Since the 1979 revolution, scholars and policy makers alike have tended to see Iranian political actors as religiously driven-dedicated to overturning the international order in line with a ...theologically prescribed outlook. This provocative book argues that such views have the link between religious ideology and political order in Iran backwards.Religious Statecraftexamines the politics of Islam, rather than political Islam, to achieve a new understanding of Iranian politics and its ideological contradictions.Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar traces half a century of shifting Islamist doctrines against the backdrop of Iran's factional and international politics, demonstrating that religious narratives in Iran can change rapidly, frequently, and dramatically in accordance with elites' threat perceptions. He argues that the Islamists' gambit to capture the state depended on attaining a monopoly over the use of religious narratives. Tabaar explains how competing political actors strategically develop and deploy Shi'a-inspired ideologies to gain credibility, constrain political rivals, and raise mass support. He also challenges readers to rethink conventional wisdom regarding the revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, the U.S. embassy hostage crisis, the Iran-Iraq War, the Green Movement, nuclear politics, and U.S.-Iran relations. Based on a micro-level analysis of postrevolutionary Iranian media and recently declassified documents as well as theological journals and political memoirs,Religious Statecraftconstructs a new picture of Iranian politics in which power drives Islamist ideology.
Unlike much of the instant analysis that appeared at the time of the Iranian revolution, Iran: From Religious Dispute to Revolution is based upon extensive fieldwork carried out in Iran. Michael M. ...J. Fischer draws upon his rich experience with the mullahs and their students in the holy city of Qum, composing a picture of Iranian society from the inside—the lives of ordinary people, the way that each class interprets Islam, and the role of religion and religious education in the culture. Fischer’s book, with its new introduction updating arguments for the post-Revolutionary period, brings a dynamic view of a society undergoing metamorphosis, which remains fundamental to understanding Iranian society in the early twenty-first century.
Since its revolution in 1979, Iran has been viewed as the bastion of radical Islam and a sponsor of terrorism. The focus on its volatile internal politics and its foreign relations has, according to ...Kamrava, distracted attention from more subtle transformations which have been taking place there in the intervening years. With the death of Ayatollah Khomeini a more relaxed political environment opened up in Iran, which encouraged intellectual and political debate between learned elites and religious reformers. What emerged from these interactions were three competing ideologies which Kamrava categorises as conservative, reformist and secular. As the book aptly demonstrates, these developments, which amount to an intellectual revolution, will have profound and far-reaching consequences for the future of the Islamic republic, its people and very probably for countries beyond its borders. This thought-provoking account of the Iranian intellectual and cultural scene will confound stereotypical views of Iran and its mullahs.
InPrecarious Lives, Shahram Khosravi attempts to reconcile the paradoxes of Iranians' everyday life in the first decade of the twenty-first century. On the one hand, multiple circumstances of ...precarity give rise to a sense of hopelessness, shared visions of a futureless tomorrow, widespread home(land)lessness, intense individualism, and a growth of incivilities. On the other, daydreaming and hope, as well as civility and solidarity in political protests, street carnivals, and social movements, continue to persist. Young Iranians describe themselves as being stuck in purposelessness and forced to endure endless waiting, and they are also aware that they are perceived as unproductive and a burden on their society. Despite the aspirations and inspiration they possess, they find themselves forced into petrifying social and spatial immobility. Uncertainty in the present, a seemingly futureless tomorrow: these are the circumstances that Khosravi explores inPrecarious Lives.
Creating an intricate and moving portrait of contemporary Iranian life, Khosravi weaves together individual stories, government reports, statistics, and cultural analysis of art and literature to depict how Iranians react to the experience of precarity and the possibility of hope. Drawing on extensive ethnographic engagement with youth in Tehran and Isfahan as well as with migrant workers in rural areas, Khosravi examines the complexities and contradictions of everyday life in Iran.Precarious Livesis a vital work of contemporary anthropology that serves as a testament to the shared hardship and hope of the Iranian people.
