After nearly three decades of theocratic rule, Iran's society is oscillating between opposing tendencies: the theological fundamentalism of the Shi‘ite clergy in the line of Ayatollah Khomeini on the one hand and the modernising, reformist and secular movements inspired by the West and national history on the other. The youth especially is drawn to liberal, individualistic philosophies and ways of life, which portend a radical transformation of the Iranian state and religious regime.
