Hidden Liberalism: Burdened Visions of Progress in Modern Iran

Politics & Social Sciences

Banai, Hussein

Politics & Government

Cambridge University Press

Compared to rival ideologies, liberalism has fared rather poorly in modern Iran. This is all the more remarkable given the essentially liberal substance of various social and political struggles - for liberal legality, individual rights and freedoms, and pluralism - in the century-long period since the demise of the Qajar dynasty and the subsequent transformation of the country into a modern nation-state. The deeply felt but largely invisible purchase of liberal political ideas in Iran challenges us to think more expansively about the trajectory of various intellectual developments since the emergence of a movement for reform and constitutionalism in the late nineteenth century. It complicates parsimonious accounts of Shi'ism, secularism, socialism, nationalism, and royalism as defining or representative ideologies of particular eras. Hidden Liberalism offers a critical examination of the reasons behind liberalism's invisible yet influential status, and its attendant ethical quandaries, in Iranian political and intellectual discourses.

Hidden Liberalism

Review\nBy drawing on a broad range of primary and secondary material and utilizing diverse methodological and analytic perspectives this book offers an in-depth survey of different aspects of US-Iran relations. A timely publication and welcome addition to scholarship. 
―Ali Gheissari, University of San Diego, editor of Contemporary Iran: Economy, Society, Politics\nRepublics of Myth is an outstanding and balanced review of the difficult relationship between Americans and Iranians. Based on unique research, this timely book addresses the grievances of both sides and pays special attention to the Iran-Iraq War. 
―Bruce O. Riedel, Brookings Institution, author of Kings and Presidents: Saudi Arabia and the United States since FDR\nThis is a detailed, enlightening history of the troubled U.S.-Iran relationship since World War II, which explains why these two countries' adversarial national narratives persist, based on documents and discussions with and among some of the decision makers on both sides of the divide. A thoroughly engrossing read. 
―Joost R. Hiltermann, International Crisis Group, author of A Poisonous Affair: America, Iraq, and the Gassing of Halabja\nWhy does the rift between the US and Iran persist? 
Iran and the United States have been at odds for forty years, locked in a cold war that has run the gamut from harsh rhetoric to hostage-taking, from crippling sanctions to targeted killings. In Republics of Myth, Hussein Banai, Malcolm Byrne, and John Tirman argue that a major contributing factor to this tenacious enmity is how each nation views itself. The two nations have differing interests and grievances about each other, but their often-deadly confrontation derives from the very different national narratives that shape their politics, actions, and vision of their own destiny in the world. 
The dominant American narrative is the myth of the frontier―that the US can tame it, tame its inhabitants, and nurture democracy as well. Iran, conversely, can claim two dominant myths: the first, an unbroken (but not for lack of trying) lineage back to Cyrus the Great, and the second, the betrayal of Imam Hussein, the Prophet's grandson. Both Iranian myths feature a detestable outsider as an enemy of the Iranian state and source of the nation's ills and misfortune. The two countries have clashed so severely in part, the authors argue, because their national narratives constantly drive them to do so. Drawing on newly declassified documents and discussions with policymakers, the authors analyze an array of missed opportunities over several decades to improve the US-Iran relationship. 
From the coup d'état that overthrew Iran's legitimate premier Mohammad Mosaddeq to the hostage crisis, the Iran-Iraq War, the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, post-9/11 antagonisms, and other points of conflict, each episode illustrates anew the weight of historical narratives on present circumstances. Finally, Barack Obama's diplomacy and Donald Trump's determination to undo the 2015 nuclear accord are explored―both examples of the enduring power of America's frontier narrative. Introducing new insights and knowledge in a highly readable narrative, Republics of Myth makes a major contribution to understanding this vital conflict.

Republics of Myth: National Narratives and the US-Iran Conflict

History

Byrne, Malcolm

Tirman, John

Middle East

Johns Hopkins University Press

Becoming Enemies brings the unique methods of critical oral history, developed to study flashpoints from the Cold War such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, to understand U.S. and Iranian relations from the fall of the Shah in 1978 through the Iranian hostage crisis and the Iran-Iraq war. Scholars and former officials involved with U.S. and UN policy take a fresh look at U.S and Iranian relations during this time, with special emphasis on the U.S. role in the Iran-Iraq War. With its remarkable declassified documentation and oral testimony that bear directly on questions of U.S. policymaking with regard to the Iran-Iraq War, Becoming Enemies reveals much that was previously unknown about U.S. policy before, during, and after the war. They go beyond mere reportage to offer lessons regarding fundamental foreign policy challenges to the U.S. that transcend time and place.

Becoming Enemies: U.S.-Iran Relations and the Iran-Iraq War, 1979–1988

Blight, James G.

Lang, janet M.

Tirman MIT, John

Byrne research director the Na, Malcolm

Americas

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Becoming Enemies brings the unique methods of critical oral history to understand U.S. and Iranian relations from the fall of the Shah in 1978 through the Iranian hostage crisis and the IranIraq war. Scholars and former officials involved with U.S.

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