The Ayatollahs and Democracy in Iraq

Author(s):
Cole, J.R.I.
Published
2006
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor

Abstract

Professor Juan Cole delivered the ISIM Annual Lecture on 1 December 2005 at the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam. He argued that clerically-led Shiism in Iraq is undergoing a sort of reformation, in which leading figures are attempting to reconcile the principles of Islam with those of the Enlightenment. The current attempt by ayatollahs to engage with the ideals of Jean-Jacques Rousseau is among the more thoroughgoing and institutionally promising in modern history. This article is an adjusted version of his lecture.1

Iraq
Date issued
2006
Language
English
Publisher
ISIM, Leiden
Is part of
ISIM Review (2006), Vol. 17, no. 1, p. 34-35
hdl
1887/17062