The Quest for Authority in Iran

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 178673267X
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (867 download)

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Book Synopsis The Quest for Authority in Iran by : Siavush Randjbar-Daemi

Download or read book The Quest for Authority in Iran written by Siavush Randjbar-Daemi and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-11-30 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Iran's presidents have defined the Islamic Republic's attitudes towards the rest of the world. Never has this been more true than now. In this book Siavush Randjbar-Daemi presents an in-depth analysis of the evolution of the Iranian presidency from its inception in the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution to the present day. He offers detailed narratives of each president's ascent to the post and their struggles to acquire authority and maintain relevance within the political process. The figures under consideration include the widely-admired Mohammad Khatami, the internationally-criticised Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the incumbent president Hassan Rouhani, who steered the decade-long nuclear confrontation between Iran and the West towards a diplomatic conclusion. This book sheds light on the extraordinarily complex workings of the Iranian state, taking into account both the opportunities and challenges that each president has faced whilst in power. It will be essential reading for scholars of Iranian history, political science and international diplomacy.

The Quest for Authority in Iran

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Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1786722674
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (867 download)

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Book Synopsis The Quest for Authority in Iran by : Siavush Randjbar-Daemi

Download or read book The Quest for Authority in Iran written by Siavush Randjbar-Daemi and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-11-30 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Iran's presidents have defined the Islamic Republic's attitudes towards the rest of the world. Never has this been more true than now. In this book Siavush Randjbar-Daemi presents an in-depth analysis of the evolution of the Iranian presidency from its inception in the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution to the present day. He offers detailed narratives of each president's ascent to the post and their struggles to acquire authority and maintain relevance within the political process. The figures under consideration include the widely-admired Mohammad Khatami, the internationally-criticised Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the incumbent president Hassan Rouhani, who steered the decade-long nuclear confrontation between Iran and the West towards a diplomatic conclusion. This book sheds light on the extraordinarily complex workings of the Iranian state, taking into account both the opportunities and challenges that each president has faced whilst in power. It will be essential reading for scholars of Iranian history, political science and international diplomacy.

Islam and Democracy in Iran

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0857713752
Total Pages : 209 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (577 download)

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Book Synopsis Islam and Democracy in Iran by : Ziba Mir-Hosseini

Download or read book Islam and Democracy in Iran written by Ziba Mir-Hosseini and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2006-05-26 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In today's world all eyes are on Iran, which has grappled with an experiment that has had a massive global impact. For some, the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79 was the triumph of a modern, political Islam, heralding Muslim justice and economic prosperity. Others, including many of the original revolutionaries, saw religious fanatics attempting to roll back time by creating a despotic theocracy. Either way, the Iranian Revolution changed the Muslim world. It not only inspired the Muslim masses but also reinvigorated intellectual debates on the nature and possibilities of an Islamic state. The new 'Islamic Republic of Iran' combined not just religion and the state, but theocracy and democracy. Yet the revolution's heirs were soon engaged in a protracted struggle over its legacy. Dissident thinkers, from within an Islamic framework, sought a rights-based political order that could accept dissent, tolerance, pluralism, women's rights and civil liberties. Their ideas led directly to the presidency of Mohammad Khatami and, despite their political failure, they did leave a permanent legacy by demystifying Iranian religious politics, and condemning the use of the Shariah to justify autocratic rule. This book tells the story of the reformist movement through the world of Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari. An active supporter of the revolution who became one of the most outspoken critics of theocracy, Eshkevari developed ideas of 'Islamic democratic government', which have attracted considerable attention in Iran and elsewhere. In presenting a selection of Eshkevari's writings, this book reveals the intellectual and political trajectory of a Muslim thinker and his attempts to reconcile Islam with reform and democracy. As such it makes a highly original contribution to our understanding of the difficult social and political issues confronting the Islamic world today.

