Abstract
The argument of this essay is that the legitimacy crisis in Iran in 1978/79 arose from the contrasting views of authority espoused by the Shah and the Ayatollah over a period of 25 years. These views are expressed in their rhetoric as the two impulses of the Progressive and the Traditionalist orientation of authority. The Pahlavi dynasty is an example of State‐Authority, or the Progressive impulse, while the Islamic revolution is an example of the opposite impulse, Traditionalism, which brought in a People‐Authority with its narrative rationality. Each regime becomes an integral dimension of Iran's search for images of national strength. The critical perspective employed in this study may be useful in the analysis of various rhetorical processes, both Western and non‐ Western.
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