Formulation of the components of the social contract in the political thought of Imam Khomeini

The social contract theory, as one of the important foundations of modern political philosophy, is based on the will and consent of humans in establishing political power. In contrast, the political thought of Imam Khomeini seeks the origin of legitimacy in the divine will. This study, with an interpretive approach and based on Skinner's hermeneutics, deals with the historical description of the development of the social contract theory and the context and time of the formation of the political thought of the Imam Khomeini in order to answer the question of how the components of the social contract are formulated in the political thought of the Imam Khomeini. The aim of the study is to clarify what kind of connection can be established between the thought of Imam Khomeini and the social contract theory. The findings of the study show that although at the functional level, concepts such as law, majority vote, and accountability in the thought of the Imam Khomeini play a role similar to the concepts of the social contract in the political organization of modern societies, at the basic and ultimate levels, it presents a new formulation of the social contract that is defined in conjunction with the divine covenant.