Religion and Political Culture in Eastern Kurdistan

Abstract

This article is going to study how religion affects the political culture in East Kurdistan. For this purpose, the theory of Almond and Verba among the relevant theories is used. On this basis, the situation of political culture in Kurdistan and the impact of religion are explained. By studying the socio-political functions of religion and religious government in Iran and the ways in which they affect the political behavior of people in the political process, the article tries to clarify the role of religion in the genesis of a special type of political culture in East Kurdistan. It shows that religion as a part of social culture, on the one side, and religious government, on the other side, have prevented the formation of a participant and civic culture in Kurdistan. Therefore, in comparison with the ideal types of Almond and Verba, a subject-dominated political culture has been created because of the politico-religious obstacles, though there is a potential in Kurdish society to go towards a civic culture.