This monograph is intended to help analysts and policymakers assess the political, demographic, and economic vulnerabilities of Iran to potential U.S. policy measures. The study dissects the political complexities and vulnerabilities of the Iranian government, evaluates ethnic and demographic tensions in Iran, and assesses recent economic developments and potential trajectories of future economic growth. It concludes with a set of policy recommendations for the U.S. government based on the analysis.

This book provides in-depth analyses of the main social policy components and institutions in Iran. Its focus is on the period since 1979, although many of the developments are inevitably traced back to their pre-revolutionary origins. The first part of the book investigates socioeconomic trends and institutional developments—including the significant role played by post-revolutionary para-governmental organizations in the delivery of social programs. The remaining chapters analyze the achievements and challenges of health, education, social insurance, housing, and employment policies as well as the macroeconomics of poverty.

Contents: (1) Intro.; (2) Historical Context; (3) Overview of Iran¿s Economy; (4) Econ. Policy and Reform Efforts; (5) Iran and the Recent Global Econ. Turndown; (6) Econ. Stakeholders: Bonyads; Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; Private Sector; (7) Econ. Sectors: Oil and Natural Gas; Ag.; Mfg.; Financial Sector; (8) Internat. Trade: Major Goods Traded; Key Trading Partners; U.S.-Iranian Trade; Internat. Sanctions and Internat. Trade; Trade Liberalization; (9) Internat. Financial Flows: Foreign Exchange Reserves; Foreign Invest. in Iran¿s Economy; Internat. Loans and Assistance; (10) Congress. Issues and Options: Unilateral and Multilateral Approaches to Sanctions; Impact of Sanctions on Iran¿s Economy and Policy; Action in the 110th and 111th Cong.

Iran is an ancient country, an oil-exporting economy and an Islamic Republic. It experienced two full-scale revolutions in the twentieth century, the latter of which had large and important regional and international consequences, including an eight-year war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. And now in the twenty-first century, it confronts issues and experiences problems which have important implications for its future development and external relations. Featuring outstanding contributions from leading sociologists, social anthropologists, political scientists and economists in the field of Iranian studies, this book is the first to examine Iran and its position in the contemporary world. In developing this argument, topics examined include: social developments in the country including gender relations contemporary politics international relations relations with the US and Israel nuclear weapons and energy programmes oil and the development of the economy.

The relationship between religion and the state has entered a new phase ever since the Iranian Revolution more than three decades ago. The recent mass uprisings against autocratic rulers in the Arab world have highlighted the potency of Islamist forces in post-revolutionary societies in the region, a force arguably unlocked first by Iran’s version of the ‘spring’ three decades ago. The economic ramifications of these uprisings are of special interest at a time when the possibility of the creation of Islamic states can have implications for their economic policy and performance again. A study of the Iranian experience in itself can offer rare insights whether for its own features and characteristics or for its possible lessons and implications for recent events in the region. This book is concerned with the economic aspects and consequences of the Iranian Revolution in general and its interaction with the international economy in particular. Many studies have to date dealt with Iran’s economic challenges, policies and performance in the post-revolutionary period but its interaction with the international economy – although of growing importance – has not received sufficient attention. The contributions in this volume by experts in the field address ways in which in the span of three decades, Iran’s economy has evolved from a strong aspiration to develop an ‘independent economy’ to grappling with debilitating international economic sanctions.

This study entails a theoretical reading of the Iranian modern history and follows an interdisciplinary agenda at the intersection of philosophy, psychoanalysis, economics, and politics and intends to offer a novel framework for the analysis of socio-economic development in Iran in the modern era. A brief review of Iranian modern history from the Constitutional Revolution to the Oil Nationalization Movement, the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and the recent Reformist and Green Movements demonstrates that Iranian people travelled full circle. This historical experience of socio-economic development revolving around the bitter question of “Why are we backward?” and its manifestation in perpetual socio-political instability and violence is the subject matter of this study. Michel Foucault’s conceived relation between the production of truth and production of wealth captures the essence of hypothesis offered in this study. Foucault (1980: 93–94) maintains that “In the last analysis, we must produce truth as we must produce wealth; indeed we must produce truth in order to produce wealth in the first place.” Based on a hybrid methodology combining hermeneutics of understanding and hermeneutics of suspicion, this monograph proposes that the failure to produce wealth has had particular roots in the failure in the production of truth and trust. At the heart of the proposed theoretical model is the following formula: the Iranian subject’s confused preference structure culminates in the formation of unstable coalitions which in turn leads to institutional failure, creating a chaotic social order and a turbulent history as experienced by the Iranian nation in the modern era. As such, the society oscillates between the chaotic states of socio-political anarchy emanating from irreconcilable differences between and within social assemblages and their affiliated hybrid forms of regimes of truth in the springs of freedom and repressive states of order in the winters of discontent. Each time, after the experience of chaos, the order is restored based on the emergence of a final arbiter (Iranian leviathan) as the evolved coping strategy for achieving conflict resolution. This highly volatile truth cycle produces the experience of socio-economic backwardness and violence. The explanatory power of the theoretical framework offered in the study exploring the relation between the production of truth, trust, and wealth is demonstrated via providing historical examples from strong events of Iranian modern history. The significant policy implications of the model are explored. This monograph will appeal to researchers, scholars, graduate students, policy makers and anyone interested in the Middle Eastern politics, Iran, development studies and political economy.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of Iran's political economy since the 1979 revolution and examines the country's energy sector.

"When Iranians overthrew their monarchy, rejecting a pro-Western shah in favor of an Islamic regime, many observers predicted that revolutionary turmoil would paralyze the country for decades to come. Yet forty years after the 1978-79 revolution, Iran has emerged as a critical player in the Middle East and the wider world, as demonstrated in part by the 2015 international nuclear agreement. In Iran Rising, Iran specialist Amin Saikal describes how the country has managed to survive despite ongoing domestic struggles, Western sanctions, and countless other serious challenges"--

By tracing an arc of thought and action from both historical and religious figures up through modern microfinance practitioners, Looft illustrates the many ways religious inspiration continues to remain at the crux of international economic development–while raising compelling questions around God and Mammon working together to help the poor.

The first volume of its kind to address concepts and theories of what constitutes a 'Middle Power' in the Middle East.