The Structure of Central Authority in Qajar Iran, 1871-1896

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The Structure of Central Authority in Qajar Iran, 1871-1896 by : A. Reza Sheikholeslami

Download or read book The Structure of Central Authority in Qajar Iran, 1871-1896 written by A. Reza Sheikholeslami and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Personalism was mitigated by precedent which created its own norms. Yet also, as a result of inspiration from Western models of authority, the king's authority was hierarchially absolute over the formal organizations he established. Here patrimonial authority reigned supreme. The author concludes that tyranny may spring from the juxtaposition of modern institutional structures, devoid of procedures, against weakened traditional modes of authority.

The Quest for Democracy in Iran

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Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674057066
Total Pages : 511 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis The Quest for Democracy in Iran by : Fakhreddin Azimi

Download or read book The Quest for Democracy in Iran written by Fakhreddin Azimi and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2010-09-30 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Constitutional Revolution of 1906 launched Iran as a pioneer in a broad-based movement to establish democratic rule in the non-Western world. In a book that provides essential context for understanding modern Iran, Fakhreddin Azimi traces a century of struggle for the establishment of representative government. The promise of constitutional rule was cut short in the 1920s with the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty. Reza Shah, whose despotic rule Azimi deftly captures, maintained the façade of a constitutional monarch but greeted any challenge with an iron fist: “I will eliminate you,” he routinely barked at his officials. In 1941, fearful of losing control of the oil-rich region, the Allies forced Reza Shah to abdicate but allowed Mohammad Reza to succeed his father. Though promising to abide by the constitution, the new Shah missed no opportunity to undermine it. The Anglo-American–backed coup of 1953, which ousted reformist premier Mohammed Mosaddeq, dealt a blow to the constitutionalists. The Shah’s repressive policies and subservience to the United States radicalized both secular and religious opponents, leading to the revolution of 1979. Azimi argues that we have fundamentally misunderstood this event by characterizing it as an “Islamic” revolution when it was in reality the expression of a long-repressed desire for popular sovereignty. This explains why the clerical rulers have failed to counter the growing public conviction that the Islamic Republic, too, is impervious to political reform—and why the democratic impulse that began with the Constitutional Revolution continues to be a potent and resilient force.

Musaddiq and the Struggle for Power in Iran

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Author :
Publisher : I.B. Tauris
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 332 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Musaddiq and the Struggle for Power in Iran by : Homa Katouzian

Download or read book Musaddiq and the Struggle for Power in Iran written by Homa Katouzian and published by I.B. Tauris. This book was released on 1999 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annotation. Muhammad Musaddiq was the first of the great charismatic anti-colonial campaigners of the post-war world. As Prime Minister of Iran between 1951 and 1953 he nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, led the nation's defiant attempt to run its oil industry independently during an economic blockade, and attempted to strengthen the role of parliament in Iraq. Mussadiq's crusade led to conflict with powerful foreign interests, and in 1953 the CIA, at British instigation, removed him in a coupd'état which restored the Shah's absolute powers. This book is a full-scale biography of Musaddiq which also charts the history of the Popular Movement from Mussadiq's downfall in 1953 to his death in 1967.

Democracy in Iran

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0195189671
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (951 download)

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Book Synopsis Democracy in Iran by : Ali Gheissari

Download or read book Democracy in Iran written by Ali Gheissari and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2006-06-15 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looking at the political history of Iran in the modern era, this book assesses the prospects for democracy to flourish there. Arguing that democracy in Iran isn't a sudden development or a western import, it also seeks to understand why democracy failed to grow roots and lost ground to an autocratic Iranian state.

Righteous Politics

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1009362046
Total Pages : 411 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis Righteous Politics by : Mehran Kamrava

Download or read book Righteous Politics written by Mehran Kamrava and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2023-08-17 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, the Iranian political system has been subject to diminishing legitimacy. In recent years, various waves of protest have spread across the country and the question of the resilience of the revolutionary state becomes more pressing by the day. Drawing from extensive fieldwork and rare primary sources, Mehran Kamrava provides here a comprehensive and accessible analysis of the Iranian state and the various formal and informal institutions through which it operates. The book offers an in-depth analysis of the Iranian state, from the Constitution to the powers and offices of the Supreme Leader, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the several intelligence agencies. Paying careful attention to the nuances of Iranian politics, Kamrava also highlights how factional politics and rentierism have served to enhance state resilience. Presenting a range of original insights, this book is invaluable to understanding the inner workings of the contemporary Iranian state.

