Religious Democracy: The Soft Power of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Religious democracy on the basis of Wilayat al-Faqih (Guardianship of the Jurisprudent) is one of the components of Iran’s soft and cognitive power. By organizing a kind of political system, this achievement was able to, while maintaining democracy and republicanism, retain its Islamic identity in terms of content and be considered an alternative to Western liberal democracy in Islamic countries.

 

In this model, no one except God has the right to rule over others, and with divine permission, God’s sovereignty would be manifested through the infallible personalities. Religious democracy also adopts a cultural approach to society which would change the political culture of mere subordination into a participatory one.

 

Soft Power, Definition and Components

 

The end of the Cold War has developed and changed the definition of concepts such as threat, security, power, and even war. But the most important change occurred in the concept of “power,” that is to say, the transition from hard power which mostly centred on the military component, to soft power. As a result, new power-building components such as the media, culture, economics, and even the political system and ideology emerged. A distinctive feature that distinguishes soft power from hard-military one is its high potential to gain the attention of public opinion, affect culture, and be intangible.

 

Soft power can be considered on three levels:

 

1. Strategic Level: This level, which could be seen as the highest level of soft power, is influenced by the culture and strategic thinking of a country and includes the country’s leaders and elites.

 

2. Intermediate Level: It emphasizes the popular element of a country’s national power. the soft power at this level is influenced by the national and public culture of a country. The popular aspect of soft power supports the goals of the strategic level and legitimizes the decisions of the leaders.

 

3. The Tactical Level of Soft Power is the Lowest and is Influenced by the Country’s Defence Culture: At this level, soft power emerges in the form of a confrontation between the will and fighting spirit of the fighters of two or more countries.

 

Components of Soft Power of the Islamic Republic of Iran

 

Basically, all the foundations of the soft power of the Islamic Republic of Iran, whether culture or other values are rooted in the Islamic Revolution. The culture within the framework of the values ​​of “justice and martyrdom,” is one of the important components of the soft power of the Islamic Republic. Believing that martyrdom is by itself a great victory as confirmed by Islamic teachings, Imam Khomeini (ra) stated: “A nation for which martyrdom is happiness is victorious.”

Another component of the soft power of the Islamic Republic of Iran is rejecting the alien bloc; a factor that most of Iran’s neighbouring countries lack. The history of Iran, especially from the Qajar period onwards, shows the importance of this component in Iranian culture. The Constitutional Revolution, the struggle against tyranny, the nationalization of oil, the struggle against capitulation, the Islamic Revolution and the imposed war all indicate the significance of independence and freedom in this region. The principle of “Neither East nor West” in Iranian foreign policy stems from this value.

 

Features of Religious Democracy

 

In the context of religious democracy, sovereignty belongs to God and He is the one who knows about the needs and shortcomings of human beings and has set special laws to meet them. In this view, the will of the people is accepted within the framework of religious rulings. On the other hand, the Muslim people also seek to carry out the divine precepts and based on the divine religion participate in the government, while their demands would not go beyond religious boundaries. Although the opinion of the people plays a pivotal role in religious democracy, moral values ​​and virtues are not being neglected and the Islamic government has no right to ignore religious values under the pretext of democracy. Ayatollah Khamenei states in this regard: “The methods employed to gain and maintain power must be ethical. There is no such thing as gaining power at any cost, and so methods are very important.”

 

Religious democracy has roots far beyond the Islamic Revolution, examples of which can be found even in the time of Prophet Muhammad (s) and Imam Ali (a). The life of the Prophet (s) shows the position of the people in Islam. It suffices to say that he did not coerce people to accept Islam. This is evident in some verses of the Qur’an including verse 48 of Surah al-Shura, “But if they disregard [your warnings], [keep in mind that] We have not sent you as their keeper. Your duty is only to communicate.”

 

As far as the definition of democracy is concerned, it should be said that it refers to a model of government that is, within the framework of divine regulations, based on divine legitimacy and people’s acceptance thereby paving the way for adopting a divinely-inspired lifestyle, serving the people and realizing material and spiritual growth and excellence of the man.

