Democracy in Iran History and the Quest for Liberty

by Gheissari, Ali; Nasr, Vali

• ISBN13: 9780195396966
• ISBN10: 0195396960
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-07-24
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Today 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 ofEvil," 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, Iranis 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 ideawith 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'ssurprisingly 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 powerfulsocial, political, and intellectual force? How have modernization, social change, economic growth, and the experience of the revolution converged to make this possible?Gheissari and Nasr trace the fortunes of the democratic ideal from the inchoate demands for rule of law and constitutionalism of a century ago to today's calls for individual rights and civil liberties. In the process they provide not just a fresh look at Iran's politics but also a new understandingof the way in which democracy can develop in a Muslim country.

Author Biography

Ali Gheissari is the author of Iranian Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century (1998) and Contemporary Iran: Economy, Society, Politics (OUP, 2009). He studies at Tehran University and Oxford, and is currently Professor of History and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at University of San Diego and a Senior Associate Member of visiting fellow at St. Antony's College, Oxford University.
Vali Nasr is Professor of International Politics in the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He is the author of several books, including Islamic Leviathan: Islam and the Making of State Power (OUP 2001).

Table of Contents

Chronology

Introduction

Rise of the State

Democracy or State-Building? 1906-1941

The Triumph of the State, 1941-1979

The Crucible of Revolution

Revolution and War Fundamentalism, 1979-1989

An Islamic Developmental State? 1989-1997

State and Limits to Democracy, 1997-2005

Epilogue

Prospects for a Democratic State

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Chronology

Introduction

Rise of the State

Democracy or State-Building? 1906-1941

The Triumph of the State, 1941-1979

The Crucible of Revolution

Revolution and War Fundamentalism, 1979-1989

An Islamic Developmental State? 1989-1997

State and Limits to Democracy, 1997-2005

Epilogue

Prospects for a Democratic State

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.