The historical process of the formation of justice policy as a source of political legitimacy in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Social justice has been a long-standing demand in Iran's contemporary history, which entered Iran's political culture since the constitutional revolution and under the left discourse. During the second Pahlavi period, the desire for justice was strongly intertwined with political trends and found deep connections with the issue of political legitimacy. This led to the delegitimization of the established regime with a justice-seeking approach and the use of justice policy as a sociological source of legitimacy in the alternative system. In the following article, the mentioned historical process is analyzed with a sociological approach and descriptive and analytical method. The article aims to answer the question that how the distributive justice policy directed towards the poor, became one of the most important sources of legitimacy in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The findings of the research indicate that the aforementioned policy is not the exclusive creation of the Islamic Republic, but rather the product of a historical process that the majority of contemporary Iranian political forces have played a role in creating it. The Islamic Republic of Iran has had the opportunity to take advantage of this legitimizing source due to its wide base among the lower classes since its establishment.Analyzing the link between political legitimacy and social justice as a historical matter, from before to after the revolution, is the main goal of this research.