Buy the article on CAIRN websiteAbstract

Nothing, before 1978, could have led one to predict that the wealthy and strong regime of the Shah would collapse so quickly in 1979. One had expected that the liberal nationalist forces would have gotten the upper hand over the religious leaders whom nobody had suspected to be real outsiders. This article explains the historical roots of this religious revival, going back at least to the Constitutional Revolution of 1906. It analyzes the way in which the Islamic Republic consolidated its power thanks to the war with Iraq. Even after the loss of popular support –especially among the youth– the Islamic Republic of Iran has no real challengers today. It has helped foster the emergence of a new type of 'Islamic secularism' among Iranian intellectuals, which corresponds to a new way of envisaging the future of Iran within the framework of Islam. Yann Richard is researcher at the 'Monde iranien' laboratory in the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) and teaches at Sorbonne nouvelle University where he manages the Institut d'études iraniennes (Institute for Iranian Studies).