The death of German philosopher and critical theorist Jürgen Habermas on March 14, coinciding with the second week of Trump’s war with Iran, brings new relevance to Danny Postel’s critically acclaimed pamphlet.

Written in the midst of George W. Bush’s “Global War on Terrror,” which Trump’s folly strangely echoes (https://newlinesmag.com/essays/the-uncanny-echoes-of-iraq-in-trumps-war-with-iran/), Postel looked at the most dramatic development that was virtually unnoticed at the time: a “liberal renaissance” in Iran. Leaning on Habermas’ Legitimation Crisis, he charted the contours of this intellectual upheaval and ventured arguments about its potential implications for Western liberalism. A provocative critique of the Left’s perplexity and incomprehension, including a critical consideration of Foucault’s engagement with the Iranian Revolution, the pamphlet concludes with an extended and illuminating dialogue between Postel and the eminent Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo.

Danny Postel is Politics Editor at New Line Magazine. He recently reported on the Magaverse’s fury over Trump’s war. https://newlinesmag.com/running-notes/epic-fury-in-the-maga-verse-over-iran/.

Reading Legitimation Crisis in Tehran is available for purchase here: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/R/bo4343049.html