In a parliamentary system, the prime minister sets the national agenda, appoints cabinet officials, and governs at the behest of a party or a coalition of parties. In parliamentary systems, presidents—if they exist—serve as largely ceremonial heads of state. In constitutional monarchies, such roles are filled by the king or queen. If a prime minister loses the legislative mandate, opposition parties may call for a vote of confidence in an effort to topple the sitting government. In this event, the president may be called upon to formally dismiss the legislature and schedule fresh elections.
The collected essays of Mohammad Ali Foroughi not only present a portrait of the multifaceted and complex character of one of the most influential cultural, academic, and political figures of modern Iran, but also depict the cultural issues and political and social conditions of the country during the turbulent years of Foroughi’s cultural and political life—from the first Constitutional Assembly to the early years of the reign of the second Pahlavi. Mohammad Ali Foroughi was among the most brilliant figures of a generation of Iranian scholars, historians, men of letters, and researchers who emerged from the Constitutional Revolution. During the tumultuous years of that revolution, World War I, and throughout the two-decade reign of the first Pahlavi monarch, they published their works and were so rich and creative in their fields that, apart from perhaps one or two exceptions, no one in later generations managed to take their place.
