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The Political Development of Iran (Political Science)

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  1. Introduction
  2.  
  3. Iran’s political development has undergone momentous changes over the past century: the advent of constitutionalism in 1906–1911; the period of absolutist rule and stealth modernization under two Pahlavi monarchs; the brief period of parliamentary democracy under the premiership of Mohammad Mossadeq; the Islamic revolution in 1979 with its attendant conservative, pragmatic, reformist, neoconservative, and neopragmatist incarnations. During each of these periods, Iranian society and politics underwent significant transformations that were often imposed from above. These changes were also compounded by the fact that Iran has historically occupied an important geopolitical position in international politics, a pawn in, and an irritant to, the great powers at the heart of the oil-rich Middle East. The diverse sources compiled below explore different dimensions of Iran’s political development over the past century. All of the sources are in English and most are works by highly respected scholars of Iran both inside and outside of the country.
  4.  
  5. General Overviews
  6.  
  7. Many general overviews and historical guides of Iran as a country and as an ancient civilization are available, but not many are solely devoted to the political development of Iran. The following selections showcase the most respected and widely cited works dealing with the political history of Iran. The Cambridge History of Iran series (Avery, et al. 1968–1991) along with Frye 1984 and Katouzian 2009 together offer a highly readable survey of Persian culture and politics across two and a half millennia of history, while Amir Arjomand 1984 elaborates on the intricate linkages between religion and politics in Iran. A good overview of modern political developments in Iran is Keddie 2006, which traces the origins of the 1979 revolution through the complex history of the 19th and 20th centuries in Iran. Lastly, the account in Mottahedeh 1985 of the intricate linkages among religion, tradition, and politics in post-revolutionary Iran is a wonderful narrative of some of the most interesting and vexing dynamics and contradictions in modern Iranian society.
  8.  
  9. Abrahamian, Ervand. A History of Modern Iran. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
  10. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511984402Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  11. An authoritative overview of Iranian political history and development from the eclipse of the Qajar dynasty to the failure of the reform movement under the Islamic Republic. An especially useful guide to 20th-century Iranian politics and society.
  12. Find this resource:
  13. Amir Arjomand, Said. The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam: Religion, Political Order, and Societal Change in Iran from the Beginning to 1890. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.
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  15. Reissued in 2010, this volume offers a comprehensive sociological and historical study of Shiʿism and politics of premodern Iran, with the aim of revealing the ideological foundations of the Islamic Republic.
  16. Find this resource:
  17. Ansari, Ali M. Iran: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
  18. DOI: 10.1093/actrade/9780199669349.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  19. In five short chapters, this book offers a succinct overview of Iranian mythology, history, culture, and politics from ancient Persia to today.
  20. Find this resource:
  21. Avery, Peter, J. A. Boyle, W. B. Fisher, et al., eds. The Cambridge History of Iran. Vols. 1–7. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1968–1991.
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  23. The definitive reference guide to Iran’s history, culture, politics, and economy, from the Medes to the Islamic Republic.
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  25. Frye, Richard N. The History of Ancient Iran. Munich: C. H. Beck, 1984.
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  27. Spanning a millennium and a half of ancient Persian history, this book offers an excellent introduction to the cultural and political lineages of Iranians.
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  29. Katouzian, Homa. The Persians: Ancient, Medieval and Modern Iran. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.
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  31. Provides a sweeping narrative account of Iran’s cultural and political development from ancient times to today, from a distinctly Iranian (as opposed to European) perspective.
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  33. Keddie, Nikki R. Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006.
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  35. An authoritative account of 20th-century Iranian politics as it culminated in the Islamic revolution in 1979. Also a great examination of the role of religion in society from the 1800s to today.
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  37. Mottahedeh, Roy. The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran. New York: Pantheon, 1985.
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  39. An insightful look at the everyday interplay of politics, culture, and religion in Iran, as told through the life of a young cleric.
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  41. Reference Materials
  42.  
  43. Many online and offline reference resources are available on political developments inside Iran. Among these the most comprehensive, authoritative, and well-known resource is the Encyclopædia Iranica, which contains entries on all aspects of Iran’s politics, culture, and society. Most of the other resources cited below offer brief overviews of different aspects of Iranian society, economy, and politics, but some, such as Tehran Bureau, International Crisis Group, or the Gulf/2000 Project, focus solely on the domestic and foreign relations of Iran. Other sources such as the Iran Primer, IranWire, and the United States Library of Congress contain the latest demographic, geopolitical, and political information on Iran, with links to related organizations, news, and other reference websites.
  44.  
  45. Curtis, Glenn E., and Eric Hooglund, eds. Iran: A Country Study. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 2008.
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  47. Offers an overview of Iran’s geography, society, politics, economy, government, major industries, and national security.
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  49. Encyclopædia Iranica. Edited by Ehsan Yarshater.
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  51. The most comprehensive reference guide to Iranian civilization in the Middle East, Caucasus region, Central Asia, and the India subcontinent.
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  53. The Gulf/2000 Project.
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  55. A very useful compendium both of online and offline resources on the foreign relations, domestic politics, and economy of Iran.
  56. Find this resource:
  57. International Crisis Group: Iran Unit.
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  59. A helpful compendium of recent major political developments in Iran, written and compiled by researchers and analysts from inside Iran.
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  61. The Iran Primer. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace.
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  63. One of the most comprehensive online guides to contemporary Iranian government, domestic politics, and geopolitics.
  64. Find this resource:
  65. IranWire
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  67. A joint online venture of a group of Iranian journalists and commentators in the diaspora, this is an excellent English-Persian resource for a roundup of news, political and cultural commentary, and photojournalism from both inside and outside of Iran.
  68. Find this resource:
  69. Tehran Bureau.
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  71. An exceptional online resource for news, commentary, and analysis by journalists inside and outside of Iran.
  72. Find this resource:
  73. Journals
  74.  
  75. Only one peer-reviewed English-language journal, Iranian Studies, has been solely devoted to socioeconomic, cultural, historical, and political developments in Iran. Another prominent journal, Iran Nameh, is also devoted solely to Iranian studies, but it features articles by prominent scholars in English as well as Farsi. Almost all respected academic journals focusing on the Middle East periodically feature important articles on Iran’s politics, economy, and foreign relations. The most prominent among these include Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East; International Journal of Middle East Studies; International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society; Middle East Report; and the Middle East Journal. One journal, the Iranian Journal of International Affairs, is published by the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and features articles exclusively on Iran’s foreign relations.
  76.  
  77. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
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  79. A highly respected, peer-reviewed journal featuring articles, roundtables, reviews, and special issues on the shared concerns and histories of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East regions.
  80. Find this resource:
  81. International Journal of Middle East Studies.
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  83. A highly respected journal in the field of Middle East Studies, this peer-reviewed journal features many insightful entries on different aspects of Iranian society and politics.
  84. Find this resource:
  85. International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society.
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  87. A peer-reviewed journal based out of the New School for Social Research, it often contains important articles on Iranian society, culture, and politics.
  88. Find this resource:
  89. Iran Nameh.
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  91. One of the oldest, most respected, bilingual (English and Farsi), peer-reviewed journals on Iranian culture, society, and politics. It is published quarterly by the Foundation for Iranian Studies.
