Political Relations, is the study of the relations, behaviors and public tenets in a society in which a hierarchy of power is present. The two sides of these relations can be political parties, social classes and in particular the Nation and the State. The quality of such relations both affects and depends upon the political culture of the society. Such effects are accomplished by the use of means and processes of communication and transmission of political signals (propaganda). These means and processes can be referred to as "Political communications", which in modern theories are mostly meant for convincing and managing public opinion.

Understanding the patterns and frame of Nation-State Relations in contemporary Iran is a basis for the comprehension of political culture in the Iranian society. Thus due to their closeness in time and the relative availability of historical facts, studying the second-Pahlavi and the Islamic Revolution eras is of prime importance. Investigating the Nation-Sate relations in the second-Pahlavi era first requires the study of the social context and social layers of this period and also the goals, desires and policies of the Shah and the court. The decline of Shah's legitimacy especially during the 1950s made him directly, broadly and irrationally use all media (from traditional media to mass media) against defined moulds of each procedure of social relation, in praise and admiration of his monarchy. This bold propaganda was trying to dually introduce the Shah as both a traditional and a charismatic (as Weber uses the term) leader. This behavior overwhelmingly increased social contradictions at that period.

At the same time, the traditional network of social relations between the people and the Ulama (clergy) was reemerging, causing more objection and disinterest towards court's propaganda.

This thesis alongside studying the components governing State-Nation relations in the second-Pahlavi era, analyzes the elements of Shah's propaganda and investigates their effectiveness in convincing the society and the promotion of his legitimacy.

In this dissertation, social change and traits of Nation-Sate relations in two successive eras, i.e. the Pahlavi era and the Islamic Revolution era, available in texts on historical sociology and mostly from similar sources and authors, are compared and discourse analyzed. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the differences in moulds of social relations and the structure of political communications, extra effort has been made in analyzing the ideas of the founder of the Islamic Revolution. These ideas are partly Imam Khomeini's report-like descriptions of the relations between the people and the leader, and partly his analyses of the nature and dimensions of these relations. At the end of the dissertation an independent pattern for political relations in the Islamic Revolution is presented in which the two sides of the relation are Ummah (body of believers) and Imam (religious leader). The relationship between the Imam and the Ummah is an upgraded version of the social communications pattern present in the history of Shia societies through the ages, starting at first by the "People-Mohaddesin (narrating scholars)" prototype, later transforming into the "Follower-Marja' (Religious Jurist)" pattern and finally renovated and rebuilt as the "Ummat-Imam" system by Imam Khomeini. The foundations of the latter are based on much more than satisfaction for the Nation and legitimacy for the State, and mainly concern divine worship. Here, the people on the one hand, not due to dread or injustice, but in search of divine aspiration -which is the destiny of the entire universe- look up to their leader and Imam, and the Imam on the other hand sees his divine bondage and devotion in guidance, love and service to the people.