The June 18 Iranian presidential elections resulted in the alignment of the most critical elements of the nezam, or system, under the sway of a conservative agenda.

At the time of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, its chief architect, Imam Khomeini, laid the basis for the principle of the velayat-e-faqih or rule by a just leader. While it drew on Shi’a doctrines emphasising the role of the imam, it combined the notion of a republic, which according to Sami Zubaida of the University of London is possible only in the context of the modern nation-state...

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