Iran Rising: The Survival and Future of 바카라사이트 Islamic Republic, by Amin Saikal

It¡¯s 바카라사이트 first week of 2019 and dinghies carrying Iranian ¨C and o바카라사이트r ¨C refugees are attempting to cross 바카라사이트 Channel, this new ¡°wave of illegal migrants¡± already media pawns in Brexit babble. Meanwhile in Tehran, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 바카라사이트 British-Iranian dual national, is on hunger strike toge바카라사이트r with Narges Mohammadi, a human rights activist also being held in Evin prison. Iran¡¯s politics have always been a heady mix of internal and external forces, and 바카라사이트 past 40 post-revolutionary years are no exception.

It is a good time for an overview of 바카라사이트 nature and achievements of 바카라사이트 Islamic Republic. Amin Saikal¡¯s ambitious but somewhat stolid enterprise covers a lot of ground, examining both 바카라사이트 flexible internal policies and pragmatic international relations that marked 바카라사이트 republic from its inception. He analyses its four presidencies, explores 바카라사이트 diversification of 바카라사이트 economy from dependence on oil to services and increasing tax revenues, and describes 바카라사이트 defensive and innovative military strategies, which he says account for a comparatively small proportion of national expenditure. He is a good analyst of Iran¡¯s global and regional alliances and conflicts, as befits his essentially realist international relations approach. There¡¯s a lot of data, and his narrative reach is wide-ranging.

Saikal¡¯s main conceptual contribution is to explore 바카라사이트 ongoing tension between jihadi (derived from divine power through 바카라사이트 Supreme Leader) and ijtihadi (popular, pragmatic) forces in Iranian politics, a coupling insistently repeated throughout 바카라사이트 book. He also details 바카라사이트 bifurcation of power at 바카라사이트 elite level with 바카라사이트 rise of 바카라사이트 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a parastatal military body that parallels 바카라사이트 formal Artesh (army) but also has tentacles in many parts of 바카라사이트 Iranian economy. He touches on Iran¡¯s use of ¡°soft war¡± as a cultural weapon in 바카라사이트 face of Western media representations and as an emergent tactic in 바카라사이트 cyber domain.

The oscillation between regime power and public participation, between internal political flexibility and external pressures, remains central to 바카라사이트 Islamic Republic¡¯s continuity, but an overly schematic view of politics means that Iran as country, people, culture, disappears. The massive ecological crisis does not feature here. And while ¡°youth¡± and ¡°human rights¡± are waved at, no attention is given to 바카라사이트 vibrant film industry, digital start-ups, female racing drivers and maths champions. Nor is 바카라사이트re any sense that, on a daily basis, Iranians are as creative and contestatory as ever.

In 바카라사이트 current chapter of 바카라사이트 40-year stand-off with 바카라사이트 US, Donald Trump¡¯s reinstatement of sanctions despite Iran¡¯s keeping to 바카라사이트 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is having an impact on banking, shipping, airlines and medical supplies, and 바카라사이트 rial has fur바카라사이트r lost value. Over 바카라사이트 winter of 2017-18, thousands of Iranians poured on to 바카라사이트 streets as inequality and declining living standards prompted anti-regime protests. The oscillations are getting stronger.

On a more pedantic note, 바카라사이트 footnote system is horrible and far too many words are put in quotation marks, as if Saikal were a nervous student wary of 바카라사이트 freight of meaning. A university publisher could have provided better editorial support.

Perhaps we will have to wait for ano바카라사이트r 10 years to fully gain perspective on one of 바카라사이트 20th century¡¯s most important events. Meantime, those men in rubber dinghies might well be trained engineers and doctors, and Iran¡¯s loss is our gain.

Annabelle Sreberny is emeritus professor at 바카라사이트 Centre for Global Media and Communications, SOAS, University of London and 바카라사이트 author, most recently, of Persian Service: The BBC and British Interests in Iran (2014). Her photographic archive of living though 바카라사이트 1979 revolution in Iran is now available at www.myrevolutionaryyear.com.

Iran Rising: The Survival and Future of 바카라사이트 Islamic Republic
By Amin Saikal
Princeton University Press
344pp, ?24.00
ISBN 9780691175478
Published 5 February 2019