This book is the first major study of provincial history in the Qajar period. Drawing extensively on unpublished Iranian and British documents, it explores the history of Mazandaran, a province in ...the Caspian region, during 1848-1914, when the province as a part of Iran was exposed to the policies of rival great powers, particularly Tzarist Russia. While showing socio-economic characteristics of Mazandaran and its potential for development, the book examines in detail the transformation of the traditional provincial community and economy in the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has entered its fourth decade, and the values and legacy of the Revolution it was founded upon continue to have profound and contradictory consequences for Iranian life. ...Despite the repressive power of the current regime the immense creativity of popular cultural practices, that negotiate and resist a repressive system, is a potent and dynamic force. This book draws on the expertise and experience of Iranian and international academics and activists to address diverse areas of social and cultural innovation that are driving change and progress. While religious conservatism remains the creed of the establishment, this volume uncovers an underground world of new technology, media and entertainment that speaks to women seeking a greater public role and a restless younger generation that organises and engages with global trends online.
This epic biography, a gripping insider's account, is a long-overdue chronicle of the life and times of Mohammad Reza Shah, who ruled from 1941 to 1979 as the last Iranian monarch. Gholam Reza ...Afkhami uses his unparalleled access to a large number of individuals—including high-ranking figures in the shah's regime, members of his family, and members of the opposition—to depict the unfolding of the shah's life against the forces and events that shaped the development of modern Iran. The first major biography of the Shah in twenty-five years, this richly detailed account provides a radically new perspective on key events in Iranian history, including the 1979 revolution, U.S.-Iran relations, and Iran's nuclear program. It also sheds new light on what now drives political and cultural currents in a country at the heart of today's most perplexing geopolitical dilemmas.
Slavery in the Middle East is a growing field of study, but the history of slavery in a key country, Iran, has never before been written. This history extends to Africa in the west and India in the ...east, to Russia and Turkmenistan in the north, and to the Arab states in the south. As the slave trade between Iran and these regions shifted over time, it transformed the nation and helped forge its unique culture and identity. Thus, a history of Iranian slavery is crucial to understanding the character of the modern nation. Drawing on extensive archival research in Iran, Tanzania, England, and France, as well as fieldwork and interviews in Iran, Behnaz A. Mirzai offers the first history of slavery in modern Iran from the early nineteenth century to emancipation in the mid-twentieth century. She investigates how foreign military incursion, frontier insecurity, political instability, and economic crisis altered the patterns of enslavement, as well as the ethnicity of the slaves themselves. Mirzai’s interdisciplinary analysis illuminates the complex issues surrounding the history of the slave trade and the process of emancipation in Iran, while also giving voice to social groups that have never been studied—enslaved Africans and Iranians. Her research builds a clear case that the trade in slaves was inexorably linked to the authority of the state. During periods of greater decentralization, slave trading increased, while periods of greater governmental autonomy saw more freedom and peace.
When and why did the United States policy of containment of Iran come about? How did it evolve? Where is it going?
Much has been said about the US policy of dual containment, particularly as it ...pertains to Iraq. However, there has been little in-depth analysis of this policy when it comes to Iran.
Sasan Fayazmanesh explores this often neglected subject by analyzing the history of this policy. The analysis includes the role that the Carter and Reagan Administrations played in the Iran-Iraq war, the numerous sanctions imposed on Iran by the Clinton Administration and the aggressive and confrontational policy toward Iran adopted by the George W. Bush Administration after the events of September 11, 2001.
This topical read synthesises a range of primary sources, including firsthand reports, newspaper articles and electronic media, and presents a coherent analysis of the ebbs and flows in the US thinking on Iran and Iraq.
