Democracy in Modern Iran

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.

• 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

"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." - Brigitte U. Neary (Critical Sociology) "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 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, author of Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith) "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) ""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) "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)