| Khomeini first emerged on the political scene during the 1960s as the chief spokesman for the protests of June 1963. After his exile by the shah, he settled down in Iraq, where his thinking turned truly radical. He had displayed an early interest in the theory of an Islamic state (1940s) and now urged its immediate establishment. He was a shrewd and charismatic politician who blended Islamic themes with populist rhetoric. Through taped sermons distributed all over Iran, he positioned himself during the 1970s as the leading opponent of the shah's regime despite living in exile. During the Islamic Revolution of 1978–79, his prestige was so great that a broad array of political groups readily accepted his authority. From the beginning, he loomed as the defining figure of the Islamic Republic, occupying the supreme office of vali faqih. Though he tended to remain aloof from the routine business of government, his mere presence guaranteed the stability of the political system. Indeed, one of the central preoccupations of Iranian politics during the 1980s was the question of his successor. | 3 |
