A quarter of a century on from the revolution of 1979 there is an ongoing political struggle within Iran between traditionalists and modernists, with the ever-younger average age of the population playing a dynamic role. And on the international stage, the big issues remain Iran’s hostility towards Israel and the development of nuclear power in the face of US and international opposition. This is all in addition to the oil question and the strategic interest of Russia, an issue which harks back to the nineteenth century but remains unresolved, as well as Iran’s concern about the proper stewardship of the holy places of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem.
This four-volume collection brings together for the first time the very best and most influential scholarship on the politics of modern Iran. It is an invaluable source of reference for both scholars and students alike, and will allow those developing an interest in Iran quickly and easily to access the highest quality scholarship in the field.
Any understanding of modern Iran must be founded on a firm grasp of the historical context and some of the conceptual issues which underwrite contemporary Iranian politics. Volume I brings together the key work on Iran’s historical inheritance, including articles on religion and culture. Volume II gathers the vital scholarship on the political development of Iran while the third volume assembles materials focused on economic development and the contemporary political economy. The final volume in the collection is organized around Iran’s foreign relations, and includes a special section on the Iran–Iraq War.
Volume I: History and Historiography
Part 1: Historiography
1. M. Reza Afshari, ‘The Historians of the Constitutional Movement and the Making of the Iranian Populist Tradition’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 1993, 25, 3, 477–94.
2. A. M. Ansari, ‘Persia in the Western Imagination’, in Vanessa Martin (ed.), Anglo-Iranian Relations Since 1800 (Routledge, 2005), pp. 8–20.
3. F. Adamiyat, ‘Problems in Iranian Historiography’ (trans. T. M. Ricks), Iranian Studies, 1971, 4, 4, 132–56.
4. A. Amanat, ‘The Study of History in Post-Revolutionary Iran: Nostalgia, Illusion, or Historical Awareness?’, Iranian Studies, 1989, 22, 4, 3–18.
5. E. Abrahamian, ‘History Used and Abused’, Khomeinism (I. B. Tauris, 1993), pp. 88–110.
Part 2: History
6. E. Abrahamian, ‘Kasravi, the Integrative Nationalist of Iran’, Middle Eastern Studies, 1973, 9, 3, 271–95.
7. E. Abrahamian, ‘Oriental Despotism: The Case of Qajar Iran’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 1974, 5, 1, 3–31.
8. M. B. Philipp, ‘Mirza Aqa Khan Kirmani: A Nineteenth Persian Nationalist’, Middle Eastern Studies, 1974, 10, 1, 36–60.
9. H. E. Chehabi, ‘Staging the Emperor’s New Clothes: Dress Codes and Nation Building under Reza Shah’, Iranian Studies, 1993, 26, 3/4, 209–29.
10. M. Reza Ghods, ‘Iranian Nationalism and Reza Shah’, Middle Eastern Studies, 1991, 27, 1, 35–45.
11. M. Reza Ghods, ‘Government and Society in Iran, 1926–34’, Middle Eastern Studies, 1991, 27, 2, 219–30.
12. H. Katouzian, ‘Nationalist Trends in Iran, 1921–1926’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 1979, 10, 4, 533–51.
13. M. Rezun, ‘Reza Shah’s Court Minister: Teymourtash’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 1980, 12, 2, 119–37.
14. M. P. Zirinsky, ‘Imperial Power and Dictatorship: Britain and the Rise of Reza Shah, 1921–1926’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 1992, 24, 4, 639–63.
15. W. R. Louis, ‘Britain and the Overthrow of the Mosaddeq Government’, in M. J. Gasiorowski and M. Byrne (eds.), Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran (Syracuse University Press, 2004), pp. 126–77.
Volume II: Politics
16. E. Abrahamian, ‘Communism and Communalism in Iran: The Tudah and the Firqah-i Dimukrat’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 1970, 1, 4, 291–316.
17. E. Abrahamian, ‘The Crowd in Iranian Politics 1905–1953’, Past & Present, 1968, 41, 184–210.
18. E. Abrahamian, ‘The Paranoid Style in Iranian Politics’, Khomeinism (I. B. Tauris, 1993), pp. 111–31.
19. A. Soroush, ‘The Three Cultures’, in M. Sadri and A. Sadri (eds.), Reason, Freedom and Democracy in Islam: Essential Writings of Abdolkarim Soroush (Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 156–70.
