details of the constitution had been worked out; thus, the referendum was more a vote against the monarchy than in favor of any specific governmental system.44
Despite the quickly-executed referendum, the final consti- tution was an uneven hybrid, favoring Khomeini’s velayet-e faqeh but nevertheless incorporating elements of Bazargan’s calls for democratic components to the state structure. From an ideological standpoint, the document was to guide the state until the return of the Mahdi, affirming “faith in God, Divine Justice, the Koran, Judgment Day, the Prophet Muhammad, the Twelve Imams, the return of the Hidden Mahdi,” and most importantly, the concept of velayat-e faqeh.45 In addition, the constitution rejected all forms of colonialism, authoritarianism, and imperialism.
From a political standpoint, the constitution granted the supreme leader far-reaching authority, including the ability to define the interests of Islam, establish general guidelines for the Islamic Republic, mediate between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, administer policy implementation, and declare war and peace. Beyond the traditional realm of government, the supreme leader could appoint powerful officials outside the formal state structure, including the director of television and radio net- works, editors of newspapers, leaders of clerical institutions, chief justices, lower court justices, and, in a later addition,
vet candidates running for public office.
The newly-formed constitution had a direct impact on so- cioeconomic factors in post-revolutionary Iran. During the last 25 years of the Pahlavi dynasty, social and economic de- velopments resulted in growing popular political awareness. Thus, by the time Khomeini came into power, key sectors of society such as the landowners, ulama, bazaar merchants, students, and the middle class were the target of recruitment campaigns by various political groups, which all had a stake in continued economic advancement.
It was within this competitive environment that Khomeini worked to consolidate the power of Islamist factions. At the time, while many political groups operated under the wide intellectual umbrella of the nationalists (both secular and re- ligious), ambiguity gradually gave way to polarization as na- tionalism stopped functioning as a distinct political category. Through this turbulence, the leftist and Islamist groups, in their various forms, quickly emerged and controlled the po- litical theater of revolutionary Iran.46 However, in the space of less than two years following the revolution, Khomeini and his supporters purged the leftists from government and instigated a long-term, comprehensive “perpetual revolu- tion” to fundamentally alter all aspects of Iranian society. The “perpetual revolution” dominated and transformed Ira- nian and regional geopolitics for the subsequent thirty years.