Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for LibertyToday Iran is once again in the headlines. Reputed to be developing nuclear weapons, the future of Iraq's next-door neighbor is a matter of grave concern both for the stability of the region and for the safety of the global community. President George W. Bush labeled it part of the "Axis of Evil," and rails against the country's authoritarian leadership. Yet as Bush trumpets the spread of democracy throughout the Middle East, few note that Iran has one of the longest-running experiences with democracy in the region. In this book, Ali Gheissari and Vali Nasr look at the political history of Iran in the modern era, and offer an in-depth analysis of the prospects for democracy to flourish there. After having produced the only successful Islamist challenge to the state, a revolution, and an Islamic Republic, Iran is now poised to produce a genuine and indigenous democratic movement in the Muslim world. Democracy in Iran is neither a sudden development nor a western import, Gheissari and Nasr argue. The concept of democracy in Iran today may appear to be a reaction to authoritarianism, but it is an old idea with a complex history, one that is tightly interwoven with the main forces that have shaped Iranian society and politics, institutions, identities, and interests. Indeed, the demand for democracy first surfaced in Iran a century ago at the end of the Qajar period, and helped produce Iran's surprisingly liberal first constitution in 1906. Gheissari and Nasr seek to understand why democracy failed to grow roots and lost ground to an autocratic Iranian state. Why was democracy absent from the ideological debates of the 1960s and 1970s? Most important, why has it now become a powerful social, political, and intellectual force? How have modernization, social change, economic growth, and the experience of the revolution converged to make this possible? |
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Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty Ali Gheissari,Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr Limited preview - 2006 |
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activists Ahmad Akbar Ganji Arjomand Ayatollah became Cambridge University Press campaign challenge civil society clerical consolidation Constitutional Revolution country’s crisis cultural debates demand democracy Democracy in Iran democratic domination economic election faction forces Foundation for Iranian fundamentalism fundamentalists Guardian Council hard-line History of Iran I. B. Tauris ideals important industrial institutions intellectual Interview Iran-Iraq war Iran’s Iranian politics Iranian Revolution Iranian Studies Islamic ideology Islamic Republic Khamenei Khatami Khomeini leadership leftist London Majles Mehdi Mehdi Bazargan middle class militant mobilization modern Mohammad monarchical absolutism monarchy Mosaddeq movement Muslim Oral History Oxford University Press Pahlavi parliament Politics in Iran popular pragmatic conservatives president prime minister private sector pro-democracy Qajar radical Rafsanjani reformist regime religion religious revolutionary Reza Shah rule of law secular Seyyed Shah’s Shariati Shi'ism Shia social Soroush state-building state’s struggle Supreme Leader Tehran tion ulama Vali Nasr White Revolution York