20. W. Beeman, ‘What is (Iranian) National Character’, Iranian Studies, 1976, 9, 1, 22–48.
21. J. Bill, ‘The Plasticity in Informal Politics: The Case of Iran’, Middle East Journal, 1973, 27, 2, 131–51.
22. J. Bill, ‘The Politics of Student Alienation: The Case of Iran’, Iranian Studies, 1969, 2, 1, 8–26.
23. N. Habibi, ‘Popularity of Islamic and Persian Names in Iran Before and After the Islamic Revolution’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 1992, 24, 2, 253–60.
24. H. Katouzian, ‘Arbitrary Rule: A Comparative Theory of State, Politics and Society in Iran’, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 1997, 24, 1, 49–73.
25. Y. Richard, ‘Ayatollah Kashani: Precursor of the Islamic Republic?’, in N. Keddie (ed.), Religion and Politics in Iran: Shi’ism from Quietism to Revolution (Yale University Press, 1983), 101–24.
26. M. Boroujerdi, ‘The Encounter of Post-Revolutionary Thought in Iran with Hegel, Heidegger, and Popper’, in S. Mardin (ed.), Cultural Transitions in the Middle East (E. J. Brill, 1994), pp. 236–59.
27. A. M. Ansari, ‘The Myth of the White Revolution: Mohammad Reza Shah, "Modernisation" and the Consolidation of Power’, Middle Eastern Studies, 2001, 37, 3, 1–24.
28. M. J. Gasiorowski, ‘The Qarani Affair and Iranian Politics’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 1993, 25, 4, 625–44.
29. A. M. Ansari, ‘Iran under Ahmadinejad: Populism and its Malcontents’, International Affairs, 2008, 84, 4, 683–700.
30. S. Amir Arjomand, ‘The Reform Movement and the Debate on Modernity and Tradition in Contemporary Iran’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 2002, 34, 4, 719–31.
31. R. Cottam, ‘Nationalism in Twentieth-Century Iran and Dr Muhammad Mosaddiq’, in J. A. Bill and W. Roger Louis (eds.), Musaddiq, Iranian Nationalism and Oil (I. B. Tauris, 1988), pp. 23–46.
Volume III: Economy and Society
32. J. Bharier, ‘The Growth of Towns and Villages in Iran 1900–66’, Middle Eastern Studies, 1972, 8, 1, 51–61.
33. S. Behdad, ‘Winners and Losers of the Iranian Revolution: A Study in Income Distribution’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 1989, 21, 3, 327–58.
34. J. Bill, ‘The Social and Economic Foundations of Power in Contemporary Iran’, Middle East Journal, 1963, 17, 4, 400–18.
35. A. Ehteshami, ‘Political Upheaval and Socio-economic Continuity: The Case of Iran’, RUSEL Working Paper No. 6 (Exeter University, 1992).
36. N. Keddie, ‘The Iranian Power Structure and Social Change, 1800–1969: An Overview’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 1971, 2, 1, 3–20.
37. S. Behdad, ‘Islamization of Economics in Iranian Universities’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 1995, 27, 2, 193–217.
38. S. Salehi Esfahani and F. Taheripour, ‘Hidden Public Expenditures and the Economy in Iran’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 2002, 34, 4, 691–718.
39. R. Gleave, ‘Political Aspects of Modern Shi’i Legal Discussions: Khumayni and Khu’i on Ijtihâd and Qada’, Mediterranean Politics, 2002, 7, 3, 96–116.
40. Z. Mir Hosseini, ‘Religious Modernists and the "Woman Question": Challenges and Complicities’, in E. Hooglund (ed.), Twenty Years of Islamic Revolution: Political and Social Transition in Iran Since 1979 (Syracuse University Press, 2002), pp. 74–95.
41. H. Naficy, ‘Cinema as a Political Instrument’, in M. Bonine and N. Keddie (eds.), Modern Iran: The Dialectics of Continuity and Change (University of New York Press, 1981), pp. 265–83.
42. H. Katouzian, ‘The Aridisolatic Society: A Model of Long-Term Social and Economic Development in Iran’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 1983, 15, 2, 259–81.
43. A. Soroush, ‘The Sense and Essence of Secularism’, in M. Sadri and A. Sadri (eds.), Reason, Freedom and Democracy in Islam: Essential Writings of Abdolkarim Soroush (Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 54–68.
44. A. Soroush, ‘What the University Expects from the Hawzeh’, in M. Sadri and A. Sadri (eds.), Reason, Freedom and Democracy in Islam: Essential Writings of Abdolkarim Soroush (Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 171–83.