The Iran Primer

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Publisher : US Institute of Peace Press
ISBN 13 : 1601270844
Total Pages : 282 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (12 download)

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Book Synopsis The Iran Primer by : Robin B. Wright

Download or read book The Iran Primer written by Robin B. Wright and published by US Institute of Peace Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive but concise overview of Iran's politics, economy, military, foreign policy, and nuclear program. The volume chronicles U.S.-Iran relations under six American presidents and probes five options for dealing with Iran. Organized thematically, this book provides top-level briefings by 50 top experts on Iran (both Iranian and Western authors) and is a practical and accessible "go-to" resource for practitioners, policymakers, academics, and students, as well as a fascinating wealth of information for anyone interested in understanding Iran's pivotal role in world politics.

Republican Islam

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0857728040
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (577 download)

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Book Synopsis Republican Islam by : Vahid Nick Pay

Download or read book Republican Islam written by Vahid Nick Pay and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-04-05 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the Islamic Republic of Iran launched its fully-articulated political agenda in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution, it merged the concept of political Islam with the previously secular readings of the republican doctrine of state. This book provides an analysis of the constitutional and institutional structure of public power in the most emblematic instance of a theocratic republic to date: the Islamic Republic of Iran, using the methods of political science. Nearly four decades after the 1979 revolution, a thorough evaluation of Iran's prevalently anti-modernist political discourse and concurrent claims of republican popular sovereignty is here carried out and their theoretical coherence and applied success investigated. Vahid Nick Pay surveys the major republican schools of political philosophy on the one hand, and the principal narratives of the prevailing Shi'a political theology on the other, to provide a pioneering evaluation of the republican credentials of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It will be essential reading for scholars of political science and modern Iranian politics and history.

Contemporary Domestic and Foreign Policies of Iran

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Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030453367
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (34 download)

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Book Synopsis Contemporary Domestic and Foreign Policies of Iran by : Pejman Abdolmohammadi

Download or read book Contemporary Domestic and Foreign Policies of Iran written by Pejman Abdolmohammadi and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-05-06 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a comprehensive analysis of the domestic and foreign politics of Iran, focusing on its complex nature from political, social and cultural perspectives. It has adopted a multidisciplinary approach, combining comparative politics and intellectual and modern history with international relations. It analyses the institutional structure of the Islamic Republic, the main political and social actors and alliances, as well as Iranian opposition forces both inside and outside the country. The book tries to simplify the seemingly intractable complexity of the Islamic Republic by demystifying it and using political science methods to prove that it is a peculiar hybrid regime.

Until We Are Free

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Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 081299888X
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (129 download)

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Book Synopsis Until We Are Free by : Shirin Ebadi

