Mass Protests in Iran: From Resistance to Overthrow explores the various waves of protests in Iran over the past 44 years, surveying their causes, consequences, and outcomes. The author argues that the regime and its support base of fundamentalist groups constitute a minority in Iran and lack legitimacy, and thus the regime uses repression and violence to secure its rule. The result is a pre-revolutionary situation and a shifting political landscape of overthrows, constant mass protests and mass repression. Kazemzadeh’s analysis highlights the factors that would assist the fundamentalist regime in succeeding in suppressing these protests, and the factors that would assist the Iranian people in defeating the fundamentalist regime. Written in an accessible style, this timely book offers a much-needed contribution to the literature on Iranian politics. It will be of interest to students and scholars, as well as policy makers, interested in Middle Eastern studies, social movements, protest movements, political science and sociology.

Previous edition: published as by Patricia L. Baker and Hilary Smith. 2009.

Negin Nabavi brings together essays written by experts and scholars that shed light on the many transformations that Iran has experienced in the thirty years under the Islamic Republic and speculate on the import of the developments of 2009 and beyond.

Successive Iranian leaders have struggled to navigate the fraught political-cultural space of media in the Islamic Republic–skirting the line between embracing Western communications technologies and rejecting them, between condemning social networking sites as foreign treachery and promoting themselves on Facebook. How does a regime that originally derived its hegemony from the ability to mass communicate its ideology protect its ideological dominance in a media environment defined by hybridity, hyper-connectivity, and near constant change? More broadly, what is the role of media in the construction and maintenance of power in Iran? This book addresses these questions by examining the institutions, policies, and discourses of two political regimes over the course of nearly eight decades. Drawing from over 3,000 primary source documents and digital artifacts in Persian and English, including formerly classified material hidden deep in the archives, this book offers a history of media in Iran across political regimes and media paradigms– from the public's first encounter with mass communication in the 1940s, to the dawn of digital media in the 1990s, to internet and mobile telephony today. At the same time, the book trains a keen eye on contemporary politics. With foundations in sociology and political science, Media and Power in Modern Iran offers trenchant insight into the present ruling establishment– a political regime born from what has become known as the "first televised revolution."

An authoritative analysis of Iran's defense doctrine and security policies set within the context of security and political relations in the Middle East.

To understand contemporary Iran's notoriously complex politics, it is essential first to grasp the monumental changes initiated by Mohammad Khatami. This previously little-known cleric stormed to victory in Iran's 1997 presidential elections with nearly 70% of the vote, encouraging Iran's reform movement to flourish during his eight-year tenure as president. Ghoncheh Tazmini's book offers a thought-provoking, astutely close-up yet systematic analysis of Khatami the man and the reform movement that supported him. She provides us with the first insight into Khatami and his politics, unravelling from the inside the dramatic emergence and consequences of Iran's vibrant reform movement. Khatami's reforms ushered in an era of transformation and set the country on the path to greater religious tolerance, increased socio-political liberties, integration into the world economy and rapprochement with the international community. Tazmini's account of Iran's charismatic and ambitious President-Reformer is authoritative and provocative, portraying Khatami as a leader who displayed a combination of exceptional resilience and periods of cautious hesitancy in the face of dilemmas and vulnerabilities associated with his decision to become the first Iranian figure to implement change in the Islamic Republic of Iran. She describes how despite the institutional constraints associated with Iran's power structure and powerful conservative opposition, the reform movement managed to successfully set in motion a pluralistic momentum in Iran. Balanced and analytical, this book provides a comprehensive and finely detailed introduction to the subtleties of contemporary Iran's complex political culture. At the same time it is an important reference point for a critical period of Iran's post-revolutionary trajectory, especially given the controversial post-Khatami developments in the country following the election of President Ahmadinejad.

This book explores the diplomatic, security and energy relations of Turkey and Iran, analysing the impact of religious, political and social transformation on their bilateral relationship. It examines Turkey and Iran’s security relations with the wider Middle East - including the Kurdish-Turkish War, the Kurdish-Iranian War and the Kurdish-Arab War - and their impact on regional politics.

From the controversial expert who brought Iran's nuclear program to the attention of the world in 2002 comes a searing exposé of the inner workings and plans of Iran's mullahs. With access to dissident groups inside Iran, Alireza Jafarzadeh traces President Ahmadinejad's radical roots and involvement in terror attacks to his impact on Iran's weapons program. He reveals new details on Iran's meddling in Iraq and its broader goals for the future of the Middle East. This is the most authoritative account to date of the looming threat Iran poses to the United States and the Gulf region. Readers will learn for the first time: *President Ahmadinejad's radical past as a feared torturer of political prisoners and his zealous mission to deliver the regime its first nuclear bomb *The chilling trend of the military's increasing control of the nuclear program *How Ahmadinejad was handpicked by Iran's mullahs to help create an Islamic Republic in Iraq *The latest covert actions to bury nuclear facilities in tunnels *The story of the front companies Iran used to buy its nuclear technology undetected *The author's original and insightful policy options to end the Iranian threat

This book assesses Iran’s role in contemporary geopolitics. In particular, it examines three main intertwining circles: Iran’s development and political challenges, its relationships with neighbouring countries, as well as its relations with the major global powers — China, the European Union, Russia, and the United States. With contributions from over 20 authors, the book spans such critical aspects of contemporary geopolitics as modern history, natural resources, the economy, the social-political context, and strategic thinking. Particular focus is placed on Iran’s relations with its neighbours - Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Pakistan, and the Persian Gulf States. Furthermore, the book offers both a bilateral and multilateral dimension on how nuclear sanctions imposed on Iran have impacted its strategic planning, from the economic and military perspectives.

This book presents the first full and systematic account of Iran’s nuclear program from 1979 to 2015. Throughout this time, foreign policy makers, intelligence experts, and scholars on the subject have repeatedly failed to understand the internal dynamics behind Iran's nuclear project and have underestimated the depth of the regime’s commitment to develop nuclear weapons. The author presents an account of little-understood episodes in the history of the nuclear project, including an analysis of the decision making process of the “nuclear sanctum.” A full account is given of the organizations that ran the project and a listing of the suppliers that made the project possible. Finally, the book offers a detailed analysis of the international sanctions placed on Iran, including the induced anomie and legitimacy crisis which expedited the decision to rollback.