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  93. Iranian Journal of International Affairs.
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  95. Published by the Institute for Political and International Studies (affiliated with Iran’s Foreign Ministry), it features essays and book reviews on the foreign relations of Iran.
  96. Find this resource:
  97. Iranian Studies.
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  99. Highly respected, peer-reviewed journal devoted solely to Iranian studies, it is published by the International Society for Iranian Studies. Features original scholarship, review essays, and book reviews by scholars both inside and outside of Iran.
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  101. Middle East Journal.
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  103. The flagship publication of the Middle East Institute, this peer-reviewed journal often features important articles, review essays, and book reviews on Iranian foreign and domestic affairs.
  104. Find this resource:
  105. Middle East Report.
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  107. The flagship journal of the Middle East Research and Information Project, it offers timely briefs and reflective articles on the political developments regarding Iran.
  108. Find this resource:
  109. The End of the Qajars and the Constitutional Revolution
  110.  
  111. At the outset of the 20th century, Iran was still under the despotic rule of the Qajar dynasty, a hereditary regime of Turkmen origin that had been in power since 1794. But during the years 1906–1911, Iran experienced a Constitutional revolution—the first of its kind in Asia—that established an independent parliament, extended the franchise, and reduced the monarch to a ceremonial figure. Browne 1910, written from the perspective of a British Orientalist with intimate knowledge of Iranian society, is widely regarded as an authoritative firsthand account of the revolution. As recounted in Afary 1996 and Martin 1989, the movement for constitutional reform and democracy consisted of an eclectic group of liberal clerics, secular intellectuals, and ethnic and nationalist leaders. Additionally, Bayat 1991 and Hairi 1977 explore the role of Shiʿi clergy in the debates about constitutionalism. Foreign imperial powers, most notably Great Britain, also played a role in the revolution, as highlighted in Bonakdarian 2006. The underlying debates of this period concerning the proper balance between religion and politics, tradition and modernity, and autonomy and equality, as it turned out, would dominate the course of Iranian political development into the early 21st century.
  112.  
  113. Afary, Janet. The Iranian Constitutional Revolution: 1906–1911. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996.
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  115. A comprehensive historical account and analysis of the Constitutional revolution, with special emphasis on the implications for gender relations in Iran.
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  117. Bayat, Mangol Philipp. Iran’s First Revolution: Shiʿism and the Constitutional Revolution of 1905–1909. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
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  119. A detailed account of the uneasy alliances among the clerical, mercantile, bureaucratic, and intellectual classes that introduced parliamentary democracy in Iran for the first time.
  120. Find this resource:
  121. Bonakdarian, Mansour. Britain and the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906–1911: Foreign Policy, Imperialism and Dissent. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2006.
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  123. A detailed account of British support for the Iranian Constitutional revolution in the years 1906–1911, which was directed against Anglo-Russian imperial interests as well as the autocratic elite in Iran.
  124. Find this resource:
  125. Browne, Edward G. The Persian Revolution of 1905–1909. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1910.
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  127. Written by a devoted opponent of Western imperialism in Iran, the book details the rise and accomplishments of the proconstitutionalist movement in Iran, despite persistent authoritarianism and imperialism.
  128. Find this resource:
  129. Chehabi, H. E., and Vanessa Martin, eds. Iran’s Constitutional Revolution: Popular Politics, Cultural Transformations, and Transnational Connections. New York: I. B. Tauris, 2010.
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  131. A comprehensive collection of essays by leading scholars of the constitutional period in Iran, this volume is organized around five themes: historiography, state-building, nation-building, intellectual and artistic initiatives, and transnational perspectives.
  132. Find this resource:
  133. Enayat, Hadi. Law, State, and Society in Modern Iran: Constitutionalism, Autocracy, and Legal Reform, 1906–1941. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
  134. DOI: 10.1057/9781137282026Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  135. An erudite investigation of the constitutional revolution and its consequences from an exclusively legal perspective. A very useful study of the interaction between politics, Shiʿa customary law, and institutional-building in modern Iran.
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  137. Hairi, Abdul Hadi. Shiʿism and Constitutionalism in Iran. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1977.
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  139. A well-documented account of the role of the Shiʿi clergy in the Constitutional revolution, their thoughts on the compatibility of Shiʿism and constitutionalism, and fissures within the clerical establishment of the time.
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  141. Martin, Vanessa. Islam and Modernism: The Iranian Revolution of 1906. London: I. B. Tauris, 1989.
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  143. Examines the relationship between the ulama (the clergy) and the state prior to and during the Constitutional revolution. It details the differences between reformist and conservative interpretations of Islam and constitutionalism that continue to inform Iranian politics more than a century later.
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  145. Modernization and Absolutism (Reza Shah, 1914–1941)
  146.  
  147. By the early 1910s, the political advances made by the Constitutional revolution had been roundly reversed, as the country suffered from a crisis of legitimacy and the government was all but paralyzed by instability in the northern provinces. By 1923, as Cronin 1996, Ghani 2000, and Katouzian 2006 show, an army commander by the name of Reza Khan seized control of Iran through a military coup, declared himself king (the shah), and established the Pahlavi dynasty. Reza Shah’s period of authoritarian rule (1926–1941) consisted of rapid modernization of Iran’s military, economy, and society, the results of which can be observed in Iran into the early 21st century (e.g., a vast network of national railroads, communications, and other infrastructure projects). Banani 1961 and Wilber 1975 each offer accounts of Reza Shah’s rule in this period, with the latter providing a more sympathetic reading. In 1941, the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union staged a massive invasion of Iran due to the refusal of Reza Shah to allow the transport of arms through Iranian territory in the war effort against Nazi Germany. The shah was forced to abdicate the throne in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Shah, an inexperienced but pliant alternative. Atabaki and Zurcher 2004 offers a very insightful comparative study of the domestic and international contexts surrounding Reza Shah’s Iran and Atatürk’s Turkey in this period.
  148.  
  149. Atabaki, Touraj, and Erik Jan Zurcher. Men of Order: Authoritarian Modernization in Turkey and Iran, 1918–1942. London: I. B. Tauris, 2004.
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  151. A comparative look at the emergence of Reza Shah and Atatürk in the aftermath of constitutional revolutions in Iran and the Ottoman Empire. The authors examine the origins and implications of these leaders’ parallel plans for modernization and Westernization of culture and politics.
  152. Find this resource:
  153. Banani, Amin. The Modernization of Iran, 1921–1941. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1961.
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  155. An excellent account of the social and political transformation of Iran in the public administration, economy, security, education, public health, and judiciary sectors.
  156. Find this resource:
  157. Cronin, Stephanie. The Army and the Creation of the Pahlavi State in Iran, 1921–1926. London: I. B. Tauris, 1996.
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  159. An excellent account of the role of the Iranian army, and of Reza Shah, in the creation and consolidation of royal absolutism in Iran.
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  161. Ghani, Cyrus. Iran and the Rise of Reza Shah: From Qajar Collapse to Pahlavi Power. London: I. B. Tauris, 2000.
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  163. Explains the demise of the Qajar dynasty in the early 20th century and the series of domestic and international (military coup financed by the British that brought Reza Khan to power) factors that led to the rise of Reza Khan and the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty.
