Iran Rising: The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic
(eBook)

Grouping Information

Book Cover Information

Hoopla Extract Information

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    [year] => 2019
    [artist] => Amin Saikal
    [fiction] => 
    [coverImageUrl] => https://cover.hoopladigital.com/pup_9780691184197_270.jpeg
    [titleId] => 14632300
    [isbn] => 9780691184197
    [abridged] => 
    [language] => ENGLISH
    [profanity] => 
    [title] => Iran Rising
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    [pages] => 344
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            [1] => History & Theory
            [2] => International Relations
            [3] => Iran
            [4] => Middle East
            [5] => Middle Eastern
            [6] => Political Science
            [7] => World
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    [synopsis] => "One of 20 essential books about the Middle East, compiled by the Middle Eastern Studies community at Anhui University in central China" Amin Saikal is Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Public Policy Fellow, and Director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (the Middle East and Central Asia) at the Australian National University. He is the author of The Rise and Fall of the Shah (Princeton) and Modern Afghanistan. He lives in Canberra. 
	An authoritative account of how and why the Islamic Republic has survived to become a critical player in the Middle East and the world

When Iranians overthrew their monarchy, rejecting a pro-Western shah in favor of an Islamic regime, many observers predicted that revolutionary turmoil would paralyze the country for decades to come. Yet forty years after the 1978–79 revolution, Iran has emerged as a critical player in the Middle East and the wider world, as demonstrated in part by the 2015 international nuclear agreement. In Iran Rising, renowned Iran specialist Amin Saikal describes how the country has managed to survive despite ongoing domestic struggles, Western sanctions, and countless other serious challenges.

Saikal explores Iran's recent history, beginning with the revolution, which set in motion a number of developments, including war with Iraq, precarious relations with Arab neighbors, and hostilities with Israel and the United States. He highlights the regime's agility as it navigated a complex relationship with Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion, survived the Gulf wars, and handled fallout from the Iraqi and Syrian crises. Such success, Saikal maintains, stems from a distinctive political order, comprising both a supreme Islamic leader and an elected president and national assembly, which can fuse religious and nationalist assertiveness with pragmatic policy actions at home and abroad.

But Iran's accomplishments, including its nuclear development and ability to fight ISIS, have cost its people, who are desperately pressuring the ruling clerics for economic and social reforms-changes that might in turn influence the country's foreign policy. Amid heightened global anxiety over alliances, terrorism, and nuclear threats, Iran Rising offers essential reading for understanding a country that, more than ever, is a force to watch. "[A] lucid exposition of the Islamic Republic's two main ideological and policy axes: the jihadists, embodied by the country's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and the ijtihadists, the more flexible and rational pragmatists, two of whom, Mohammad Khatami and Hassan Rouhani, have been elected president."---John Waterbury, Foreign Affairs "A welcome and discerning primer. . . . It should be studied carefully by all students of Middle Eastern politics and especially by diplomats, military leaders, and political decision-makers who wish to rectify or avoid repeating the current flawed policies toward the Islamic Republic of Iran."---Robert L. Tignor, Michigan War Studies Review "Scholarly portrait of a nation that resists easy categorization-and containment. . . . Useful reading for students of contemporary geopolitics, in which Iran has proven a constant, often destabilizing presence." "Saikal . . . offers a critical but not unsympathetic perspective on the 'unique and multi-dimensional, and at times tragic, theopolitical story' of Iran. . . . Saikal's convincing bottom line is that open confrontation with Iran is unwise and unlikely to be productive, whereas a policy of careful engagement, while risky, could enable progress on the margins. The author's careful, analytic approach privileges trade statistics and governmental communiqués over stories of human interest; as such, this is for readers who seek an understanding of strategic considerations, rather than a sense of what daily life is like for the Iranian population." "Iran Rising: The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic is a clearly written,
    [url] => https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/14632300
    [pa] => 
    [subtitle] => The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic
    [publisher] => Princeton University Press
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