The Crisis of Political Leadership

Abstract

The intellectual and political climate of the early 1960s was the legacy of the defeat of the liberal nationalists and socialists after the 1953 coup d’etat. In this environment, the regime of the Shah suppressed every politico-intellectual tendency that demanded the restoration of the constitutional democracy. This daunted situation suggested the significance of intellectual and political leadership to lead the masses toward democratic changes. Some argued that the intellectual hegemony over the masses was a precondition for political leadership. To Jalal Al-e-Ahmad, the intellectual infertility of Iranian intelligentsia prevented them from achieving intellectual leadership and thus political leadership over the masses in the past. He advocated an alliance between the secular intellectuals and the clergy to challenge the state ideology in order to realize their intellectual and political leadership.