 

The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which acts as the framework of the system, while paying special attention to democracy, identifies and acknowledges various rights of the people including the political right to participation and comprehensive oversight. In Article 6 of the Constitution, we read: “In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the affairs of the country must be administered on the basis of public opinion expressed by the means of elections, including the election of the President, the representatives of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, and the members of councils, or by means of a referendum in matters specified in other articles of this Constitution.”

 

Some of the features of the ideal democracy in the view of Imam Khomeini (ra) are as follows:

 

1. Denial of Tyranny: He stated in this regard: “The principles of democracy are in conflict with the Shah’s regime,” or “We will not give up the struggle until a democratic government in its true sense of the word replaces the dictators.” He believed that realization of democracy in a dictatorship is impossible.

 

2. Ensuring and Maintaining Freedom: Another feature of the ideal democracy intended by Imam Khomeini (ra) is ensuring the freedom of human beings and protecting them against obstacles to the realization of it. Stating that “no one seeks freedom like Islam,” he specifically pointed to two types of freedom in his ideal democracy: the first is freedom in political participation. In his view, the freedom of the people’s participation in the elections is one of the foundations of democracy.

 

3. Being originated from Islam: Among the key features of a desirable democracy is its constant relation with Islam. In fact, the ideal democracy is embedded in Islamic teachings and true democracy would be implemented only within the framework of Islamic teachings. While limiting true democracy to the existing democracy in Islam, Imam Khomeini (ra) stated: “We will make the world understand what democracy means.”

 

For Imam Khomeini (ra), the ideal democracy is a government that seeks the consent of the people for the sake of God and seeks God’s pleasure by obtaining the consent of the people. Moreover, it should be accepted by the people and they acknowledge it wholeheartedly, admit its mistakes and try to change its wrong decisions, submit to the law and act within its limits, respect the public opinion and recognize the religious and legal demands of the people, rely on the will of the nation and pay the most attention to the weak strata of society, be humble in treating and serving people, believe in the participation of the people in the affairs of the country, and have constant interaction and relationship with them.

 

Likewise, religious democracy has a special place in the statements of the Supreme Leader of the Revolution. When Ayatollah Khamenei was Tehran’s Friday Imam and even during his presidency, he tried to make the theory of religious democracy more practical. Explaining the concept of the popularity of the government, he has stated that “it requires giving the people a role in the government... Another meaning is that such a government should serve the people and only the public interest would be important for the ruler... Islam, in both senses, has a popular government”

 

The Features of Religious Democracy

 

1. Public Participation: Since God rules the universe and has given human beings the power to choose their own destiny, a country with a religious democracy is governed by the public vote. Such participation requires the political growth of the people.
2. Law-Oriented and Law-Abiding: Islam considers the observance of Sharia laws obligatory. The Supreme Leader believes that the realization of all ideals and goals lies with implementing the law and promoting justice. In the Islamic system, all people must be equal before the law and should enjoy equal access to resources.
3. Meritocracy: The most knowledgeable and just people should be appointed as officials of the Islamic government. From the point of view of the Supreme Leader, the ruler has two main characteristics: having the attributes that Islam has set for the rulers and being accepted by the people.
4. Supervision and Consultation: after the formation of the religious government, the people should participate in the political arena and supervise the acts of the officials. On the other hand, the ruler of such a society should also be aware of the views of the people. This is implied by the Holy Qur’an in verse 38 of Surah al-Shura: “…and [conduct] their affairs by counsel among themselves.”
5. Progress: The government should focus on both the material and spiritual progress of society. In other words, this is a multidimensional development which differs from religious democracy from Western models.

 

Indicators of the influence of religious democracy outside of Iran include those that extend to the cultural sphere:

 

1. Influencing the transition process in the Middle East and North Africa: Especially since Iran has many religious, cultural and historical commonalities with the countries of these regions. Any new system that comes to power in these countries cannot ignore the Islamic aspect and religious culture of the people.
2. Expanding Relations with Western Countries: The symbolic aspect of this action is the recognition of the Islamic Republic of Iran as a popular state. The point in this arena is how culture affects international relations. Political systems that promote participatory political culture would gain more popularity.
3. Efforts to Influence Public Opinion and the Elites of Western Countries: The international media have the greatest influence, especially in covering the democratic processes of the country, such as electoral debates and, more importantly, the holding of fair elections.

