Creating An Islamic State: Khomeini and the Making of New Iran

This extraordinary book is the first to analyze the ideological roots of an Islamic state as conceived by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Surprisingly the author finds much of the inspiration behind Khomeini’s political thinking being influenced by Western sources—his writings on the supreme Islamic Jurist being affected by Plato’s notions of the philosopher-king and his views of state power and centralism being closely linked to his understanding of Marxist/Leninist totalitarianism.