Dr. Nasr explains that contrary to popular belief, Shi'ism's dominance in Iran is relatively new. 

Iran has a new president, a new government. But what does the term government mean to you? That question is not meant to be philosophical. It's rather simple in fact. To most of us Americans, our federal government is composed of the executive, the legislative and the Judiciary branches combined. This is more or less repeated throughout our state systems. But in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the very term government may be confusing to the unfamiliar. For example, aside from its parliament and president, there are many non-elected institutions that rule above the presidency and the parliament. And while Iran's Supreme Leader is an all-powerful figure, as explained by our podcast guest, Professor Vali Nasr, his power does indeed have limitations - limitations that more than once were displayed for all to see.  And here is a question that is not often asked... what is it about Iran's dominant religion - Shi'i Islam - that particularly lends itself to Iran's form of government, particularly its Supreme Leadership? And here is another question yet: has Iran - this bastion of Shi'ism - always been a Shi'i country? The answer is a shocking no!  

To dig deeper and better understand the governing structure of the Islamic Republic of Iran, including its history, we spoke with Mr. Vali Nasr. He is a Professor of Middle East Studies and International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, and from 2012 to 2019 he served as the Dean of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Professor Nasr has advised senior American policymakers, including the President, Secretary of State, senior members of the Congress, and presidential campaigns. He has authored many books on Iran and Shi'ism, and has written for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Financial Times, The Washington Post, and a host of others. He is a frequent guest on PBS, CNN, and other major networks. 

This is the link to Professor Nasr's academic homepage: https://sais.jhu.edu/users/vnasr1 

In addition, here is a link to a recent New York Times article about the structure of Iran's government: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/05/world/middleeast/iran-president-ebrahim-raisi.html?searchResultPosition=1 

Podcast Artwork Attributions: Iran's flag: Photo by sina drakhshani on Unsplash. Link to image: https://unsplash.com/@sina_drakhshani?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText Ayatollah Khamenei (middle): on Wikipedia by khamenei.ir under license CC BY 4.0 Link to image:   https://farsi.khamenei.ir/photo-album?id=47568#i, and link to license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ President Ra'isi (right): on Wikipedia by Mehr News Agency under license CC BY 4.0. Link to image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Iran#/media/File:Raisi_in_2021-02_(cropped).jpg. Link to License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.