A Study of the Relationship between Leadership and Political Reality in Imam Khomeini's Epistemology

Political developments are directly affected by the epistemological frameworks of actors in the process of experiences and real life in the society and politics. Leadership is the key actor in the dynamism of political developments. The importance of leadership becomes evident when the leader enjoys the status of a political leader and a theoretician at the same time, something that Imam Khomeini did enjoy. The epistemological frameworks and the political leadership of Imam Khomeini indicate that the reality changed to become compatible with his epistemological model and some parts of his epistemological-leadership model became compatible with the contemporary political realities. That is why he supported the idea of public participation in politics and construction of a religious democracy. This reality led to a change in Imam Khomeini's epistemological system, construction of structures, changing the institutions in politics, political sharing of episteme and a kind of diversity and difference in political awareness. The research is centered on the relation of leadership and political reality in Imam Khomeini's epistemology. The main question of the research is: How Imam Khomeini’s epistemology of political thought shaped his leadership and led the trend of Iran's political realities on the ground? The findings of the paper indicate that Imam Khomeini’s politics-oriented epistemological system in interaction with the practical process for the establishment of the Islamic Republic through helping the establishment of new institutional structures and political structure of sharing episteme has shaped the epistemological sources of political system and revolutionary elites of the Islamic Republic and thus shaped the trend of the course of developments.