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  165. Katouzian, Homa. State and Society in Iran: The Eclipse of the Qajars and the Emergence of the Pahlavis. London: I. B. Tauris, 2006.
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  167. Offers a comprehensive look at the rise and fall of Reza Shah Pahlavi in the context of the two world wars. In doing so, the book also reveals the seeds of many of the social, economic, and political problems that have engulfed the country since.
  168. Find this resource:
  169. Wilber, Donald. Riza Shah Pahlavi: The Resurrection and Reconstruction of Iran. New York: Exposition Press, 1975.
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  171. A sympathetic, pro-Pahlavi account of the impact of the reign of Reza Shah for the development and modernization of Iran, by one of the architects of the 1953 coup that overthrew the first democratically elected government in Iran.
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  173. Nationalism, Mohammad Mossadeq, and the 1953 Coup
  174.  
  175. A key democratic watershed moment in 20th-century Iran, as Azimi 1989 chronicles, was the period of parliamentary democracy under the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq (also spelled Mosaddegh, Musaddiq, Mosaddeq, among others), whose populism and nationalist rhetoric had started a realignment of politics in favor of representative government and the rule of law. Mossadeq took on British imperial oil interests in Iran and through parliamentary decree nationalized Iran’s oil industry in 1951. The biography of Mossadeq in Katouzian 1999 and the chronicle of the political turmoil surrounding his premiership illuminates this tumultuous period in Iran’s history. Fearing the loss of their influence in Iran, the British convinced the Eisenhower administration that Mossadeq was in fact a Communist sympathizer and that he would deliver Western interests in Iran to the Soviet Union. This led the Central Intelligence Agency to orchestrate a coup in 1953, which not only overthrew the first democratically elected government in the Middle East but also restored the Pahlavi dynasty to power under Mohammad Reza Shah. Gasiorowski and Byrne 2004 provides detailed, unclassified information on the 1953 coup and the resulting political crisis in Iran.
  176.  
  177. Abrahamian, Ervand. The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the Roots of Modern US-Iranian Relations. New York: New Press, 2013.
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  179. With the aid of new data from the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (a.k.a. British Petroleum) archives, this book offers a compelling investigation of the imperial imperatives behind the 1953 coup in Iran.
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  181. Ansari, Ali M. The Politics of Nationalism in Modern Iran. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
  182. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139020978Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  183. This book is broadly about the development and continued resonance of nationalism as an idea in the modern Iranian public imagination.
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  185. Azimi, Fakhreddin. Iran: The Crisis of Democracy: From the Exile of Reza Shah to the Fall of Mussadiq. London: I. B. Tauris, 1989.
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  187. Examines the period of contentious politics that arose in the aftermath of the ouster of Reza Shah and the resumption of parliamentary democracy.
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  189. Gasiorowski, Mark J., and Malcolm Byrne, eds. Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2004.
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  191. Insightful documentary look at the turbulent tenure of the Iranian premier, Mohammad Mossadeq. Offers a thorough chronicle of the political skirmishes between Mossadeq and Britain over the nationalization of oil and the coup that ended parliamentary democracy in Iran and restored the Pahlavis to power.
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  193. Katouzian, Homa. Musaddiq and the Struggle for Power in Iran. London: I. B. Tauris, 1999.
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  195. Offers an in-depth biography of Mohammad Mossadeq, who dominated parliamentary politics in Iran in this period. The book also examines the trajectory of his nationalist Popular Movement from the time of the CIA-sponsored coup to Mossadeq’s death in 1967.
  196. Find this resource:
  197. Kinzer, Stephen. All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2003.
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  199. A highly readable account of the 1953 coup, based on newly declassified documents. The narrative builds on primary source material gathered by scholars in the field.
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  201. Rahnema, Ali. Behind the 1953 Coup in Iran: Thugs, Turncoats, Soldiers, and Spooks. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
  202. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139875974Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  203. Drawing on a wealth of American, British and Iranian sources, Rahnema closely examines the four-day period between the first failed coup and the second successful attempt, investigating in fine detail how the two coups were conceptualized, rationalized and then executed by players on both the Anglo-American and Iranian sides.
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  205. Royal Dictatorship (Mohammad Reza Shah, 1953–1979)
  206.  
  207. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’s reign began in the aftermath of the CIA-backed coup that deposed the democratically elected government of Premier Mohammad Mossadeq. Saikal 1980 and Milani 2010 are the most authoritative accounts of the shah’s life and times to date. Throughout his tenure, the shah was not able to shed the impression that his regime was a puppet of Western interests and therefore devoid of popular legitimacy. Indeed, as is shown in Gasiorowski 1991 and Farmanfarmaian 1999, during this period Iran became in effect a client state of the United States, heavily dependent on American military and economic assistance. In an effort to broaden his base of support among the peasantry and to continue the project of modernizing Iranian society, the shah launched a series of ambitious reform plans dubbed the White Revolution. The centerpiece of these plans was land reform programs aimed at curbing the power of the landowning elite, which amounted to a feudal structure of influence. Other programs included extending the franchise to women, urban modernization plans, promotion of literacy and education, privatization of certain nationally owned industries, and certain anticorruption measures. Ironically, as Hooglund 1982 demonstrates, these programs helped to exacerbate some of the underlying tensions between different social and political classes, inevitably aligning the grievances of the working and rural classes with those of progressive and religious intelligentsia against the shah. Bashiriyeh 1984 offers a critical analysis of state policies under the shah in response to these movements. As Kapuściński 2006 chronicles, however, in the face of such grievances the shah’s regime grew more oppressive as the secret police, SAVAK, turned Iran into a virtual police state. On 16 January 1979, on the eve of the Islamic revolution, the Shah left Iran. He died of cancer in exile in Egypt. Abrahamian 1982, a seminal text, considers this period in the broader context of Pahlavi rule since the aftermath of the Constitutional revolution, the troubled journey of popular nationalist movements, and the rise of the religious clergy.
  208.  
  209. Abrahamian, Ervand. Iran between Two Revolutions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982.
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  211. An in-depth, authoritative analysis of the major religious-, ethnic-, and class-based factors between the period of the Constitutional and Islamic revolutions in Iran.
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  213. Alvandi, Roham. Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah: The United States and Iran in the Cold War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.
  214. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199375691.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  215. An original scholarly look at the evolution of Iranian foreign policy from clientelism to partnership under the Shah.
  216. Find this resource:
  217. Bashiriyeh, Hossein. The State and Revolution in Iran, 1962–1982. London: Croom Helm, 1984.
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  219. A broad, theoretical inquiry into the evolution of the Pahlavi state, the rise of Islamic nationalism, and the causes of the Islamic revolution.
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  221. Farmanfarmaian, Manucher. Blood and Oil: Inside the Shah’s Iran. 2d ed. New York: Modern Library, 1999.
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  223. Written by a member of one of the most prominent aristocratic families in Iran, who also served as the director of the National Iranian Oil Company, this book offers a firsthand chronicle of the British era in the Middle East, the rise of oil politics, and the demise of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.
  224. Find this resource:
  225. Gasiorowski, Mark J. U.S. Foreign Policy and the Shah: Building a Client State in Iran. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991.
