Defining Iran presents a new and revealing analysis of the way in which Iranian political discourses compete with each other by examining them within the framework of national identity construction. By deconstructing the intellectual roots and development of Iranian national identity, Shabnam Holliday advocates the need to study Iran's heritage and historical experience to understand key shifts and processes in contemporary Iranian politics. Holliday convincingly argues that competing discourses of national identity advocated by political figures from Musaddiq to the current administration demonstrate a politics of resistance to both internal and external forces. With a particular emphasis on Khatami’s presidency, this study compares the meanings attached by significant members of the Iranian political elite to concepts including Iran’s pre-Islamic heritage, Islamic heritage, civilization, 'democracy' and the 'West'. Furthermore, discourses of Iranian national identity exist not in isolation but rather as part of a continuous process construction and reconstruction in Iran's journey of political development; a process manifested so vividly in the revolution of 1979 and the fallout from the 2009 presidential election. Defining Iran simultaneously furthers our understanding of the conceptualization of national identity both generally and specifically in the case of Iran and political dynamics which shape contemporary Iran.
Domestic political dynamics have been playing critical role since 1979 in shaping Iran’s foreign and security policy. The Revolution 1979 erupted due to Shah’s despotic domestic policies and his heavy dependence on the West and the United States. The expression of domestic circumstances on Iran’s foreign and security policy came in 1979 that continued and still persists. Domestic political influence over Iran’s foreign and security policy and vice-versa has been continuing since 1979 as demonstrate from the country’s behaviour. President Rouhani’s policies reflect that the complex relationship between domestic politics and foreign-security policy established in the yearly period of the Revolution which continued. The book exposes domestic circumstances and political dynamics and their impact on Iran’s foreign and security policy.
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