IRANIAN POLITICAL SYSTEM: “MULLOCRACY?”

The definition of the Iranian political system which was structured after the 1979 Iranian Revolution has long been a matter of controversy among the pol itical scientists . Although Iran is a self-declared Islamic Republic, scholars used or coined various terms such as democratic theocracy, oligarchic theocracy, and religious tyranny to define it. Iran has democratic institutions such as parliament and constitution, but the configuration of them does not make up a liberal democracy. This article analyzes Iranian political system by using the terms of comparative political science and seeks to define it. It examines major Iranian political institutions established after the 1979 Revolution and eventually concludes that the sui generis Iranian political system can be best defined with the term “mullocracy (government of the mullahs)” as the mullas hold the ultimate political power in the country.