The Transformation of the Political Discourse of the Fourth National Front from Constitutionalism to Republicanism

Although after the uprising of June 6th, 1963 republican tendencies, influenced by the first National Front of Iran under the leadership of Dr. Hossein Fatemi, were seen among some members of the National Front of Iran, such as Abolhassan Bani Sadr and Dariush Forouhar, the dominant discourse of the Fourth National Front from its establishment in 1977 until the last few months of the Pahlavi regime was ‘constitutionalism and support for the constitution’. In the last months leading up to the 1979 revolution, this discourse moved toward republicanism and overthrow. To understand this process, we directly interpreted the statements, speeches of the leaders, and the articles of the publication of the National Front organization using the textual discourse analysis method. In this method, the parameters related to the discourses of legalism, revolution, overthrow, republicanism, constitutionalism, etc. have been explored. Based on the results, this change in the discourse of the National Front took place gradually, and the National Front of Iran evolved from an intra-governmental opposition to a group opposed to the establishment of the regime, with a three-point declaration in Paris in November 1978. However, some contradictions can be seen in the discourse of the National Front during this period, which is mostly due to political and partisan interests.