45. S. Amir Arjomand, ‘Ideological Revolution in Shi‘ism’, in S. Amir Arjomand (ed.), Authority and Political Culture in Shi’ism (State University of New York Press, 1988), pp. 178–212.
46. A. Kian-Thiebaut, ‘From Motherhood to Equal Rights Advocates: The Weakening of the Patriarchal Order’, in H. Katouzian and H. Shahidi (eds.), Iran in the 21st Century: Politics, Economics and Conflict (Routledge, 2008), pp. 86–106.
47. A. K. S. Lambton, ‘Some New Trends in Islamic Political Thought in Late 18th and Early 19th-Century Persia’, Studia Islamica, 1974, 39, 95–128.
48. A. K. S. Lambton, ‘A Reconsideration of the Position of the Marja Al-Taqlid and the Religious Institution’, Studia Islamica, 1964, 20, 115–35.
Volume IV: International Relations
49. W. Beeman, ‘Double Demons: Cultural Impedance in US-Iranian Understanding’, Iranian Journal of International Affairs, 1990, 2, 2/3, 319–34.
50. A. M. Ansari, ‘Iranian Foreign Policy under Khatami: Reform and Reintegration’, in A. Ehteshami and A. Mohammadi (eds.), Iran and Eurasia (Ithaca Press, 2000), pp. 35–58.
51. S. Bakhash, ‘Iran’s Foreign Policy under the Islamic Republic, 1979–2000’, in L. Carl Brown, Diplomacy in the Middle East: The International Relations of Regional and Outside Powers (I. B. Tauris, 2001), pp. 247–58.
52. S. Chubin, ‘Iran’s Strategic Predicament’, Middle East Journal, 2000, 54, 1, 10–24.
53. A. M. Ansari, ‘Iran and the US in the Shadow of 9/11: Persia and the Persian Question Revisited’, Iranian Studies, 2006, 39, 2, 155–70.
54. A. M. Ansari, ‘Civilizational Identity and Foreign Policy’, in Brenda Shaffer (ed.), The Limits of Culture (MIT Press, 2005), pp. 241–262.
55. A. M. Ansari, ‘Cultural Transmutations: The Dialectics of Globalisation in Contemporary Iran’, in T. Dodge and R. Higgott (eds.), Globalisation and the Middle East: Islam, Economy, Society and Politics (RIIA, 2002), pp. 132–50.
56. H. Furtig, ‘Universalist Counter-Projections: Iranian Post-Revolutionary Foreign Policy and Globalisation’, in K. Fullberg-Stolberg, P. Heidrich, and E. Schone (eds.), Disassociation and Appropriation: Responses to Globalisation in Asia and Africa (Zentrum Moderner Orient, 1999), pp. 53–74
57. G. Sick, ‘Iran’s Foreign Policy: A Revolution in Transition’, in N. R. Keddie and R. Matthee (eds.), Iran and the Surrounding World (University of Washington Press, 2002), pp. 355–75.
58. K. Fatemi, ‘The Iranian Revolution: Its Impact on Economic Relations with the United States’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 1980, 12, 3, 303–17.
59. M. Atkin, ‘Myths of Soviet-Iranian Relations’, in N. R. Keddie and M. J. Gasiorowski (eds.), Neither East nor West: Iran, the Soviet Union, and the United States (Yale University Press, 1990), pp. 100–14.
60. A. Milani, ‘Narratives of Modernity: Perspective of an Oriental Despot’, in M. J. Shapiro and H. R. Alker (eds.), Challenging Boundaries: Global Flows, Territorial Identities (University of Minnesota Press, 1996), pp. 219–32.
61. S. Chubin, ‘The Last Phase of the Iran: Iraq War: From Stalemate to Ceasefire’, Third World Quarterly, 1989, 11, 2, 1–14.
62. E. Karsh, ‘Military Power and Foreign Policy Goals: The Iran-Iraq War Revisited’, International Affairs, 1987–8, 64, 1, 83–95.
Biography
Ali M. Ansari is Reader in Modern History at the University of St Andrews and Associate Fellow of the Middle East Programme with reference to Iran at the Royal Institute for International Affairs. He is the author of Iran, Islam & Democracy: the politics of managing change and Modern Iran since 1921, second editions of both of which are being published in 2006. His third book, Confronting Iran, on Iran-US relations, is being published this spring. Dr Ansari has published numerous articles, consults for both government and companies, and is frequently quoted in the media. He was most recently elected onto the Council of the British Institute for Persian Studies, and is Director of the newly founded Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews.
