Includes bibliographical references (p. 455-479) and index.

Prologue : in search of a national covenant -- Constituting a national community (1906-1953). Constitutional trial and error -- Pahlavist absolutism -- Restoration of parliamentary politics -- Authoritarian supremacy : consolidation and collapse (1953-1979). The trajectories of monarchism -- Revolution : chronicle of an implosion -- The edifice and emplacements of royal rule -- Elective affinities : western imperial interests and authoritarian monarchy -- The architecture of royalist hegemony -- A culture of confrontation -- The eclipse of popular sovereignty : Iran since 1979. The unfolding of clerical rule : oligarchy by divine right? -- The culture of politics : the presence and absence of the past -- Predicaments and prospects -- Epilogue : the resilience of modernity.

Electronic reproduction. Palo Alto, Calif. : ebrary, 2009. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ebrary affiliated libraries.