constitution

In this paper we try to give a description of the juridical status of religious minorities, Muslim or otherwise, in the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. We also deal with the question of whether non-Muslim minorities are free to perform their religious practices and the extent of their freedom.

John Rawls introduced the idea of public reason as a precondition of decision-making processes based on justice in a well-ordered society. There are critics, however, who doubted whether the idea is consistent with deliberative democracy. While Rawls saw his idea of reasonable overlapping consensus as an outcome of public reasoning, his suggested political liberalism seems to be morally too thick to work as the basis of such a consensus in culturally diverse societies. Here, through a critical evaluation of Rawls’s view, I try to use his idea of public reason by reference to the brilliant distinction he makes between ‘the rational’ and ‘the reasonable’. I show that it is the latter, which defines the nature of ‘the political’, that could be employed for the relationship between different cultural identities of a society, governed by political principles justified by referring to thin or non-moral arguments that in turns allow liberal as well as non-liberal cultural communities to participate in a just framework of social cooperation. Moreover, I argue that this revised interpretation of Rawlsian overlapping consensus can help us in the democratic assessment of constitutions and revising them in order to became more legitimate to citizens. Using this theoretical framework, and as the Islamic Republic is claimed to represent a religious democracy, I suggest that the criterion of public reason can be used in assessing the Constitution of the Islamic Republic and, therefore, highlights the necessary revisions for achieving more democratic basic structures of the Iranian society.

Foundation and management of the newly established Islamic Republic of Iran system based on Imam Khomeini’s intellectual bases, including God-centeredness, obligation- centeredness attitudes, and association of religiosity and politics, gave rise to the formation of a specific model on the lofty religion of Islam by him. In Imam’s view, Islam does not ignore anything, and jurisprudence is the real and complete theory for the management of human and society from the cradle to the grave. On this basis, jurisprudence has useful and practical functions, which, due to its divine inspiration roots, holds power to detect the expedition and interest of the nation. In this way, in Imam’s practical stances during and after the formation of the Islamic government, the creation of political structures proportional to the Islamic commandments to supply the interests of the society is observed. In this writing, the experience of the managerial first decade in the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran period. It is possible to pose four indicators for Imam Khomeini’s political action including "giving shape to the political organization of the government," "compilation of the Constitution," "orientation and leadership of the holy defense" and "establishment of the Expediency Discernment Council" which shows the Islamic Republic Founder’s politics in the domestic arena.

Constitutional Revolution, as a significant turning point in the history of Iran, shook Iranian society. What has been more or less neglected in examining this movement is the role of non-Iranian forces. The Caucasian, especially, the Georgians should be considered as the most passionate and self-sacrificing pro-constitutional forces who spared their lives for the victory of the Iranian movement. The question of this paper is what was the role and performance of the Georgian forces in Constitutional Revolution? The hypothesis is that, despite the persecution of the Russian Tsarist government, Georgian revolutionaries organized by parties such as Hemmat and Ejtema'iyun Amiyuun, presented in the battlefields of Tabriz and Guilan and, due to their precious experiences, played vital role in the success of the constitutionalists. On the other hand, Georgian press could form public opinion in favor of the revolution, inform about Iran's events, and create a stir among the Iranian Mojahedin by focusing on news of the events in Iran. It should not be neglected that Iranians presence in the Caucasus cities, especially Tbilisi, also helped to transfer revolutionary concepts to Iran and to fan the flames of the revolution.

The present study, employing a library-based data collection and adopting a descriptive-analytical research method, examined the perfectionist approach of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, approved in 1979, to the pure life of the citizen. In this regard, the first part of the article analyzed the concepts of perfectionism and neutrality of the state and evaluated the justifications for each of them. In the second part, the preamble and text of the Constitution will be subjected to a legal scrutiny. The findings of the article confirm that the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran has taken steps to respond to the historical demands of the Iranian nation, Islamization of the society, exaltation of moral virtues, and revival of traditions and religious education of the citizen. This fundamental document does not accept the neutrality of the state towards the conception of the good and in a perfectionist approach, while acknowledging the key responsibility of the state in exalting moral virtues and fighting against all manifestations of corruption, has identified such idealist concepts and institutions as “Amr be Maruf” (command to do good) and “Nahy az Monkar” (command to avoid evil) and “Velayat-e Faqih” (guardianship of the Islamic jurist).

The rights of citizens to provide Social justice, due to emphasis on the basic needs of human beings, known as one of the most fundamental principles in international documents of human rights and civil rights. It's indicators include the right to a fair life, right to health, right to education, right to social security, and right to work and employment, which in human rights documents, particularly in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, regarded as the second generation of human rights. Social justice, who has been noted specifically in the first, third and fourth chapters of Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, are the same components that have been identified in international documents of human rights. These indicators will realize when all citizens have equal opportunity to take advantage of it. The government's obligation to support these rights is positive, and an obligation to urgent results and in some indicators the obligation of result, is increasing.