Monograph on social work and social work education in Iran, Islamic Republic - examines the situation of social services in urban areas and rural areas (rural welfare), discusses the setting, objectives and institutional changes that characterize the government's welfare social policy, and considers the social roles of the teheran school of social work and of social workers. Bibliography pp. 189 and 190, and photographs.
Iranian women tell in their own words what the revolution attempted and how they responded. The Islamic revolution of 1979 transformed all areas of Iranian life. For women, the consequences were extensive and profound, as the state set out to reverse legal and social rights women had won and to dictate many aspects of women's lives, including what they could study and how they must dress and relate to men. Reconstructed Lives presents Iranian women telling in their own words what the revolution attempted and how they responded. Through a series of interviews with professional and working women in Iran—doctors, lawyers, writers, professors, secretaries, businesswomen—Haleh Esfandiari gathers dramatic accounts of what has happened to their lives as women in an Islamic society. She and her informants describe the strategies by which women try to and sometimes succeed in subverting the state's agenda. Esfandiari also provides historical background on the women's movement in Iran. She finds evidence in Iran's experience that even women from "traditional" and working classes do not easily surrender rights or access they have gained to education, career opportunities, and a public role.
For decades, political observers and pundits have characterized the Islamic Republic of Iran as an ideologically rigid state on the verge of collapse, exclusively connected to a narrow social base. In A Social Revolution, Kevan Harris convincingly demonstrates how they are wrong. Previous studies ignore the forceful consequences of three decades of social change following the 1979 revolution. Today, more people in the country are connected to welfare and social policy institutions than to any other form of state organization. In fact, much of Iran’s current political turbulence is the result of the success of these social welfare programs, which have created newly educated and mobilized social classes advocating for change. Based on extensive fieldwork conducted in Iran between 2006 and 2011, Harris shows how the revolutionary regime endured though the expansion of health, education, and aid programs that have both embedded the state in everyday life and empowered its challengers. This first serious book on the social policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran opens a new line of inquiry into the study of welfare states in countries where they are often overlooked or ignored.
On November 4, 1979, when students occupied the American Embassy in Tehran and subsequently demanded that the United States return the Shah in exchange for hostages, the deposed Iranian ruler's regime became the focus of worldwide scrutiny and controversy. But, as Amin Saikal shows, this was far from the beginning of Iran's troubles. Saikal examines the rule of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, especially from 1953 to 1979, in the context of his regime's dependence on the United States and his dreams of transforming Iran into a world power. Saikal argues that, despite the Shah's early achievements, his goals and policies were full of inherent contradictions and weaknesses and ultimately failed to achieve their objectives. Based on government documents, published and unpublished literature, and interviews with officials in Iran, Britain, and the United States, The Rise and Fall of the Shah critically reviews the domestic and foreign policy objectives--as well as the behavior--of the Shah to explain not only what happened, but how and why. In a new introduction, Saikal reflects on what has happened in Iran since the fall of the Shah and relates Iran's past to its political present and future.
This rich dynastic study examines the political histories of Iran's last two monarchical dynasties, the Qajars and the Pahlavis. Tracing the rise and fall of both dynasties, Mehran Kamrava addresses essential questions about how and why they rose to power; what domestic and international forces impacted them; how they ruled; and how they met their end. Exploring over two hundred years of political history, Kamrava's comprehensive yet concise account places developments within relevant frameworks in an accessible manner. With detailed examinations of Iran's history, politics, and economics, he interrogates the complexities of dynastic rule in Iran and considers its enduring legacy. Developing innovative interpretations and utilizing original primary sources, this book illuminates the impact of the monarchy's rule and ultimate collapse on Iranian history, as well as Iran's subsequent politics and revolution.
Over three decades after the Iranian Revolution reconfigured the strategic landscape in the Middle East, scholars are still trying to decipher its aftereffects. Suzanne Maloney provides the first comprehensive overview of Iran's political economy since the 1979 revolution and offers detailed examinations of two aspects of the Iranian economy of direct interest to scholars and non-specialist readers of Iran: the energy sector and the role of sanctions. Based on the author's research as both a scholar and government advisor, the book also features interviews with American and Iranian government officials. Moving chronologically from the early years under Khomeini, through the economic deprivations of the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war, through liberalization under Khatami to the present, Maloney offers fascinating insights into Iran's domestic politics and how economic policies have affected ideology, leadership priorities, and foreign relations.
Gulf Charities and Islamic Philanthropy in the "Age of Terror" and Beyond is the first book to be published on the charities of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Gulf, covering their work both domestic and international. From a diversity of viewpoints, the book addresses: the historical roots of Islamic philanthropy in religious traditions and geopolitical movements; the interactions of the Gulf charities with "Western" relief and development institutions - now under pressure owing to budgetary constraints; numerous case studies from the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia; the impact of violent extremism on the sector, with the legal repercussions that have followed - especially in the USA; the recent history of attempts to alleviate the obstacles faced by bona fide Islamic charities, whose absence from major conflict zones now leaves a vacuum for extremist groups to penetrate; the prospects for a less politicized Islamic charity sector when the so-called "war on terror" eventually loses its salience.
Scholars from the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East combine their talents and expertise to honor George Lenczowski, whose studies of the Middle East over two generations have made him a foremost expert on contemporary affairs in this most volatile and complex region.
