Alex Vatanka

The Battle of the Ayatollahs in Iran (eBook, PDF)

The United States, Foreign Policy, and Political Rivalry since 1979

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

Understanding the foreign policy agenda and behavior of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a critical challenge for the world. But where do the principal Iranian regime actors come from in terms of political background, experiences and interests? Which types of ambitions or policy conflicts have dominated and shaped foreign policy debates since 1979?

This book explains the internal policy process in Tehran by following two regime personalities, Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who before his death in January 2017 held some of the most powerful political positions in Iran. No two men have been more influential in dictating the regime's decision-making processes since 1979. Yet little is known about how their competing worldviews and interests, their key moments of dispute - both personal or policy-based - or their personal ambitions have informed the trajectory of Iranian politics. The book analyzes Khamenei and Rafsanjani's own words and writings - and accounts of them given by others - to reveal how the domestic policy contest has shaped Tehran's actions on the regional and international stage. Comprising primary and secondary Iranian sources - including untapped memoirs, newspaper reports, and Iranian electronic media and personal interviews - the book highlights the principal rivalries over the lifespan of the Islamic Republic and offers new insights into the present and future of Iranian foreign policy.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury UK eBooks
• Seitenzahl: 264
• Erscheinungstermin: 8. April 2021
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780755600069
• Artikelnr.: 61272855

Autorenporträt

Alex Vatanka is Senior Fellow in the Middle East Institute and the Jamestown Foundation in Washington D.C. He is the author of Iran-Pakistan: Security, Diplomacy, and American Influence (I.B.Tauris, 2015) and has written for outlets such as Foreign Affairs, Americas Quarterly, CNN.com, Al Monitor, the Journal of International Security Affairs and BBC Persian Online.

Inhaltsangabe

Preliminary Chapter Outline: · Background and the earliest intra-regime
debate about the Islamic Republic's international identity: to remain a
nation state with a narrow and well-defined national priorities or to
become a global revolutionary cause · 1980-1988: The debate on how to break
Iran's international isolation during the Iran-Iraq War (what was out of
necessity and what was due to genuine policy differences) · 1989-1997:
President Rafsanjani's first attempt to return to the global mainstream
(how much of a consensus was behind this policy shift?) · 1997-2005:
President Khatami and a second attempt to reintegrate into the global
mainstream (The intensification of the link between factional legitimacy,
power play and foreign policy) · 2005-2013: Ahmadinejad's populist and
erratic foreign policy approach: from revolutionary zeal to challenging
Ayatollah Khamenei's conventional wisdom · 2013-present: Ayatollah
Khamenei's balancing act to maintain an equilibrium between President
Rouhani's "moderates" and the "hardliners" of the Islamic Revolutionary
Guards Corps. Each of these chapters will be further divided into
sub-chapters based on specific turn of events. For example, what was the
Iranian debate during the Iran-Contra affair or the debate on how to
respond to the Taliban's killing of Iranian diplomats in 1998? These are
some examples of pivotal moments in Iranian foreign policy where American
analysts, policy-makers and general audience will benefit from being
exposed to Iranian accounts.