Homa Katouzian's books, Ancient, Medieval and Modern Iran (translated into Persian) and Iran and Revolution, contain the author's signature ideas, including Iran being a short-term and not a long-term society, and the unpopularity of the word 'compromise' (sāzesh) in Iranian political culture. What Katouzian adds to them is that Iran has already entered its new phase as a long-term society, and that happened by the death of Khomeini in 1989. Katouzian reads: "The passing of Khomeini ended an Iranian short term and began another, but only within the regime itself, since otherwise the Islamic Republic continued to exist long after his death" (2009, p. 354). Because Khomeini was not an arbitrary ruler in the way the Shah and his predecessors were, as he enjoyed some kinds of popularity within society. Also (this is my own observation), the post-revolutionary regime is able to build institutes, which, with the help of ideology, guarantees its long-term and more enduring life after the passing of the ruler). As for the term "compromise", Katouzian believes that it is one of the characteristics of Iranian politics, although "failure to compromise (the hated sazesh) led to a radical result" (Ibid., p. 337).
Abstract Iranian politics has been defined using many elements including its relevance to religion, which at times and depending upon approaches that have been adopted to set the tone between the two
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