Islamic Factor in the Cultural Policy of Iran (1979–2023)

The article is based on the author's speech at the Round table "Religious Contexts of Modern Poli-tics" delivered at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in late 2023. The article notes the significance of culture and cultural policy as important components of the state-political and ideological doctrine of the Islamic Republic of Iran and examines the role of Islam in their formation and transformation for nearly half a century of the state's existence. As evidenced by the analysis of factual material, the changes in the content of the concept of "Iranian culture" and cultural policy have historically coincided with the assumption of power by a new president and the government headed by him. The only exception is the first decade after the Islamic Revolution, which is traditionally associated with the name of Imam Khomeini. At the same time, it is shown that three main factors play a role in these changes – Islamic, Iranian and Western. Analysis of the situation in Iran’s cultural discourse shows that Iran’s culture and cultural policy pursued have gone from the absolutization of their Islamic component (under R. Khomeini) to the gradual inclusion of the Iranian component proper. This process began during the reign of A. A. Hashemi. H. Rafsanjani and M. Khatami, was continued under M. Ahmadinejad and reached its maximum under H. Rouhani. At the same time, there was growing understanding of the need to establish cultural contacts with the West, however certainly limited ones. However, the cultural pol-icy under President E. Raisi is a return to the hyperbolization of the Islamic factor and a negative attitude towards the Western cultural values. The death of President E. Raisi in May 2024, the elec-tion of a new president of the country, reformer M. Pezeshkian’ assumption of power pose many questions to Iranian society, including in the sphere of the cultural policy of the new Iranian gov-ernment

Archaeology · Geography · Islam · Political science · Computer Science · Islamic Studies and History