In the immediate aftermath of the break-up of the USSR, there was widespread concern that Iran would seize the opportunity to export its ideology of Islamic Revolution to the destabilized region. This paper suggests, however, that Iran's policy has been driven more by domestic economic concerns, the desire to break out of international isolation, and a determination not to jeopardise the important relationship with Russia. It examines Iran's political, economic and ideological interests in the new states across its northern borders and also considers Central Asian and Transcaucasian perceptions of the benefits and problems of developing links with Iran.
The Azerbaijani people have been divided between Iran and the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan for more than 150 years, yet they have retained their ethnic identity. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of an independent Azerbaijan have only served to reinforce their collective identity. In Borders and Brethren, Brenda Shaffer examines trends in Azerbaijani collective identity from the period of the Islamic Revolution in Iran through the Soviet breakup and the beginnings of the Republic of Azerbaijan (1979-2000). Challenging the mainstream view in contemporary Iranian studies, Shaffer argues that a distinctive Azerbaijani identity exists in Iran and that Azerbaijani ethnicity must be a part of studies of Iranian society and assessments of regime stability in Iran. She analyzes how Azerbaijanis have maintained their identity and how that identity has assumed different forms in the former Soviet Union and Iran. In addition to contributing to the study of ethnic identity, the book reveals the dilemmas of ethnic politics in Iran.
For half a century, the United States and the Soviet Union were in conflict. But how and where did the Cold War begin? Jamil Hasanli answers these intriguing questions in At the Dawn of the Cold War. He argues that the intergenerational crisis over Iranian Azerbaijan (1945–1946) was the first event that brought the Soviet Union to a confrontation with the United States and Britain after the period of cooperation between them during World War II. Based on top-secret archive materials from Soviet and Azerbaijani archives as well as documents from American, British, and Iranian sources, the book details Iranian Azerbaijan's independence movement, which was backed by the USSR, the Soviet struggle for oil in Iran, and the American and British reactions to these events. These events were the starting point of the longer historical period of unarmed conflict between the Soviets and the West that is now known as the Cold War. This book is a major contribution to our understanding of the Cold War and international politics following WWII.
A comprehensive exploration of postrevolution Iranian foreign policy analyzes the country's relations with key nations and regions and the impact of both Iran's domestic situation and the developing global system. Iran's Foreign Policy in the Post-Soviet Era: Resisting the New International Order provides the first truly comprehensive, in-depth survey of Iranian foreign policy, issue by issue and country by country, since the Islamic Revolution. To help readers understand both the what and the why of Iran's role in the world and formulate useful responses to that role, the author provides a detailed analysis of Iranian foreign policy in all its dimensions. The first part of the book places Iranian actions, particularly its relations with the United States and other key players, within the context of the emerging international system, while also showing how domestic developments impact foreign policy. The second part surveys Iranian relations with specific actors, notably the United States and Russia, and with key regions, including Europe, Central Asia, the Arab world, Latin America, and Africa. Providing an antidote to existing preconceptions, this incisive analysis lays an analytically sound basis for shaping policies toward Iran—policies with potentially high payoff in terms of regional security and stability.
This fascinating study explores the emergence of a significant Sunni community on the margins of Shia Iran and delineates a 'Sunni arc' stretching from Central Asia southwards through the Iranian provinces of Khorasan and Baluchistan.
The political situation in Azerbaijan in the early twentieth century -- The domestic and international position of Azerbaijan after the Bolshevik occupation -- The eastern policy of Soviet Russia and Iran -- The sovietization of Armenia : Moscow's secret plans for Karabagh -- Collaboration after occupation : drawing South Caucasus borders after sovietization -- The Russian-Turkish conference in Moscow and Azerbaijan -- From Moscow to Kars -- The struggle for Baku oil and the formation of the Soviet Union
A scholarly and authoritative history of the emergence and growth of Islam in Iran during the early and later medieval periods. This book, by I. P. Petrushevsky, the foremost Soviet Iranologist, was originally published in Russia in 1966. After discussing the Arabian environment in which the faith of Islam arose, and the character—legal, social and doctrinal—of the new message, the author moves on to trace the peculiarly Iranian development of Islamic beliefs, the schisms which arose in its early history, and the eventual creation of a Sunni orthodoxy. Written from the Russian perspective, with Russia's long contact with Iranian and Turkish Muslim neighbors, it provides a stimulating and salutary balance to the study of the Islamic world.
Since the 1979 revolution, scholars and policy makers alike have tended to see Iranian political actors as religiously driven—dedicated to overturning the international order in line with a theologically prescribed outlook. This provocative book argues that such views have the link between religious ideology and political order in Iran backwards. Religious Statecraft examines the politics of Islam, rather than political Islam, to achieve a new understanding of Iranian politics and its ideological contradictions. Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar traces half a century of shifting Islamist doctrines against the backdrop of Iran’s factional and international politics, demonstrating that religious narratives in Iran can change rapidly, frequently, and dramatically in accordance with elites’ threat perceptions. He argues that the Islamists’ gambit to capture the state depended on attaining a monopoly over the use of religious narratives. Tabaar explains how competing political actors strategically develop and deploy Shi’a-inspired ideologies to gain credibility, constrain political rivals, and raise mass support. He also challenges readers to rethink conventional wisdom regarding the revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, the U.S. embassy hostage crisis, the Iran-Iraq War, the Green Movement, nuclear politics, and U.S.–Iran relations. Based on a micro-level analysis of postrevolutionary Iranian media and recently declassified documents as well as theological journals and political memoirs, Religious Statecraft constructs a new picture of Iranian politics in which power drives Islamist ideology.
Iran’s role as a regional power is more significant than many in the West may realise. The country lies between Central Asia/the Caucasus and the Gulf region on the one hand, and, on the other, between the Mediterranean/Levant region and South Asia. Many of these areas are of increasing strategic importance. This book explores Iran’s role as a regional power, focusing on relations with South Caucasus countries - Azerbaijan and Armenia. It outlines the historical context, including Persia’s rule of these countries before the nineteenth century, and discusses Iran’s approach to foreign and regional policy and how both internal and international factors shape these policies. The book assesses Iran–Azerbaijan and Iran–Armenia bilateral relations to demonstrate how those policies translate in Iran's regional and bilateral relations. The book concludes by considering how Iran's relations in the region are likely to develop in the future.
This book deserves to be read carefully by scholars and laymen of foreign policy dealing with the former Soviet Union, Russia and South Asia, and particularly by the political leaders of India and Pakistan. The book is a multi-dimensional analysis of (a) Soviet-American rivalry; (b) Soviet determination to expand in the direction of South Asia and the Gulf; (c) the regional dynamics of the Middle East most especially Iran, Afghanistan and China, the major power in Asia.