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  227. An in-depth documentary examination of the rationale behind, and the negative consequences of, American military and economic assistance to Mohammad Reza Shah.
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  229. Hooglund, Eric J. Land and Revolution in Iran, 1960–1980. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982.
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  231. One of the most comprehensive studies of the shah’s so-called White Revolution. The book chronicles how the shah’s policies transferred power from landlords to the government at the expense of the peasantry, who migrated to the cities and helped bring about the Islamic revolution.
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  233. Kapuściński, Ryszard. Shah of Shahs. London: Penguin Group, 2006.
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  235. A widely acclaimed account of the final years of Mohammad Reza Shah’s reign in Iran. The author perceptively chronicles the inherent contradictions at the heart of the Pahlavi regime, which would lead to the Islamic revolution.
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  237. Milani, Abbas. The Shah. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
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  239. A critically acclaimed and the most up-to-date biography of the Shah, based on five hundred interviews with his close associates, foreign observers, and opponents.
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  241. Saikal, Amin. The Rise and Fall of the Shah: Iran from Autocracy to Religious Rule. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980.
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  243. Examines the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in the context of his regime’s dependence on Western powers and increasing alienation from the Iranian public. Argues that the fall of the regime was due largely to the inherent contradictions in the shah’s domestic and foreign policies.
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  245. The 1979 Revolution
  246.  
  247. The Islamic revolution featured a broad coalition composed of secular and religious intellectuals, nationalists, unionists, feminists, students, seminarians, the working classes, bazaar merchants, and a host of other exiled groups united together against Western imperialism and domestic tyranny. A range of explanations are given for why and how the revolution occurred, as best chronicled and explained in Amir Arjomand 1988, Kurzman 2005, and Milani 1994. The charismatic leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, as Bakhash 1984 argues, served to unite otherwise incompatible beliefs and actors around the single cause of overthrowing the Pahlavi monarchy. Khomeini’s writings and the Islamic ideology behind his political views are compiled in Khomeini 1981 and explained in Abrahamian 1993, Dabashi 1993, and Martin 2003. In the immediate aftermath of the revolution, many of these differences resulted in open confrontations between religious nationalist, leftist, and secular factions on one side, and the hardline followers of Khomeini on the other. The secular nationalist government of Mehdi Bazargan eventually had to resign in frustration following the US embassy seizure and hostage taking by radical supporters of Khomeini. The hostage crisis, which lasted 444 days, remains a key source of enmity between the United States and the Islamic regime in Iran to this day.
  248.  
  249. Abrahamian, Ervand. Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
  250. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  251. Offers a collection of Khomeini’s writings, speeches, and interviews that speak most directly to his social, political, and cultural beliefs.
  252. Find this resource:
  253. Amir Arjomand, Said. The Turban for the Crown: The Islamic Revolution in Iran. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
  254. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  255. Considers an array of historical, sociological, political, and religious factors that contributed to the events (from the early 18th century to the late 20th century) that brought about the Islamic revolution in Iran.
  256. Find this resource:
  257. Bakhash, Shaul. The Reign of the Ayatollahs: Iran and the Islamic Revolution. New York: Basic Books, 1984.
  258. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  259. A detailed analysis of the deep divisions between members of the clergy and the secular-nationalist members of Iran’s government in the immediate aftermath of the revolution.
  260. Find this resource:
  261. Dabashi, Hamid. Theology of Discontent: The Ideological Foundations of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. New York: New York University Press, 1993.
  262. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  263. Examines the revolutionary thoughts of some of the leading Islamic public intellectuals in the decades preceding the revolution, and after, in Iran and the wider Islamic world.
  264. Find this resource:
  265. Khomeini, Ruhollah. Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini. Translated and annotated by Hamid Algar. Berkeley, CA: Mizan, 1981.
  266. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  267. The collection of Khomeini’s key speeches and writings in English in the periods before, during, and immediately after the revolution.
  268. Find this resource:
  269. Kurzman, Charles. The Unthinkable Revolution in Iran. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005.
  270. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  271. Examines the five conventional sets of explanations (political, organizational, cultural, economic, and military) for why the revolution took place, but finds each insufficient. In their place, the author posits an “anti-explanation” thesis, which emphasizes the contingency and unpredictability of revolutionary movements.
  272. Find this resource:
  273. Martin, Vanessa. Creating an Islamic State: Khomeini and the Making of a New Iran. London: I. B. Tauris, 2003.
  274. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  275. A meditation on the ideological origins of the Islamic Republic, this book argues that much of Khomeini’s political thinking was influenced by Western philosophies and concepts such as Plato’s notion of the philosopher-king and Marxist/Leninist views on state power and centralization.
  276. Find this resource:
  277. Milani, Mohsen M. The Making of Iran’s Islamic Revolution: From Monarchy to Islamic Republic. 2d ed. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1994.
  278. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  279. Offers a comprehensive, highly documented, eminently readable guide to the causes and consequences of the Islamic revolution. It makes for a great research source and pedagogical tool in the classroom.
  280. Find this resource:
  281. The Iran-Iraq War
  282.  
  283. The Iran-Iraq war, one of the longest conventional military conflicts of the 20th century, began in September 1980, when Iraqi troops invaded Iran, and ended in August 1988, after both sides accepted the terms of a UN-brokered cease-fire. The conflict had its roots in longstanding border disputes over the Shatt al-Arab waterway (an access point for Iraq to the Persian Gulf) between the two countries. But Saddam Hussein was especially compelled to take advantage of the post-revolution political turmoil in Iran in order to redress fears of a similar uprising by the Shiʿa majority in Iraq. This assumption, was proven wrong, as the war effort united the Iranian public against Iraq and helped Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to consolidate power and secure a revolutionary base. Two of the best accounts of the war can be found in Chubin and Tripp 1988 and Hiro 1990, both of which draw substantially on official and civilian sources. As Karsh 2002 shows, at various intervals during the war Iraq used lethal chemical weapons against Iranian troops as well as against Iraqi Kurds, whom Saddam suspected of being sympathetic to Iran. Having inflicted more than one million casualties and costing well over a trillion dollars in economic damages, the war devastated both Iranian and Iraqi societies, as ably chronicled in Potter and Sick 2004. The role of third parties was significant in this conflict, as nearly all the texts below explain. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab neighbors, in addition to substantial covert assistance from the United States and the Soviet Union, helped to finance Iraq’s war effort. The most up-to-date consideration of the war and its legacy for Iran’s relationship with the United States can be found in Blight, et al. 2012, which draws on testimonies by former officials and recently declassified documents to impart new insight about decision making on both sides.
  284.  
  285. Ashton, Nigel, and Bryan Gibson. The Iran-Iraq War: New International Perspectives. New York: Routledge, 2013.
  286. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  287. This volume offers a wide-ranging examination of the IranIraq War (1980–1988), featuring fresh regional and international perspectives derived from recently available archival material.
  288. Find this resource:
  289. Blight, James G., Janet M. Lang, Hussein Banai, Malcolm Byrne, and John Tirman. Becoming Enemies: U.S.-Iran Relations and the Iran-Iraq War, 1979–1988. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012.
