Chapter 6

A Hybrid and Complex Political System

A Hybrid Political System

In the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution (1979), Ayatollah Khomeini and his supporters proposed that in the absence of the 12th Shia Imam, the clerics are the most qualified to rule the country.1 Based on this idea, the clerics proclaimed an Islamic Republic and assumed control of the state and its institutions. Nevertheless, since the Islamic Revolution was a popular movement, they had to recognize the democratic right of the population in electing representatives for government functions and institutions.2 This resulted in a hybrid political system that hinges upon religion on the one hand and population’s elected institutions on the other. Likewise, the Iranian ...

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