Iran Divided
The Historical Roots of Iranian Debates on Identity, Culture, and Governance in the Twenty-First Century
By (author) Shireen T. Hunter
Publication date:
24 September 2014Length of book:
304 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersDimensions:
233x164mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9781442233188
Iranian politics has been marked by sharp ideological divisions and infighting. These divides, kept largely out of public view until the 1990s, came to greater light with the contested 2009 presidential elections. To explain the diverse and complex forces that led to this event and that animate Iran’s current fractured society and polity, author Shireen T. Hunter 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.
Iran Divided: The Historic Roots of Iranian Debates on Identity, Culture, and Governance in the 21st Century explains historical and political factors and their relevance to Iran today, shedding light on the forces behind Iranian politics and society. This book discusses:
A comprehensive survey, the book will be an indispensable tool to any student seeking to understand the Islamic Republic of Iran and its standing in the world today.
Iran Divided: The Historic Roots of Iranian Debates on Identity, Culture, and Governance in the 21st Century explains historical and political factors and their relevance to Iran today, shedding light on the forces behind Iranian politics and society. This book discusses:
- historical roots of Iran’s current divisions and debates;
- Iran versus Islam;
- secularism versus religion;
- constitutionalism versus Islamic government;
- fundamental issues of identity, culture, and governance;
- aging of the revolutionary coalition;
- development of new elites;
- experiences of the Islamic republic;
- and new international conditions moving the country beyond old divides and ideological rifts toward a new national consensus.
A comprehensive survey, the book will be an indispensable tool to any student seeking to understand the Islamic Republic of Iran and its standing in the world today.
This wide-ranging book covers sociopolitical and cultural developments in contemporary Iran. Hunter, a well-published scholar on Iran and the broader Muslim world, places contemporary developments in postrevolutionary Iran in historical context. Throughout the book, the author seeks to explain what it means to be an Iranian and how the Iranian people define and redefine their cultural identity and grapple with issues of governance. Hunter traces the current debates about the issues of modernity, cultural authenticity, and political discourse among the Iranians from the dawn of the 19th century. She describes Iran’s encounter with the West and explains varied responses to this encounter, including those of nationalist, leftist, and religious groups. The strength of the book is that the author does not offer simplistic explanations to complex problems that have affected the course of political developments in Iran, prior to and after the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The author also does a masterful job of analyzing the interplay of competing forces that have shaped the formation and maturation of the Islamic Republic and explains major developments in Iran from 1979 to the present time. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and research collections.