  290. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  291. Offers new insights about the rise and consolidation of the enmity between the United States and Iran during the Iran-Iraq war, in which the United States actively supported Saddam Hussein. With the help of recently declassified governmental documents, interviews with former officials, and a critical oral-history method, the authors offer a new interpretation of the decision making during the war.
  292. Find this resource:
  293. Byrne, Malcolm. Iran-Contra: Reagan’s Scandal and the Unchecked Abuse of Presidential Power. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2014.
  294. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  295. The most comprehensive account of the Iran-Contra scandal, based on unprecedented access to presidential papers, newly declassified government documents, and interviews with key principals.
  296. Find this resource:
  297. Chubin, Shahram, and Charles Tripp. Iran and Iraq at War. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1988.
  298. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  299. Chronicles the causes, dynamics, and implications of the Iran-Iraq war, with an eye toward the role played by the great powers in ensuring the continuation of the conflict.
  300. Find this resource:
  301. Hiro, Dilip. The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict. New York: Routledge, 1990.
  302. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  303. Explores the causes of the war in Iran and Iraq and the consequences of the war for both countries. It serves as a useful chronicle of the war from the vantage point of both countries as well as the international community.
  304. Find this resource:
  305. Karsh, Efraim. The Iran-Iraq War, 1980–88. Oxford: Osprey, 2002.
  306. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  307. A brief but useful overview of the conflict, its roots, and its consequences for the region and for both countries.
  308. Find this resource:
  309. Murray, Williamson, and Kevin Woods. The Iran-Iraq War: A Military and Strategic History. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
  310. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781107449794Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  311. Using an extensive cache of captured Iraqi government archives, this book provides a hitherto neglected analysis of the military decisions and political history of the war, with insights from the Iraqi chain of command. A very useful complement to Iranian and American accounts of the war.
  312. Find this resource:
  313. Potter, Lawrence G., and Gary G. Sick, eds. Iran, Iraq, and the Legacies of War. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
  314. DOI: 10.1057/9781403980427Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  315. Places the eight-year war in the context of a historical enmity between Iran and Iraq. Offers in-depth analyses of the use of a range of strategies and tactics (political as well as military and economic) by both sides in the war effort. This volume also explores the role of the United States, the Soviet Union, and other powers during the war.
  316. Find this resource:
  317. Reform and the Crisis of State Shiʿism
  318.  
  319. The advent of the reform movement in Iran can be traced back to the crisis of succession after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989, when the former president, Ali Khamenei, was appointed as Supreme Leader by the Council of Experts. During this period, as both Brumberg 2001 and Wright 2001 ably demonstrate, a loose cohort of liberal-minded clerics and intellectuals envisaged an opportunity to speak out against some of the excesses of the regime and push for reforms in the Majles (the parliament), reclaiming and seeking to enforce some of the republican elements of the constitution of the Islamic Republic. It was at this juncture that two competing visions of the Islamic Republic within the regime began to take shape. Dilemmas of this period are best summarized in the collection of essays in Esposito and Ramazani 2001. As each side used its newspapers and propaganda outlets to denounce the ideas of the other, progressive groups and networks that had either succumbed to apathy or were forced to become dormant seized the opportunity and set about creating a coalition for reform. Sadri 2001 offers an excellent overview of the range of reformist schools of thought that were spawned in this period. The result was the highly surprising election of the reformist cleric Mohammad Khatami in 1997 as president, followed by a landslide victory of reformists in the Majles elections. Ultimately, Khatami’s tenure ended in frustration and deep disappointment as the powerful organs of government under the control of ultraconservative supporters of the Supreme Leader successfully blocked reformers’ attempts at amending the constitution and enacting more progressive laws.
  320.  
  321. Brumberg, Daniel. Reinventing Khomeini: The Struggle for Reform in Iran. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001.
  322. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  323. Explores the political developments that led to the advent of the reform movement in Iran. Argues that the movement for reform was the logical result of the contradictory ideals of the revolution itself, and not a phenomenon in direct opposition to it.
  324. Find this resource:
  325. Esposito, John L., and R. K. Ramazani, eds. Iran at the Crossroads. New York: Palgrave, 2001.
  326. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  327. A collection of critical and exploratory essays considering the sociocultural, economic, and international challenges facing Iran in the aftermath of the reform movement.
  328. Find this resource:
  329. Sadri, Ahmad. “The Varieties of Religious Reform: Public Intelligentsia in Iran.” International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society 15.2 (Winter 2001): 271–282.
  330. DOI: 10.1023/A:1012925202685Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  331. Offers a good examination of the varieties of reformist thought among religious intellectuals.
  332. Find this resource:
  333. Soroush, Abdolkarim. Reason, Freedom, and Democracy in Islam: Essential Writings of Abdolkarim Soroush. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
  334. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  335. Written by the intellectual inspiration behind the reform movement in Iran, this book advances religious arguments in favor of democratic governance, and as such it argues for the compatibility of Islam and democracy in Iran.
  336. Find this resource:
  337. Tamini, Ghoncheh. Khatami’s Iran: The Islamic Republic and the Turbulent Path To Reform. London: I. B. Tauris, 2013.
  338. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  339. A sympathetic introduction to the personal background and the political career of Mohammad Khatami, the reformist president of Iran (1997–2005), and the movement he helped to inspire.
  340. Find this resource:
  341. Wright, Robin. The Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation in Iran. New York: Vintage, 2001.
  342. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  343. Offers a journalistic account of the evolution of Iranian society in the years since the Islamic revolution, but especially since the advent of the reform movement in Iran.
  344. Find this resource:
  345. Political Economy
  346.  
  347. For much of the past century, Iran’s economy has been hampered by its political difficulties in the international community. Issawi 1971 provides an excellent and authoritative background on Iran’s economy in the century prior to the rapid and systemic implementation of industrial policies. A major exporter of oil and gas in the world, Iran’s economy is heavily reliant on import markets and international partners for the sale and transport of its petroleum products. Some of the sources, such as Sampson 1975, Katouzian 1981, Karshenas 1990, and Amuzegar 2014, deal with the political implications of the oil sector. As a result of comprehensive sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States and western European countries, the government lacks the ability to attract foreign investments and sustain long-term growth. Consequently, as most of the references, but especially Rahnema and Behdad 1998, indicate, the Iranian government has had to implement an inefficient subsidies regime to keep the price of fuel and other goods and services artificially low. As the essays collected in Alizadeh 2000 convincingly show, a toxic combination of political repression, mounting inflation and unemployment, and isolation from the global economy have also resulted in the migration of much of Iran’s intellectual capital and talent pool to countries in Europe and North America. Nomani and Behdad 2006 offers a unique window into the politics of class and labor movements in post-revolutionary Iran, an important but often-neglected aspect of Iran’s political economy. An equally pioneering study, Keshavarzian 2007 examines the intricate relationship between the bazaar (i.e., the marketplace run by the politically influential merchant class) and the state.
  348.  
  349. Alizadeh, Parvin, ed. The Economy of Iran: Dilemmas of an Islamic State. London: I. B. Tauris, 2000.
  350. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  351. Provides an overview of the principal social, political, and economic issues facing Iranian society after the expansion of the state under the Islamic Republic.
