi is Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Sociology at New York University and author of Intellectual Discourses and Politics of Modernization: Negotiating Modernity in Iran.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments  Preface: “Where Is My Vote?”  Introduction: Democracy and Culture 1 The Origins of Secularism in Europe  2 Modern Visions of Secularism  3 A Critical Understanding of Modernity  4 Intellectuals and Democracy  5 Religious Intellectuals  6 Alireza Alavi-Tabar and Political Change  7 The Predicaments of Iranian Public Intellectuals  8 An Intellectual Crisis in Iran  Conclusion: Modernity and Its Traditions  Notes  Index About the Author 

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

This is an important book, moving beyond describing and categorizing Iranian intellectual trajectories over the modern era and towards a judicious intervention in that debate itself... One cannot but applaud the effort to instill a "practice what you preach" ethic into the Iranian intellectual zeitgeist."-Middle East Journal,

"Mirsepassi's study is a valuable contribution which questions the legitimacy of hypothetical and textual generalisations about the relationship between secularism, religion, culture, and politics." -Burak Ozcetin,Political Studies Review

"Democracy in Modern Iran reflects diligent research and insiders' insights. Its convoluted style notwithstanding, it is informative and thought-provoking. Any scholar of social change, the Middle East, or of Iran will benefit from reading it."-Brigitte U. Neary,Critical Sociology

“The author convincingly argues for a view of democracy based not on ‘objective logic,’ but rather on pragmatic lines...[Mirsepassi] does deliver a variety of useful perspectives on the nature of the contemporary hostility.”
-PBS's Frontline website

,

“Democracy in Modern Iran, however, is much more than simply a commentary on Iranian politics. In essence, it is a work of comparative political theory that examines the relationship between culture and democracy.”
-Democracy: A Journal of Ideas

Editorial Reviews

"An extraordinary work that provides an invaluable and much-needed historical, intellectual, and cultural context for developing an understanding of Irans society and how Islam has affected political change in that nation. This is a meticulously researched analysis with an original interpretation of the evolving events in Iran; in short, a major volume to be welcomed and celebrated."

Vartan Gregorian

"Democracy in Modern Iran reflects diligent research and insiders' insights ... it is informative and thought-provoking. Any scholar of social change, the Middle East, or of Iran will benefit from reading it."

Critical Sociology - Brigitte U. Neary

"Mirsepassi's study is a valuable contribution which questions the legitimacy of hypothetical and textual generalisations about the relationship between secularism, religion, culture, and politics."

Political Studies Review - Burak Ozcetin

"Democracy in Modern Iran, however, is much more than simply a commentary on Iranian politics. In essence, it is a work of comparative political theory that examines the relationship between culture and democracy."

Democracy: A Journal of Ideas

"“This is an important book, moving beyond describing and categorizing Iranian intellectual trajectories over the modern era and towards a judicious intervention in that debate itself... One cannot but applaud the effort to instill a “practice what you preach” ethic into the Iranian intellectual zeitgeist."

Middle East Journal

"The author convincingly argues for a view of democracy based not on & objective logic, but rather on pragmatic lines...[Mirsepassi] does deliver a variety of useful perspectives on the nature of the contemporary hostility."

PBS’s Frontline

"The author convincingly argues for a view of democracy based not on & objective logic, but rather on pragmatic lines...[Mirsepassi] does deliver a variety of useful perspectives on the nature of the contemporary hostility."

PBS’s Frontline

"Mirsepassi's study is a valuable contribution which questions the legitimacy of hypothetical and textual generalisations about the relationship between secularism, religion, culture, and politics."

Political Studies Review

"Mirsepassi's study is a valuable contribution which questions the legitimacy of hypothetical and textual generalisations about the relationship between secularism, religion, culture, and politics." -Burak Ozcetin,Political Studies Review

“An extraordinary work that provides an invaluable and much-needed historical, intellectual, and cultural context for developing an understanding of Iran’s society and how Islam has affected political change in that nation. This is a meticulously researched analysis with an original interpretation of the evolving events in Iran; in short, a major volume to be welcomed and celebrated.”
-Vartan Gregorian,author of Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith

"Democracy in Modern Iran reflects diligent research and insiders' insights. Its convoluted style notwithstanding, it is informative and thought-provoking. Any scholar of social change, the Middle East, or of Iran will benefit from reading it."-Brigitte U. Neary,Critical Sociology

“The author convincingly argues for a view of democracy based not on ‘objective logic,’ but rather on pragmatic lines...[Mirsepassi] does deliver a variety of useful perspectives on the nature of the contemporary hostility.”
-PBS’s Frontline website

From the Publisher

"Democracy in Modern Iran reflects diligent research and insiders' insights ... it is informative and thought-provoking. Any scholar of social change, the Middle East, or of Iran will benefit from reading it."

Critical Sociology