 

Also, the factors indicating the domestic effectiveness of religious democracy are important, because they contribute to the legalization of the system and promote a participatory culture which includes:

 

1. Strengthening national solidarity by emphasizing the common components among people, especially religion and homeland: People’s perception of Iran as a country and not a geographical territory leads the country to homogeneity, which is, in turn, a process of soft power, and this is one of the greatest achievements of the Islamic system.      
2. Expanding Political Participation: The existence of political processes such as elections, in which people from various religious minorities and ethnicities can participate. The most prominent aspect of a nation’s political culture can be seen in the sense of participating in the process of power in religious democracy, of which the vote in favour of the Islamic Republic in the first days of the Revolution marks the beginning.
3. Strengthening Civil Institutions: Article 26 of the Constitution addresses this issue and recognizes the freedom of creating political parties and associations as well as guilds.

 

The Political Function of Religious Democracy

 

One of the greatest achievements of the Islamic Republic was to create conditions for the people to play a role in the political process of the country since the beginning of its establishment. This is the case with holding the constitutional referendum in which 98.2% of the people voted in favour, which indicates that the new system is very close to the ideal system for the people. Elections play a role in most political positions and all executive responsibilities of this country. A comparison between people’s participation in elections held in Iran and other democracies shows the widespread support of the people for a religious democracy.

 

The percentage of voter turnout rate in the presidential election

 

Voter Turnout Rate (Percentage)	The Elected President	Term
67.86	Abolhasan Banisadr	First
62.24	Mohammad Ali Rajaei	Second
74.26	Sayyed Ali Khamenei	Third
54.78	Sayyed Ali Khamenei	Fourth
54.56	Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani	Fifth
50.66	Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani	Sixth
76.66	Sayyed Mohammad Khatami	Seventh
67.77	Sayyed Mohammad Khatami	Eighth
62.66	-	Ninth/First
56.82	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad	Ninth/Second
85	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad	Tenth
72.8	Hasan Rouhani	Eleventh

 

Comparing the percentage of voter turnout in Iran and some countries

 

No.	Types of Elections	Turnout Rate (Percentage)	Year	Country
1	Presidential	80.35	2012	France
2	Presidential	57.5	2012	United States
3	Parliamentary	61.40	2011	Canada
4	Parliamentary	70.78	2009	Germany
5	Parliamentary	75.19	2013	Italy
6	Parliamentary	65.77	2012	Britain

 

The Function of Religious Democracy in the Security Sphere

 

The political system has an effective role in the stability and security of any country. Authoritarian structures, both domestically and internationally, are incapable of providing stability and security and are among the shakiest governments. The developments of the Islamic awakening in West Asia and North Africa were caused by such closed political systems. Of course, instability and insecurity do not have only one single cause that is limited to authoritarian structures, rather, such systems usually have difficulty in providing this function. Non-democratic political systems, compared to democratic ones, have a greater potential for projecting violence in various forms including terrorism; as such, among the 141 countries, 10 countries with authoritarian regimes are placed at a low level in terms of the index of security and the strength of the government.

 

Index of insecurity and weakening of the government in authoritarian countries

 

Rank	Country	Score
1	Somalia	1.37
2	Afghanistan	0
3	Republic of Congo	0.28
4	Iraq	1.63
5	Sudan	1.46
6	Nepal	2.94
7	Angola	5.32
8	Haiti	5.21
9	Zimbabwe	6.81
10	North Korea	7.28

 

Iran, especially during the second Pahlavi period, had a shaky security factor due to the structure of the authoritarian monarchy. This can be seen in the anti-regime protests, coups and assassinations carried out at that time. The occurrence of the Islamic Revolution and the establishment of religious democracy, provided the ground for the political participation of all ethnic groups, even for choosing the highest officials. Basically, there is a soft and peaceful transition of power in democracies. Holding a fair and secure election is the most important tool for this transition. Also, religious democracy has a similar mechanism. This trend has reduced the tendency toward terrorism in Iran such that in terms of terrorist acts it is ranked 28^th among developing countries.

 

Reference: Pazhuheshnameh-ye Enqelab-e Eslami [A Quarterly Scientific-Research Journal on Islamic Revolution]. No 12, Vol 5, Fall & Winter 2015, Pp 117-147.

Archive of The Thought of the Islamic Revolution