  352. Find this resource:
  353. Amuzegar, Jahangir. The Islamic Republic of Iran: Reflections on an Emerging Economy. New York: Routledge, 2014.
  354. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  355. This volume is an in-depth study of Iran’s economic planning and development under five different presidencies since the 1979 revolution. It offers analysis of public finance, employment, banking, the petroleum sector, privatizations trends, and the exchange rate.
  356. Find this resource:
  357. Issawi, Charles. The Economic History of Iran, 1800–1914. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971.
  358. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  359. This study offers a comprehensive collection of source materials on the economic development of Iran in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It does so by looking at the development of social classes, foreign trade, transportation, agriculture, industry, petroleum, and public finance.
  360. Find this resource:
  361. Karshenas, Massoud. Oil, State and Industrialization in Iran. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
  362. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  363. Considers the problems and possibilities encountered by Iran in enacting structural changes and cultivating economic growth during the years 1953–1977.
  364. Find this resource:
  365. Katouzian, Homa. The Political Economy of Modern Iran: Despotism and Pseudo Modernism, 1926–1979. New York: New York University Press, 1981.
  366. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-04778-9Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  367. An examination of Iran’s political and economic development under the Pahlavi dynasty of Reza Khan and Mohammad Reza Shah.
  368. Find this resource:
  369. Keshavarzian, Arang. Bazaar and State in Iran: The Politics of the Tehran Marketplace. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
  370. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511492228Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  371. A comprehensive comparative study of the Tehran marketplace under the Pahlavis (who sought to undermine it) and the clerical regime (which sought to preserve it as an Islamic institution), respectively.
  372. Find this resource:
  373. Maloney, Suzanne. Iran’s Political Economy Since the Revolution. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
  374. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139023276Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  375. A fresh and insightful survey of Iran’s economic and political development since the inception of the Islamic Republic, based on new data and interviews with American and Iranian officials.
  376. Find this resource:
  377. Nomani, Farhad, and Sohrab Behdad. Class and Labor in Iran: Did the Revolution Matter? Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2006.
  378. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  379. Examines the effect of post-revolutionary policies, Islamic populism, the Iran-Iraq war, and successive economic crises on class relations and the workforce in Iran.
  380. Find this resource:
  381. Rahnema, Saeed, and Sohrab Behdad. Iran after the Revolution: The Crisis of an Islamic State. London: I. B. Tauris, 1998.
  382. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  383. A critical assessment of the ideological handling of social and economic policy in the Islamic Republic. The state, the authors argue, has failed to address the bases of persistent inequality in society and, in fact, has induced new forms of injustice through its trenchant conservatism.
  384. Find this resource:
  385. Sampson, Anthony. The Seven Sisters: The Great Oil Companies and the World They Shaped. New York: Bantam, 1975.
  386. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  387. A lucid, journalistic account of the role of the seven largest oil conglomerates—Exxon, Mobil, Standard Oil of California, British Petroleum, Royal Dutch Shell, Texaco, and Gulf—that helped shape the politics of modern Middle Eastern states such as Iran for most of the 20th century.
  388. Find this resource:
  389. Foreign Relations
  390.  
  391. For much of its existence as a nation-state, Iran has occupied a special, often-contentious place in international politics. Ramazani 1966 offers an excellent historical guide to the study of Iran’s foreign relations over nearly five centuries. As a modern successor to an ancient civilization and empire in the Middle East, Iran has always had contentious relations with its Arab neighbors to the west and in the Persian Gulf. As a country with a predominantly Shiʿi Persian majority, Iran’s foreign policy toward Arab states has historically ranged from chauvinism to accommodation, with the latter increasingly the case under the Islamic Republic. Obviously, Iran’s relations with Western countries have been tumultuous for much of the past century, since the early 1900s, but especially in light of the Islamic revolution, the deep-seated enmity with Israel and the United States, and Iran’s controversial nuclear program. Takeyh 2008 offers explanations of the causes and dynamics of the enmity between Iran and the West (principally the United States), while Ansari 2006 and Adib-Moghaddam 2008 offer more critical meditations on the foreign policy of Western powers toward Iran. The readings below are meant to offer both a historical and a contemporary examination of some of the dominant patterns of continuity and change in Iran’s foreign relations since the early 20th century.
  392.  
  393. Adib-Moghaddam, Arshin. Iran in World Politics: The Question of the Islamic Republic. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.
  394. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  395. Provides a politico-cultural examination of the evolution of Iranian foreign-policy culture and thinking under the Islamic Republic.
  396. Find this resource:
  397. Ansari, Ali. Confronting Iran: The Failure of American Policy and the Roots of Mistrust. London: Hurst, 2006.
  398. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  399. Examines the historical trajectory of US-Iran relations from the interwar period to today.
  400. Find this resource:
  401. Crist, David. The Twilight War: the Secret History of America’s Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran. New York: Penguin, 2013.
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  403. Written by a historian of American foreign relations, this volume draws on unprecedented access to American officials and key documents to offer an in-depth strategic analysis of the covert and overt dimensions of US-Iran conflict.
  404. Find this resource:
  405. Ehteshami, Anoushiravan, and Mahjoob Zweiri, eds. Iran’s Foreign Policy: From Khatami to Ahmadinejad. Reading, UK: Ithaca, 2011.
  406. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  407. A collection of essays by academics and former government officials on the changing rationales and trajectories of Iran’s foreign policy under presidents Khatami and Ahmadinejad.
  408. Find this resource:
  409. Hunter, Shireen T. Iran’s Foreign Policy in the Post-Soviet Era: Resisting the New International Order. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2010.
  410. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  411. This book offers an in-depth survey of Iran’s foreign policy across a range of issues and with respect to a host of consequential countries in Iran’s zone of engagement and beyond.
  412. Find this resource:
  413. Parsi, Trita. Treacherous Alliance: the Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.
  414. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  415. This book traces the shifting relations among Israel, Iran, and the United States from 1948 to the present, uncovering for the first time the details of secret alliances, treacherous acts, and unsavory political maneuverings that have undermined Middle Eastern stability and disrupted US foreign policy initiatives in the region.
  416. Find this resource:
  417. Ramazani, Ruhollah K. The Foreign Policy of Iran, 1500–1941: A Developing Nation in World Affairs. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1966.
  418. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  419. A thorough examination of Iranian foreign relations through various dynasties, regimes, wars, and disputes over the past half millennium.
  420. Find this resource:
  421. Takeyh, Ray. Guardians of the Revolution: Iran and the World in the Age of the Ayatollahs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
  422. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  423. Argues that Iran’s foreign policies are often determined by domestic political considerations, and that the West’s treatment of Iran as a monolith only imperils efforts to resolve long-standing differences with the Islamic regime.
  424. Find this resource:
  425. Contemporary Politics
  426.  
  427. Contemporary politics in Iran in the aftermath of Ayatollah Khomeini’s death are dominated by ongoing tensions between radical conservatives and moderate or reformist clerics and intellectuals. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lead the radical conservatives, while the clerics and intellectuals are represented by former president Mohammad Khatami, former speaker of parliament Mehdi Karoubi, and, since the disputed presidential election in 2009, former wartime prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Amir Arjomand 2009 provides a thorough overview and examination of the political landscape in contemporary Iran. Ehteshami and Zweiri 2007 explains the rise of a new cohort of neoconservatives led by Ahmadinejad and allied with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Gheissari 2009 and Katouzian and Shahidi 2008 offer impressions of the social, political, and economic landscape of Iran in the contemporary era.