Download or read book Until We Are Free written by Shirin Ebadi and published by Random House. This book was released on 2016-03-08 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Shirin Ebadi has inspired millions around the globe through her work as a human rights lawyer defending women and children against a brutal regime in Iran. Now Ebadi tells her story of courage and defiance in the face of a government out to destroy her, her family, and her mission: to bring justice to the people and the country she loves. For years the Islamic Republic tried to intimidate Ebadi, but after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rose to power in 2005, the censorship and persecution intensified. The government wiretapped Ebadi’s phones, bugged her law firm, sent spies to follow her, harassed her colleagues, detained her daughter, and arrested her sister on trumped-up charges. It shut down her lectures, fired up mobs to attack her home, seized her offices, and nailed a death threat to her front door. Despite finding herself living under circumstances reminiscent of a spy novel, nothing could keep Ebadi from speaking out and standing up for human dignity. But it was not until she received a phone call from her distraught husband—and he made a shocking confession that would all but destroy her family—that she realized what the intelligence apparatus was capable of to silence its critics. The Iranian government would end up taking everything from Shirin Ebadi—her marriage, friends, and colleagues, her home, her legal career, even her Nobel Prize—but the one thing it could never steal was her spirit to fight for justice and a better future. This is the amazing, at times harrowing, simply astonishing story of a woman who would never give up, no matter the risks. Just as her words and deeds have inspired a nation, Until We Are Free will inspire you to find the courage to stand up for your beliefs. Praise for Until We Are Free “Ebadi recounts the cycle of sinister assaults she faced after she won the Nobel Prize in 2003. Her new memoir, written as a novel-like narrative, captures the precariousness of her situation and her determination to ‘stand firm.’”—The Washington Post “Powerful . . . Although [Ebadi’s] memoir underscores that a slow change will have to come from within Iran, it is also proof of the stunning effects of her nonviolent struggle on behalf of those who bravely, and at a very high cost, keep pushing for the most basic rights.”—The New York Times Book Review “Shirin Ebadi is quite simply the most vital voice for freedom and human rights in Iran.”—Reza Aslan, author of No god but God and Zealot “Shirin Ebadi writes of exile hauntingly and speaks of Iran, her homeland, as the poets do. Ebadi is unafraid of addressing the personal as well as the political and does both fiercely, with introspection and fire.”—Fatima Bhutto, author of The Shadow of the Crescent Moon “I would encourage all to read Dr. Shirin Ebadi’s memoir and to understand how her struggle for human rights continued after winning the Nobel Peace Prize. It is also fascinating to see how she has been affected positively and negatively by her Nobel Prize. This is a must read for all.”—Desmond Tutu “A revealing portrait of the state of political oppression in Iran . . . [Ebadi] is an inspiring figure, and her suspenseful, evocative story is unforgettable.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Ebadi’s courage and strength of character are evident throughout this engrossing text.”—Kirkus Reviews

Answering Only to God

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Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 9780805075144
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (751 download)

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Book Synopsis Answering Only to God by : Geneive Abdo

Download or read book Answering Only to God written by Geneive Abdo and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2003 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Riveting . . . a side of Iran that is often misrepresented by the world’s media—[an] insightful, captivating book.” —San Francisco Chronicle Taking the reader inside Iran’s key institutions, Geneive Abdo and Jonathan Lyons argue that the 1979 Iranian revolution, long viewed in the West as the pursuit of an imagined medieval Utopia, was in fact a political movement designed to modernize Islam. Twenty years later, a power struggle between conservative and reform elements provoked a clash that has destabilized the country and limited Iran’s ability to integrate with the world community. Answering Only to God challenges the prevailing Western belief that the Islamic world is an undifferentiated mass of disaffected and dangerous fanatics or that a Western-style democracy will soon transform this ancient land of Shi’ite and Sufi tradition. Instead, the authors explore the controversial view that beyond their quarrel with the West, stemming from decades of exploitive foreign policies, the real struggle in Iran is between reformers and conservative mullahs.

Iran and the Surrounding World

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Publisher : University of Washington Press
ISBN 13 : 0295800240
Total Pages : 406 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (958 download)

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Book Synopsis Iran and the Surrounding World by : Nikki R. Keddie

Download or read book Iran and the Surrounding World written by Nikki R. Keddie and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2011-10-01 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These essays examine Iran’s place in the world--its relations and cultural interactions with its immediate neighbors and with empires and superpowers from the beginning of the Safavid period in 1501 to the present day. The book provides important historical background on recent political and social developments in Iran and on its contemporary foreign relations. The topics explored include Iranian influence abroad on political organization, religion, literature, art, and diplomacy, as well as Iran's absorption of foreign influences in these areas. A special focus is the prevailing political culture of Iran throughout its early modern and contemporary periods. The authors combine approaches from history, political science, anthropology, international relations, and culturalstudies. Some essays address Iran’s interactions with various Arab and Turkic ethnicities in the region stretching from India to Egypt. Others examine its relations with the West during the Qajar and Pahlavi eras, women's issues, culture inside Iran during the Islamic Republic, and the Shi`ite theocracy of Iran as compared with other Muslim states.

