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Reading Legitimation Crisis in Tehran

Iran and the Future of Liberalism

The Iran depicted in the headlines is a rogue state ruled by ever-more-defiant Islamic fundamentalists. Yet inside the borders, an unheralded transformation of a wholly different political bent is occurring. A “liberal renaissance,” as one Iranian thinker terms it, is emerging in Iran, and in this pamphlet, Danny Postel charts the contours of the intellectual upheaval.

Reading “Legitimation Crisis” in Tehran examines the conflicted positions of the Left toward Iran since 1979, and, in particular, critically reconsiders Foucault’s connection to the Iranian Revolution. Postel explores the various elements of the subtle liberal revolution and proposes a host of potential implications of this transformation for Western liberalism. He examines the appeal of Jürgen Habermas, Hannah Arendt, and Isaiah Berlin among Iranian intellectuals and ponders how their ideas appear back to us when refracted through a Persian prism. Postel closes with a thought-provoking conversation with eminent Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo. 

A provocative and incisive polemic highly relevant to our times, Reading “Legitimation Crisis” in Tehran will be of interest to anyone who wants to get beyond alarmist rhetoric and truly understand contemporary Iran.


130 pages | 4 1/2 x 7 | © 2006

Philosophy: General Philosophy


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Reviews

“A brilliant inquiry into the contemporary Iranian predicament and what it means for the world. At a time when all too many of our leading thinkers are mired in the weeds of provincialism and narrow ideological wars, Postel has written a work of grace, intelligence, and towering integrity. Reading ’Legitimation Crisis’ in Tehran is nothing less than a masterpiece of moral and political criticism.”

Afshin Molavi, author of The Soul of Iran: A Nation’s Journey to Freedom

“The importance of Postel’s book reaches far beyond a mere exercise in intellectual history. The temptation is either to castigate Iran as a state run by dangerous fundamentalist fanatics, or to celebrate it as a beacon of anti-imperialist resistance. Both approaches miss the complexity of intellectual and political life in Iran where, in a unique short-circuit, political battles reverberate in the terms of modern Western philosophy: some traditionalist clerics refer to Heidegger, liberals to Habermas, feminists to Arendt, some young  ’nihilists’ to deconstruction. . . . The specter of an exotic country is thus dispelled, and we can recognize in Iran our own battles, fought more passionately than in our own countries. This is Postel’s great lesson: Iran’s story is our own.”

Slavoj Žižek

“There’s much more to this slim pamphlet, including a fascinating interview with Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo . . . and a close psychological reading of Michel Foucault’s illiberal 1978-79 articles in support of the Iranian Revolution. I read the pamphlet every morning before work last week, on the subway; couldn’t put it down! Great stocking stuffer. . . .”

Joshua Glenn | Boston Globe

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