  428.  
  429. Amir Arjomand, Said. After Khomeini: Iran under His Successors. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
  430. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  431. A critical look at Iranian politics in the post-Khomeini era, in a broad historical and sociological interpretive framework.
  432. Find this resource:
  433. Ehteshami, Anoushiravan, and Mahjoob Zweiri. Iran and the Rise of Its Neoconservatives: The Politics of Tehran’s Silent Revolution. London: I. B. Tauris, 2007.
  434. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  435. Examines the nexus of ideological, economic, and religious forces (the “neoconservatives”) that helped bring Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.
  436. Find this resource:
  437. Gheissari, Ali, ed. Contemporary Iran: Economy, Society, Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
  438. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  439. An excellent compilation of reflections on, and analyses of, the contemporary economic, social, and political policies and dilemmas facing Iran in the post-Khomeini era.
  440. Find this resource:
  441. Hunter, Shireen T. Divided Iran: The Historical Roots of Iranian Debates on Identity, Culture, and Governance in the Twenty-First Century. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.
  442. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  443. This book looks beyond the battle between the forces of reform and reaction, democracy and dictatorship, and considers the historic forces that created the conditions faced by Iran since the revolution.
  444. Find this resource:
  445. Katouzian, Homa, and Hossein Shahidi. Iran in the 21st Century: Politics, Economics and Conflict. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2008.
  446. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  447. A comprehensive, thematic consideration of the range of challenges and possibilities facing Iranian society in the 21st century.
  448. Find this resource:
  449. Modern Iranian Political and Intellectual Movements
  450.  
  451. As the sources selected below demonstrate, the battle of ideas has been crucial to Iran’s political development (Boroujerdi 1996) between intellectuals of various ideological stripes: liberal-nationalists, secularists, Marxist-Leninists, radical Islamists, liberal democrats, etc. As Gheissari 1998, Jahanbegloo 2004, and Mirsepassi 2000 explain, for much of the 20th century, Iranian political thought was dominated by reactions both of religious and secular intellectuals to the tradition-versus-modernity debate on a range of issues such as gender, representation, and power relations. These debates no longer define the content of intellectual debates; however, as Kamrava 2008 and Milani 1992 chronicle, more organic modes of democratic thought and activity have developed. The readings in this section also explore the trajectory of various political movements, such as the Iranian Left (Behrooz 1994 and Cronin 2004) and the religious Right (Chehabi 1990), over the course of the 20th century.
  452.  
  453. Behrooz, Maziar. Rebels with a Cause: The Failure of the Left in Iran. London: I. B. Tauris, 1994.
  454. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  455. This book explores the multifaceted reasons behind the failure of leftist politics in Iran throughout the 20th century, thereby refuting conventional monocausal explanations. It serves as a good analysis of the Left in Iran.
  456. Find this resource:
  457. Boroujerdi, Mehrzad. Iranian Intellectuals and the West: The Tormented Triumph of Nativism. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1996.
  458. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  459. Demonstrates how mutual misunderstandings about Iran and the West have informed the thoughts and identities of Iranian and Western intellectuals. A good overview of some of the most prominent Iranian public intellectuals.
  460. Find this resource:
  461. Chehabi, Houchang E. Iranian Politics and Religious Modernism: The Liberation Movement of Iran under the Shah and Khomeini. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990.
  462. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  463. Offers a detailed sociological study of the Liberation Movement of Iran’s struggles both against the shah and Khomeini’s vision of absolute theocracy.
  464. Find this resource:
  465. Cronin, Stephanie, ed. Reformers and Revolutionaries in Modern Iran: New Perceptions of the Iranian Left. London: Routledge, 2004.
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  467. A comprehensive reconsideration of the Iranian Left’s rise and fall in the 20th century. This volume offers a diverse set of perspectives on the Left’s historical significance to the political development of Iran.
  468. Find this resource:
  469. Gheissari, Ali. Iranian Intellectuals in the 20th Century. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998.
  470. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  471. An excellent survey of Iranian intellectual thought from the Constitutional revolution to the Islamic Republic.
  472. Find this resource:
  473. Jahanbegloo, Ramin, ed. Iran: Between Tradition and Modernity. Oxford: Lexington Books, 2004.
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  475. Examines the crisis of identity and ensuing cognitive dissonance following the triumph of religious conservatives over their secular progressive counterparts at the time of the 1979 revolution. Explores the discursive relationship among modernity, theology, gender relations, and power in Iranian society.
  476. Find this resource:
  477. Kamrava, Mehrdad. Iran’s Intellectual Revolution. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
  478. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511756146Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  479. Surveys the origins and evolution of three intricately linked yet distinct ideological camps—conservative, reformist, and secular—in the Islamic Republic in the aftermath of the death of Ayatollah Khomeini.
  480. Find this resource:
  481. Milani, Farzaneh. Veils and Words: The Emerging Voices of Iranian Writers. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 1992.
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  483. The first major work devoted to the study of major female literary figures in Iran. It argues that the 19th-century campaign to unveil women was the result of the emergence of women as literary figures.
  484. Find this resource:
  485. Mirsepassi, Ali. Intellectual Discourse and the Politics of Modernization: Negotiating Modernity in Iran. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
  486. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511489242Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  487. An exploration of the concept of modernity in the context of 20th-century political and sociocultural developments in Iran.
  488. Find this resource:
  489. Gender and Politics
  490.  
  491. Whether campaigning against misogynist family laws, fighting for reproductive rights, striving to establish advocacy groups and rights-based organizations, or demanding equal wages or equal access to education, women’s movements have been on the front lines of progressive struggles against social repression by conservative cultural forces (e.g., Islamist movements and entrenched patriarchal social structures) from below and oppressive state policies from above. Moghissi 1994 and Moghissi 2000 illuminate the troubled relationship between supposedly progressive intellectual discourse and feminism in the context of post-revolution Iran. Mir-Hosseini 1999 offers an illuminating survey of the diversity of viewpoints among religious intellectuals on the legal rights of women in an Islamic state. Women’s plight and quest for basic social and political rights are documented in Afshar 1998, Beck and Neshat 2004, and Esfandiari 1997. Osanloo 2004 considers such travails in the context of struggles for human rights in Iran, while Sedghi 2007 considers similar questions through an examination of the issue of women’s veiling, forced unveiling, and forced reveiling in 20th-century Iran. Afary 2009 is the most recent examination of all these issues since the 19th century and has the added advantage of considering them in the context of the contemporary legitimation crisis in Iran.
  492.  
  493. Afary, Janet. Sexual Politics in Modern Iran. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
  494. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511815249Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  495. Charts the history of gender and sexuality since the 19th century in Iran. The author argues that Iran is still undergoing a sexual revolution today, one that is promoting gender equality and leading to legal and political reforms.
  496. Find this resource:
  497. Afshar, Haleh. Islam and Feminisms: An Iranian Case-Study. New York: St. Martin’s, 1998.
  498. DOI: 10.1057/9780230374539Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  499. A thorough examination of the efforts of Islamic feminists who use their command of religious texts and prophetic traditions to fundamentally challenge dominant interpretations of Shiʿi Islam and effect change.
