Theoretical Foundations of the Political-Monotheistic Discourse in Imam Khomeini’s Thought

The political, as a discursive construct, is characterized by its self-constituting and other-excluding components, operating through negations and affirmations to forge a distinct discursive identity. This study, by examining the institutionalized beliefs, scholarly and practical conduct, and the written works of Imam Khomeini -alongside an engagement with the ontological, epistemological, and consequently anthropological dimensions of his thought- adopts a descriptive-analytical methodology within the framework of discourse theory to elucidate the monotheistic nature of his political discourse. The findings rest on the premise that Imam Khomeini’s political discourse is structured around the central signifier of monotheistic, organized within a system of negations and affirmations, and articulated through subsidiary and floating signifiers such as ontology, epistemology, anthropology, and concepts like Independence, Freedom , and Justice. The articulation and linkage of these signifiers with the central signifier of monotheistic produce a semantic network delineating "Self"  and "Other". By sharpening the identity boundaries of this discourse against rival discourses, antagonistic binaries emerge -irreconcilable and irresolvable- such as "Monotheism versus Polytheism" , "Truth  versus Falsehood," and "Divine Sovereignty  versus Tyrannical Sovereignty ".