Reinventing Khomeini The Struggle for Reform in Iran [Paperback]

Daniel Brumberg (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226077586 | ISBN-13: 978-0226077581 | Publication Date: April 15, 2001

Reinventing Khomeini offers a new interpretation of the political battles that paved the way for reform in Iran. Brumberg argues that these conflicts did not result from a sudden ideological shift; nor did the election of President Mohammad Khatami in 1997 really defy the core principles of the Islamic Revolution. To the contrary, the struggle for a more democratic Iran can be traced to the revolution itself, and to the contradictory agendas of the revolution's founding father, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

A complex figure, Khomeini was a fervent champion of Islam, but while he sought a Shi'ite vision of clerical rule under one Supreme Leader, he also strove to mesh that vision with an implicitly Western view of mass participatory politics. The intense magnetism and charisma of the ayatollah obscured this paradox. But reformers in Iran today, while rejecting his autocratic vision, are reviving the constitutional notions of government that he considered, and even casting themselves as the bearers of his legacy. In Reinventing Khomeini, Brumberg proves that the ayatollah is as much the author of modern Iran as he is the symbol of its fundamentalist past.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Where interest in Iran and Islamic fundamentalism is strong, this relatively academic study of that nation's politics since the fall of the shah is likely to circulate. Brumberg, a Georgetown University professor of government, dissects the political philosophy and behavior of Ayatolla Ruhollah Khomeini and then traces his legacy to the end of the twentieth century. Khomeini's notion of authority, Brumberg argues, was complex and even internally contradictory; he approached Shi'ism and his role as leader in terms of mysticism and charisma, in instrumentalist and utilitarian terms, and in traditional terms. During his years as Supreme Leader, all these disparate visions were institutionalized; since his death, this "dissonant institutionalization" has permitted politicians with very different agendas to claim, accurately, that their visions of Iran's future are drawn directly from Khomeini's words and ideas. This is not an easy read, but Brumberg's analysis does make the positions taken by the Iranian government, at home and on the world stage, substantially more understandable. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

Reinventing Khomeini offers a new interpretation of the political battles for reform in Iran. Daniel Brumberg argues that these conflicts did not result from a sudden ideological shift; nor did the election of President Mohammad Khatami in 1997 defy the core principles of the Islamic Revolution. To the contrary, the struggle for a more democratic Iran can be traced to the revolution itself, and to the contradictory agendas of the revolution's founding father, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (April 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226077586
• ISBN-13: 978-0226077581
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,258,737 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Complex and Reavealing But Not Polemical, April 24, 2001

By 

"ftarrington" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reinventing Khomeini The Struggle for Reform in Iran (Paperback)

Far from reducing the Islamic Republic of Iran to some kind of timeless expression of Islamic culture, tradition, or identity, the author demonstrates the competing ideological influences that shaped the Islamic Republic -- not least of which were Western notions of political particpation. The author does a good job of showing how these tensions are reflected in the reform movement, and in the struggle for power currently unfolding in Iran. Thus I found the book very useful. I would only add that the author may have given insufficient attention to the power of the conservative clerics.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars useful but not without serious flaws, April 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Reinventing Khomeini The Struggle for Reform in Iran (Paperback)

Brumberg's "Reinventing Khomeini" is a useful contribution to the literature on the Islamic Republic - it provides some important information and offers some insight into how Khomeini's at times contradictory ideas about government led to what Brumberg terms "dissonant institutionalization", namely the competing instituions and ideologies that have helped create the crisis in Iran today. However, the book has serious flaws, and its importance is in part due to the small number of books on post-Khomeini Iran (see Mehdi Moslem's new book and Nikki Keddie's 2003 updated book, Modern Iran) The first problem is that it is overwritten and relies too heavily on theories of authority and charisma. The author's argument could have been made without repeated, lengthy discussion of Weber et All. Second, the author has too high an opinion of his own work, claiming that all other interpretations fall into two categories of interpreting political power (symbolic and instrumental). On p. 41 he even claims that his work "transcends" that of other, excellent contributions. Brumberg claims his interpretation is the most nuanced while other authors fall into these categories when in fact many of the works he critizes are not as monolithic as he states - so, while Haggay Ram might provide an "instrumentalist" interpretation of propaganda in speeches, it is unfair to claim that Ram thinks that the speeches were nothing but propaganda and that the clerics did not themselves believe them. Finally, Brumberg relies too heavily on other people's translations of Persian sources - he even admits that he required help reading the Persian sources he uses - which severly limits his purview. One gets the impression that his reliance on theory is a substitute for in inability to discuss more primary sources with greater authority. Finally, while Brumberg has a good grounding in Iranian history, he makes some flawed assesement on basic facts - so, when accounting for the timing of Khomeini's open opposition to the Shah in 1963 Brumberg hardly mentions that this new path was in part opened because of the death of the highest ranking cleric, the Marja-e Taqlif and Ayatollah Borujerdi in 1961, who disapproved of clerics' involvement in politics. This book is useful and worth reading - esp. the second half - but cannot be considered definitive in any way. Interested readers should also read Mehdi Moslem's new book "Factional Politics in Post-Khomeini Iran", which based on a far wider range of sources.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shows the roots of modern Iranian politics, June 12, 2002

By 

studentofislamichistory "studentofislamichistory" (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reinventing Khomeini The Struggle for Reform in Iran (Paperback)

This book's title could be misleading if one assumes this work is a revisionist biography of Ayatollah Khomeini. However, it is not the author who is doing the reinventing, but rather Iranians themselves, as different political factions draw on different aspects of Khomeini's life and thought to justify their agenda.

Brumberg draws heavily on social science in his analysis, which means this could be a tough slog for the casual reader. He traces the development, first of Khomeini's own ideas about government and religion, and then how these ideas influenced different political groups after the revolution, such as President Khatami's reform movement.

Readers of this work will see an Islamic Republic far more dynamic than the one usually portrayed in the media, and see how, far from being a struggle between a true, hard-line Khomeinism and Westernized reformers, the reformers themselves look to Khomeini as a guide, and Khomeini was heavily influenced by the West. This is a must-read for all who wish to understand Iran today.