  500. Find this resource:
  501. Beck, Lois, and Guity Neshat, eds. Women in Iran: From 1800 to the Islamic Republic. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004.
  502. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  503. A collection of essays chronicling the interplay between gender and politics in Iran since 1800, with equal emphasis on other factors such as class, ethnicity, and religion.
  504. Find this resource:
  505. Esfandiari, Haleh. Reconstructed Lives: Women and Iran’s Islamic Revolution. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.
  506. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  507. Provides a testimonial account of professional urban women’s roles and plight in the Islamic Republic. It demonstrates the resilience of women from all strata of society in Iran.
  508. Find this resource:
  509. Mahdavi, Pardis. Passionate Uprisings: Iran’s Sexual Revolution. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008.
  510. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  511. An original anthropological study of the remarkable changes in sexual attitudes and practices—and their attendant cultural and political consequences—among Iranian youth.
  512. Find this resource:
  513. Mir-Hosseini, Ziba. Islam and Gender: The Religious Debate in Contemporary Iran. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999.
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  515. A meditation on the treatment of gender in Islamic jurisprudence. The author surveys a variety of religious viewpoints on the relationship between Sharia law and gender, through interviews with clerics and religious figures in Iran.
  516. Find this resource:
  517. Moghissi, Haideh. Populism and Feminism in Iran: Women’s Struggle in a Male-Defined Revolutionary Movement. New York: St. Martin’s, 1994.
  518. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  519. This study argues that the convergence of leftist revolutionary politics and Shiʿi populism betrayed women activists’ claims to individual freedoms and legal rights in the aftermath of the Islamic revolution.
  520. Find this resource:
  521. Moghissi, Haideh. Feminism and Islamic Fundamentalism: The Limits of Postmodern Analysis. London: Zed Books, 2000.
  522. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  523. This highly acclaimed study argues that postmodern critiques of power relations and imperial contexts have also paradoxically contributed to reifying patriarchy and serving power as regards the relationship between radical Islam and feminism.
  524. Find this resource:
  525. Osanloo, Arzoo. The Politics of Women’s Rights in Iran. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004.
  526. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  527. An ethnographic study of postrevolutionary politics surrounding women’s rights and issues. The author argues that women’s groups have used a hybrid discourse of Islamic individualism and Islamic principles to register their claims in justifying their rights.
  528. Find this resource:
  529. Sedghi, Hamideh. Women and Politics in Iran: Veiling, Unveiling, and Reveiling. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
  530. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511510380Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  531. This study examines the reasons behind urban women’s veiling in 1900, Reza Shah’s unveiling of women in 1936, and the policy of reveiling in the aftermath of the Islamic revolution.
  532. Find this resource:
  533. Prospects for Democracy
  534.  
  535. The century-long struggle for democracy in Iran is largely a story about popular legitimacy, as Ansari 2006 and Gheissari and Nasr 2006 chronicle. Ever since the 1905–1911 Constitutional revolution, Iranian politics has been defined in terms of the struggles of ordinary citizens against the illegitimacy of, in historical order, dynastic despotism, Western imperialism, secular dictatorship, and theocratic rule. Azimi 2008 offers a contextual analysis of the changing nature of such grievances over the past century, since the Constitutional revolution, but the author’s assessment stops short of an in-depth consideration of the post-2009 tumult in Iran. To be sure, each encounter has occasioned its own milestones and setbacks, and Farhi 2001 considers such developments in the case of women’s rights in the aftermath of the reformist period of rule. Ganji 2008 is a political manifesto written by a prominent dissident and public intellectual arguing for the separation of religion from politics in a future democratic Iran. In the same vein, Mir-Hosseini and Tapper 2006—a book on the political thought of reformist cleric Yousefi Eshkevari—and Soroush 2000 argue for a minimalist (or moderate) reading of Islam in lieu of the political and moral failures of the theocratic regime in Iran. Mir-Hosseini and Tapper 2006 offers a liberal reading of Islam in arguing for the compatibility of Sharia law and democratic principles. Mirsepassi 2010, a learned and most up-to-date treatise, by contrast, urges a departure from such binary frameworks and, instead, posits a powerful historical-sociological argument in favor of a more contextual consideration of democracy in Iran.
  536.  
  537. Ansari, Ali. Iran, Islam and Democracy: the Politics of Managing Change. 2d ed. London: Chatham House, 2006.
  538. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  539. An exploration of the relationship between Islam and democratic thought in Iran, in the context of the emergence of the reform movement in the latter part of the 1990s.
  540. Find this resource:
  541. Azimi, Fakhreddin. The Quest for Democracy in Iran: A Century of Struggle against Authoritarian Rule. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008.
  542. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  543. An excellent chronicle of the century-long struggle for democracy in Iran, from the advent of constitutionalism in 1906 to the emergence and trials of the reform movement in the early 21st century.
  544. Find this resource:
  545. Farhi, Farideh. “Religious Intellectuals, the ‘Woman Question,’ and the Struggle for the Creation of a Democratic Public Sphere in Iran.” International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society 15.2 (Winter 2001): 315–339.
  546. DOI: 10.1023/A:1012929303594Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  547. Offers a comprehensive analysis of the debate between religious reformists and feminist views in Iran. Argues that religious intellectuals must embrace gender equality and antipatriarchal views in their struggles against absolutism and traditionalism.
  548. Find this resource:
  549. Ganji, Akbar. The Road to Democracy in Iran. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2008.
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  551. A brief manifesto highlighting the desire for universal human rights and democracy from a distinctly Muslim perspective, this book is written by one of the most prominent Iranian dissidents and democratic activists outside of Iran.
  552. Find this resource:
  553. Gheissari, Ali, and Vali Nasr. Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
  554. DOI: 10.1093/0195189671.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  555. Examines the trials and tribulations of democratic struggles in Iran from a political-scientific frame of analysis. The authors demonstrate that the idea of democracy in Iran has a complex history, defined and redefined through various institutions, identities, and interests.
  556. Find this resource:
  557. Hashemi, Nader, and Danny Postel. The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran’s Future. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House, 2010.
  558. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  559. A comprehensive anthology of social, political, economic, and cultural commentary on the prospects for change in Iran in the aftermath of the allegedly fraudulent presidential elections of 2009.
  560. Find this resource:
  561. Mir-Hosseini, Ziba, and Richard Tapper. Islam and Democracy in Iran: Eshkevari and the Quest for Reform. London: I. B. Tauris, 2006.
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  563. This volume presents the thoughts and writings of one of the leading religious intellectuals of the reform movement in Iran. It nicely combines reflections on philosophy, theology, and politics in demonstrating the Islamic arguments for democracy.
  564. Find this resource:
  565. Mirsepassi, Ali. Democracy in Modern Iran: Islam, Culture, and Political Change. New York: New York University Press, 2010.
  566. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  567. This book is the most up-to-date treatment of the state of democratic discourse in Iran (from the period of the Constitutional revolution to the recent emergence of the Green Movement, which has arisen since the disputed 2009 election). The author masterfully traces the intellectual and political evolution of arguments on behalf of democracy in Iran.
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