The resilience of religious institutions and the making of protest movements: A comparative study of Tunisia and Iran

What are the various and variable mechanisms of power through which a religious institution may develop or fail to develop resilience in a given society and in a given course of history? This study attempts to answer this question by examining two similar and yet different cases where a religious institution entered in a violent experience with a "secular" regime in the modern history of the Muslim world; the Tunisian case (1956-1970) and the Iranian experience (1925-1979).;Three main power assets in the two religious institutions were assessed. First, the degree of solidarity and cohesion in the group. Here, the higher the solidarity in the religious group the stronger would be its adaptive and transformative mechanisms in a situation of modernization and concomitant social change. Second, the extent of its autonomy vis a vis the political space. Here, the more dependent the religious group vis a vis the state, the less effective it would be when faced with an external challenge. Third, the charismatic weight of the group's leadership. Here, the more charismatic the leadership in the group, the more adaptive the group would be, in the sense that its classical tradition would possess less sacredness and binding power over its members.;The study traces the historical dimensions of power and decline in the Tunisian and Iranian religious institutions by anchoring them in the founding events of their respective histories, and by placing them in the complexity of their relations to other social and political forces in their respective societies.;The study found that the Iranian religious institution was by far the stronger on the three levels. Here, a shift in the legitimacy of tradition from conservatism to relative innovation which gradually occurred in the modern history of Twelver Shi'ism has considerably led to the empowerment of the Iranian religious institution and made the Iranian history unique in the Muslim world.