Exploration of the Key Constituents of Constitutional Law based on the Two Theories of Absolute State and Absolute Guardianship

The study of such concepts as freedom, justice, security and the rule of law in the constitutional law has always received considerable attention of thinkers in the fields of politics, law and political jurisprudence. Given the apparent resemblance between the theory of absolute guardianship and absolute state, the comparison between Imam Khomeini’s view and Thomas Hobbes is an important subject that has not been given considerable attention. Drawing upon a descriptive-analytic method, the present article has studied the views and opinions of these two theoreticians concerning the aforementioned concepts. The findings of the research show that, despite the literal relationship between absolute state and absolute guardianship, there lies sharp distinction between these two theories in terms of both their principles and concepts (meanings) and their conceptions of the key elements of the constitutional law. Authoritarianism, non-commitment to the rule of law and securization of the social atmosphere are the implications of the Hobbesian theory of absolute state while these disapproved implications have no place in the idea of the absolute guardianship.