Iran dominates the media headlines once again and has taken center stage in the U.S. and European Union strategy toward the Middle East. A more nuanced understanding of Iranian society has assumed even greater significance and urgency. Iran Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Islamic Republic offers crucial insight for students and the general reader into an often misunderstood and complex country that is shrouded in mystery and misperception. Heir to a long history and a great culture and civilization, Iran embodies a rich, complex, and diverse mosaic that defines its national identity. Diversity is also the operative word that describes Iranian landscapes and geography, its multiple ethnic groups and their varied cultures and traditions, as well as the uneven and vastly different levels of economic and industrial development, conflicting political tendencies, and different and often contradictory social and cultural outlooks. Because of its tumultuous recent political history, Iran appears to encapsulate all of these internal differences and stark contrasts somewhat more distinctly than most of its neighbors. The 1978-1979 revolution transformed the society and culture in fundamental ways and redefined social life. It created new institutions of governance and Islamicized the culture, education and the legal system in an attempt to create a new society that would usher in the reign of piety and virtue. Yet, Islamization had to come to terms with pre-Islamic and illustrious Persian history and culture, as well as the realities of an interdependent, postmodern, globalized world in which, as a developing country, Iran resides in the periphery. Within this framework, the dynamics and complexity of social life in the Islamic Republic unfold. This encyclopedia is the source for up-to-date, authoritative information on a full range of critical topics of interest.
Coverage of the Islamic Republic here falls into the general categories of history, politics, economics, society and culture. The most significant aspects of the life in Iran since the revolution-the era of the Islamic Republic so far-are stressed. The wide range of entries shows the richness and complexity of Iranian society, its multiple and varied facets, its expressions and outward manifestations, and its nuanced responses to political repression, instability, war, pervasive crisis and the chronic tension between modernity and tradition. Some of the entries designed to highlight these important phenomena revolve around the country's ethnic mosaic, the social role and position of women, veiling, the educational system, sports, intellectuals, the arts and artistic expression, literature, poetry, cuisine, healthcare, and the family. Other entries range from regionalism and urban development to the petroleum industry, agriculture, the banking system, issues of wealth and poverty, class structure and economic mobility, and the private sector. In a number of significant areas economic, social and cultural phenomena intersect. These intersections are reflected in entries on broadcasting and communications technology, the Internet, public relations, electronic and print media, and family planning and healthcare. A chronology, selected bibliography, and photos complement the entries.

Iran Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Islamic Republic, 2 volume set

History

Kamrava, Mehran

Dorraj, Manochehr

Middle East

Greenwood

Middle East at the Crossroads: The Changing Political Dynamics and the Foreign Policy

Middle East at the Crossroads provides a comprehensive account of the post-Cold War Middle East and analyzes the foreign policy challenges that they pose. The essays focus on some of the regional developments in the post-Cold War era and the foreign policies of the United States, Russia, the European Union, China, and Japan toward the region. The contributors present a critical and nuanced analysis sensitive to the regional complexities as well as to the context of foreign policy responses of the great powers. They demonstrate that the Middle East is not out of step with history, but a part of it that is not only shaped by it, but also molds it. These realities have created a new political dynamic that has led to new political configurations. These changes have led to an evolution in the relations among Middle Eastern countries and global politics in general. The essays in this volume expose a complex and unpredictable future in the Middle East that demands a new foreign policy response from the Western world that is more sensitive to the regional realities and aspirations of the people in this area.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

University Press of America

Middle East at the Crossroads provides a comprehensive account of the post-Cold War Middle East and analyzes the foreign policy challenges that they pose. The essays focus on some of the regional developments in the post-Cold War era and the foreign policies of the United States, Russia, the European Union, China, and Japan toward the region. The contributors present a critical and nuanced analysis sensitive to the regional complexities as well as to the context of foreign policy responses of the great powers. They demonstrate that the Middle East is not out of step with history, but a part of it that is not only shaped by it, but also molds it. These realities have created a new political dynamic that has led to new political configurations. These changes have led to an evolution in the relations among Middle Eastern countries and global politics in general. The essays in this volume expose a complex and unpredictable future in the Middle East that demands a new foreign policy response from the Western world that is more sensitive to the regional realities and aspirations of the people in this area.

A study of popular movements and dissent in Iranian history that aims to shed new light on the populist metamorphosis of Iranian society in the post-1953 period and on the populist subculture of the 1960s and 1970s.

From Zarathustra to Khomeini: Populism and Dissent in Iran

Lynne Rienner

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dorraj, Manochehr. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Dorraj, Manochehr

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dorraj, Manochehr. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Iran Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Islamic Republic, 2 volume set

Middle East at the Crossroads: The Changing Political Dynamics and the Foreign Policy

Middle East at the Crossroads: The Changing Political Dynamics and the Foreign Policy

From Zarathustra to Khomeini: Populism and Dissent in Iran