1. Introduction 2. On the Origins of the Dual Containment Policy 2.1 The freeze of 1979 2.2. US giving the green light to Saddam Hussein to invade Iran 2.3 Overthrowing the Iranian Government and warming up to Saddam Hussein 2.4 Linking the threat of war to the hostages 2.5 Pox on both houses: The beginning of the dual containment policy 3. The Dual Containment Policy in the 1980s 3.1 Saddam Hussein’s "new, powerful secret weapon" 3.2 The Rumsfeld affair 3.3 The events of the early 1980s viewed in the early 2000s 3.4 The undeclared American war to save Saddam 3.5 USS Vincennes affair 3.6 Iran accepts the UN ceasefire 3.7 Playing both sides: pox on both houses 3.8 Moving against Saddam Hussein 4. Israel and the Dual Containment Policy 4.1 The Revolution of 1979: When the party is over 4.2 Israel, the Iran-Iraq war and Iran-Contra affair 4.3 A different game for Iran: Martin Indyk and the Washington Institute 4.4 AIPAC and the three "misbehaviors" of Iran 5. The Clinton Years and the Dual Containment Policy 5.1 Sanctions and more sanctions: Who is more loyal to Israel and hostile to Iran? 5.2 Strange bedfellows: MEK, US, Israel and Saddam Hussein 5.3 Enters the corporate lobby 5.4 The Corporate wind blows faster: the second half of the Clinton years 6. The "Neoconservatives," Dual Rollback and Israel 6.1 9/11 & the containment of Iraq 6.2 The new administration, AIPAC and renewal of ILSA 6.3 9/11, the courtship dance and the spoiler 6.4 The puzzling Karine-A affair 6.5 The "axis of evil" speech 6.6 Israel, "neoconservatives" and Iran 7. Pushing Iran to the Top of the "To Do" List 7.1 The MEK, its "revelation" and the Israeli connection 7.2 On the origin of Iran’s nuclear program 7.3 Earliest reports of the Iranian bomb 7.4 The guessing game and more "revelations" 7.5 More guessing game and the "revelation" 8. Paving the Road to the UN Security Council 8.1 The need for a smoking gun 8.2 Psychological warfare 8.3 Additional Protocol, EU 3, the war drum and the call for UN sanctions 8.4 The source of contamination, IAEA report and the smoking gun 8.5 The MEK, "neoconservatives" and Iran’s complicity in Iraq insurgency 8.6 Existential threat to Israel and the IAEA 8.7 Pressure mounts for referring Iran to the Security Council 8.8 The spy network 8.9 The case of Lavisan-Shian: A smoking gun? 8.10 The case of Parchin: Another smoking gun? 8.11 The Paris Agreement 8.12 Another IAEA resolution, Parchin and the attempt to remove ElBaradei 9. Iran is Referred to the Security Council 9.1 The "carrot and stick" policy 9.2 Another AIPAC policy conference focusing on Iran 9.3 Iran’s reaction to "carrot and stick" policy and the Iranian Presidential election 9.4 The end of the Paris Agreement 9.5 More forecasts about the Iranian nuclear bomb 9.6 Another IAEA report, Parchin and the Resolution of September 2005 9.7 Ahmadinejad and "wiping Israel off the map" 9.8 Parchin again and the mysterious laptop 9.9. The Russian "compromise" and its opponents 9.10 The final push for UN sanctions 9.11 The IAEA "update" and the full report 9.12 Iran’s referral to the Security Council 10. On the Road to UN Sanctions 10.1 Bringing democracy to Iran and the US public opinion 10.2 Another "largest ever" AIPAC conference 10.3 Rejection of another comprise solution and the first Security Council draft 10.4 The push for Chapter 7 resolution and threat of war 10.5 Another IAEA report, the alleged hidden program and ElBaradie’s plea 10.6 Iran, Nazi Germany and the yellow insignia 10.7 A new US strategy, the "carrot-and-stick" package 10.8 More sticks than carrots: Financial sanctions 10.9 Iran’s response to the "carrot and Stick" package and the August 22 deadline 10.10 UN Security Council Resolution 1696 10.11 Iran’s August 22 response to the "carrot and stick" package 10.12 US response: more sticks 11. Success at Last, UN Sanctions Imposed on Iran 11.1 No compromise, only sanctions 11.2 On the Israeli front 11.3 Almost there: Draft of UN Sanctions circulates 11.4 War drums beating before the UN resolution 11.5 Resolution 1737, the crown jewel of Iran containment 11.6 US’s proactive acts post Resolution 1737 11.7 Thinking beyond Bush and the 2007 Herzliya Conference 11.8 War or no war? 11.9 Another IAEA report, fabricated US intelligence and the laptop story 11.10 The US pushing for a second set of UN sanctions 11.11 Israel, another AIPAC conference and the second set of UN sanctions 11.12 Success again, UN Resolution 1747 12. Conclusion
'Fayazmanesh has done an admirable job of examining the origin of the US policy dual containment. Recommended. All readership levels.' - K.M.Zaarour, Shaw University, Choice, June 2009
Sasan Fayazmanesh is Professor of Economics and Co-Director of the Middle East Studies Project at California State University, Fresno, USA. His current areas of research include the political economy of the Middle East and monetary history and theory.
