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Personalism was mitigated by precedent which created its own norms. Yet also, as a result of inspiration from Western models of authority, the king's authority was hierarchially absolute over the formal organizations he established. Here patrimonial authority reigned supreme. The author concludes that tyranny may spring from the juxtaposition of modern institutional structures, devoid of procedures, against weakened traditional modes of authority.

Political Expressionism: Roots of Social Movements in Iran, the Middle East, and the World describes how politics is much more abstract now and similar to how expressionism affected the art world. This work applies a theoretical and historical overview to examine changes in how social movements operate over the last century with a comparative overview of events in Iran, the Middle East and the world. Increased usage of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) and their impact on Traditional Communication Methods (TCMs) forever altered the dynamics of contention. This books’ motivating questions are: What is the modern dream for social change? "What is the future of Social Movements in Iran, the Middle East and the World? ", "What are the roles of Social Movements as a tool which can help create frameworks for democracy?" and “How did Internet Communications Technologies (ICTs) impact the conceptualization of space in states and societies?” Social movements analyzed in this work include, 18 Tir (the Iran Students protest of July 1999), the Green Movement of Iran (2009-2010),the economic uprings and the Women, Life, Freedom Movement in Iran of 2022, the Arab Spring (2010-2012), Taksim Square (Gezi Park) Movement in Turkey (2013) , and the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong that started in 2014. This book aims to bridge knowledge gaps between the theory and practice of social movements for academics and human rights activists alike.

Within western political, media and academic discourses, Muslim communities are predominantly seen through the prism of their Islamic religiosities, yet there exist within diasporic communities unique and complex secularisms. Drawing on detailed interview and ethnographic material gathered in the UK, this book examines the ways in which a form of secularism - ‘non-Islamiosity’ - amongst members of the Iranian diaspora shapes ideas and practices of diasporic community and identity, as well as wider social relations. In addition to developing a novel theoretical paradigm to make sense of the manner in which diasporic communities construct and live diasporic identity and consciousness in a way that marginalises, stigmatises or eradicates only ‘Islam’, Secularism and Identity shows how this approach is used to overcome religiously inculcated ideas and fashion a desirable self, thus creating a new space in which to live and thereby attaining ‘freedom’. Calling into question notions of anti-Islamism and Islamophobia, whilst examining secularism as a means or mechanism rather than an end, this volume offers a new understanding of religion as a marker of migrant identity. As such it will appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology and political science with interests in migration and ethnicity, diasporic communities, the sociology of religion and emerging forms of secularism.

Vali Nasr, the author of the "New York Times" bestseller "The Shia Revival," offers a dissection of the problem the West faces with Iran and reveals how, by building strong ties to the new, pragmatic business class that is emerging in Iran, the West can pull the rug of power out from under the extremist mullahs and forge strong new alliances in the region.