Iran and Modernity

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Recommended: Traditional political culture

All states within the international system have to bow to the inevitable and embrace its inherent dynamic force that determines the structure of their governance. Thus, no society within the international arena can stay in voluntary solitary confinement and ward itself off modernity. Berman defines modernism as "any attempt by modern men and women to become subjects as well as objects of modernisation, to get a grip on the modern world and make themselves at home in it" (Berman_1988_p. 5), which becomes increasingly troubled especially in relation to modernising the societal system of the Muslim countries. One of the most salient examples demonstrating a feasible solution to establishing a comparatively stable structure of governance, while retaining its religious identity, is then the case of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Due to dialectically unavoidable circumstances, all states are exposed to the formative influences of the international system: "[it] has an impact on the state behaviour. It constrains the actions of states, and acts as an agent of socialisation...[it] forces states to emulate the practices of their rivals if they are to survive" (Hobden_2006_ p. 57). Muslim countries as a relatively heterogeneous group representing the model of traditional society possess certain particularities that make it immensely complicated for modernity to take roots.

The inherent difficulty, which traditional societies are facing vis-à-vis modernisation, needs to be resolved with respect to the underlying fundamentals of political culture. Hence, the major challenge posed here is "the duality between temporal [secular] and spiritual [religious]...[for]...political thinking in predominantly Muslim countries continues to reflect th...

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...te wealth unparalleled to that of any previous ruler.

Works Cited

Afsah_Ebrahim_(2008)._"Contested_Universalities_of_International_Law._Islam's_Struggle_with_Modernity,"_Journal_of_the_History_of_International_Law_10:_259-307.

Berman_M_(1988)._All_That_Is_Solid_Melts_Into_Air._New_York:_Penguin_Books.

Hobden_S_(1998)._International_Relations_and_Historical_Sociology:_Breaking_Down_Boundaries._New_York:_Routledge.

Leander_Anna_(1997)._Bertrand_Badie:_cultural_diversity_changing_International_Relations?_In:_B_I_Neumann_and_O_Waever,_ed._1997._The_Future_of_International_Relations:_Masters_of_the_Making._London:_Routledge._Ch.6.

Stecklow_S._Dehghanpisheh_B._and_Torbati,_Y.(2013)._"Assets_of_the_Ayatollah._The_Economic_Empire_behind_Iran's_Supreme_Leader",_[online]_Available_at:_< http://www.reuters.com/investigates/iran/#article/part3>_[Accessed_11_January_2014].

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