The foundations of the political legitimacy of governments according to Saadi (A case study of four praise odes)

Saadi's reflections on governance and his portrayal of desirable and undesirable political power have significantly influenced Iranian cultural thought. This study focuses on the political divide of Saadi's era by examining four of his odes: two addressed to an idealized ruler and two to a foreign leader. The study applies Van Leeuwen’s legitimation processes to analyze Saadi’s statements on the foundations of authority and the qualities of desirable political leadership, contrasting them with his critiques of flawed policies. Van Leeuwen categorizes legitimation into authorization, moral evaluation, rationalization, and mythopoesis. To provide a deeper textual analysis and to reveal Saadi's efforts to affirm his ideal vision of governance, Van Dijk’s ideological square is also employed. According to Van Dijk, discourse tends to emphasize the positive attributes of the in-group and the negative traits of the out-group while downplaying the opposite. A close examination of the data tables for each ode and their text reveals that Saadi mainly uses moral evaluation and rationalization to persuade his audience, although the legitimized ideas, poem structure, and tone vary across the odes. When addressing a native ruler, Saadi emphasizes a power based on divine grace, wisdom, justice, and noble lineage, reinforcing its legitimacy. In contrast, with a foreign ruler, he highlights the reliance on brute force, lacking other sources of legitimacy. While Saadi regards the king's authority as a divine blessing and does not seek regime change, he consistently advises rulers who lack justice-based policies.