Imam Khomeini and Quality of Emergence of Constituent Power in Delegitimizing the Monarchical Regime in Iran

Delegitimization of a political regime through the exercise of its constituent power and relying on national will depends on the realization of four external situations: concrete emergence of a national will; demand for political change based on national will; continuation of national demand for regime change; and appointment of an indisputable national leader. Adopting a descriptive-analytical method and library studies, this paper intends to analyze degree of realization of each one of the above-said four situations in culmination of 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran by referring to reliable historical sources and relevant events, describing the quality of emergence of national will and the exercise of constituent power to delegitimize the monarchy. The results show that in the 20-month period between early 1977 and early 1979, the four characteristics of a revolutionary movement for delegitimizing the established political regime, at least two months before the final victory of the Islamic Revolution and the complete overthrow of the Pahlavi regime on February 11, 1979, had been fully realized.