The Oil Kings

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1439155186
Total Pages : 544 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oil Kings by : Andrew Scott Cooper

Download or read book The Oil Kings written by Andrew Scott Cooper and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-09-11 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Relying on a rich cache of previously classified notes, transcripts, cables, policy briefs, and memoranda, Andrew Cooper explains how oil drove, even corrupted, American foreign policy during a time when Cold War imperatives still applied, and tells why in the 1970s the U.S. switched its Middle East allegiance from the Shah of Iran to the Saudi royal family. Amid the oil shocks of the early 1970s, there was one man the U.S. could rely on: the Shah of Iran. The Shah sold us oil; we sold him weapons. But the U.S. and other industrialized economies could not tolerate repeated annual double digit increases in oil prices. During the 1976 election campaign, President Gerald Ford decided that he had to find a country that would break the OPEC monopoly and sell the U.S. oil more cheaply. On the advice of Treasury Secretary William Simon -- and against the advice of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger -- Ford made a deal to sell advanced weaponry to the Saudis in exchange for a more moderate price hike in oil. The Shah's economy was destabilized, and disaffected elements mobilized to overthrow him. The U.S. had embarked on a long relationship with the autocratic Saudi kingdom that continues to this day.

The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay

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Author :
Publisher : Anchor
ISBN 13 : 0385535333
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (855 download)

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Book Synopsis The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay by : Hooman Majd

Download or read book The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay written by Hooman Majd and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With U.S.–Iran relations at a thirty-year low, Iranian-American writer Hooman Majd dared to take his young family on a year-long sojourn in Tehran. The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay traces their domestic adventures and closely tracks the political drama of a terrible year for Iran's government. It was an annus horribilis for Iran's Supreme Leader. The Green Movement had been crushed, but the regime was on edge, anxious lest democratic protests resurge. International sanctions were dragging down the economy while talk of war with the West grew. Hooman Majd was there for all of it. A new father at age fifty, he decided to take his blonde, blue-eyed Midwestern yoga instructor wife Karri and his adorable, only-eats-organic infant son Khash from their hip Brooklyn neighborhood to spend a year in the land of his birth. It was to be a year of discovery for Majd, too, who had only lived in Iran as a child. The book opens ominously as Majd is stopped at the airport by intelligence officers who show him a four-inch thick security file about his books and journalism and warn him not to write about Iran during his stay. Majd brushes it off—but doesn't tell Karri—and the family soon settles in to the rituals of middle class life in Tehran: finding an apartment (which requires many thousands of dollars, all of which, bafflingly, is returned to you when you leave), a secure internet connection (one that persuades the local censors you are in New York) and a bootlegger (self-explanatory). Karri masters the head scarf, but not before being stopped for mal-veiling, twice. They endure fasting at Ramadan and keep up with Khash in a country weirdly obsessed with children. All the while, Majd fields calls from security officers and he and Karri eye the headlines—the arrest of an American "spy," the British embassy riots, the Arab Spring—and wonder if they are pushing their luck. The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay is a sparkling account of life under a quixotic authoritarian regime that offers rare and intimate insight into a country and its people, as well as a personal story of exile and a search for the meaning of home.

No Conquest, No Defeat

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019756691X
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (975 download)

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Book Synopsis No Conquest, No Defeat by : Ariane M. Tabatabai

Download or read book No Conquest, No Defeat written by Ariane M. Tabatabai and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-12-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In early 2019, the Islamic Republic of Iran marked its fortieth anniversary, despite decades of isolation, political pressure, sanctions and war. Observers of its security policies continue to try and make sense of this unlikely endurance. Some view the regime as a purely rational actor, whose national security decisions and military affairs are shaped by the same considerations as in other states. Others believe that it is ideology driving Tehran's strategy. Either way, virtually everyone agrees that the mullahs' policies are fundamentally different from those pursued by their monarchical predecessors. No Conquest, No Defeat offers a historically grounded overview of Iranian national security. Tabatabai argues that the Islamic Republic is neither completely rational nor purely ideological. Rather, its national security policy today is largely shaped by its strategic culture, a product of the country's historical experiences of war and peace. As a result, Iranian strategic thinking is perhaps best characterized by its dynamic yet resilient nature, one that is continually evolving. As the Islamic Republic enters its fifth decade, this book sheds new light on Iran's controversial nuclear and missile programs and its involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.