Siyāsat, Ijtimāʿ, Adabīyāt: Chahārdah Goftār va Neveshtār Persian 9/20/2025

The book Politics, Society, and Literature by Dr. Mohammad-Ali Homayoun Katouzian (Oxford University professor, political scientist, historian, and literary critic) is a collection of his essays and talks on Iranian politics, society, and literature. Published in recent years by Morvarid Publishing, the book comprises fourteen essays and interviews, each addressing a significant aspect of Iranian culture and politics.

Dr. Katouzian, widely known for his theory of the “short-term society” and his analyses of despotism and rent-seeking in Iran, continues these concerns in this work. He seeks to demonstrate how politics and society in Iran have always been closely intertwined with literature and culture, and that neither can be fully understood in isolation.

The book is divided into two main sections: Politics and Society and Literature. Across the fourteen chapters, topics such as “Intellectuals and Revolution,” “The Tradition of Despotism and Rent-Seeking in Iranian Political Culture,” “Tolerance and Governance,” and “Historiography in Iran and the Constitutional Era” are explored. Katouzian adopts a critical perspective, highlighting structural weaknesses in Iranian political culture and showing how these deficiencies have historically impeded the formation of stable, rational institutions.

In the literature section, he analyzes the works of poets like Shafiei Kadkani and Zhaleh Qa’em-Maqami, arguing that Persian literature reflects Iran’s social and political transformations. This combination of political analysis and literary criticism makes the book unique, appealing both to political science students and enthusiasts of Persian literature.

Overall, Politics, Society, and Literature can be seen as an effort to portray a comprehensive image of Iranian culture—a culture in which politics, society, and literature are intricately interwoven. The work traverses the boundaries of various human sciences and offers profound reflections on Iran.