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The mystery of contemporary Iran / Mahnaz Shirali ; translated by Bernice Dubois.

DS316.6 .S55613 2015

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Format:: Book
Author/Creator:: Shirali, Mahnaz, author.
Contributor:: Dubois, Bernice, translator.
Standardized Title:: Malédiction du religieux. English
Language:: English; French
Subjects (All):: Islam.; History.; Shīʻah.; Clergy--Political activity.; Conservatism.; Democracy.; Social change.; Islam and politics.; Social conditions.; Religion.; Iran--Politics and government--20th century.; Iran.; Politics and government.; Iran--Religion--History--20th century.; Iran--Social conditions--20th century.; Islam and politics--Iran--History--20th century.; Social change--Iran--History--20th century.; Democracy--Iran--History--20th century.; Conservatism--Iran--History--20th century.; Clergy--Political activity--Iran--History--20th century.; Clergy.; Shīʻah--Iran--History--20th century.; Islam--Iran--Functionaries--History--20th century.; Islam--Functionaries.; Political science.; Social history.
Genre:: History.
Physical Description:: xviii, 276 pages ; 24 cm
Place of Publication:: New Brunswick, New Jersey : Transaction Publishers, [2015]
Summary:: "More than thirty years after Islam Republic's inception, the mystery remains. Nearly every day, Iranian leaders surprise the world; doubts remain as to the precise nature of a regime that calls itself both a Republic and Islamic but is neither one nor the other. While the Ayatollahs' unpopularity reaches unprecedented heights, their power seems more secure. The paradoxes weigh heavily and judgments diverge. While public opinion wonders how an archaic regime such as the mollahs could survive, some observers speak of Iran's modernization and of the clergy's ability to reconcile itself with politics. Understanding this specific modernization process that began with the Constitutional Revolution is difficult and raises a number of questions. How and why could ideological Islam dominate Iranian society since the late 1970s? How could it gain power and overcome the reform molded by the Constitutional Revolution? How did it gain influence in Iran and in the rest of the Muslim world? Mahnaz Shirali analyzes twentieth-century Iranian history to understand the role of the Shiite clergy in the social and political organization of a country that began its modernization. What enabled the clergy to take over politics and gain control of the State? How did it replace other prevailing political forces? Studying the past hundred years of Iranian history reveals the force of a religious conservatism opposing political modernity and repelling the slightest attempt at democracy by Iranians, thanks to constant metamorphoses. This book studies the curse of the Shiite clergy on political modernity. It is one of the most in-depth criticisms of the ideological Islam imposed on Teheran"--Provided by publisher.
Contents:: Introduction; The historical framework; The process; 1. Constitutionalism (1905-1909); The awakening; The coalition; The merchants; The intelligentsia; The clergy; Awareness of historical backwardness; The Revolution; The reversal; Collapse of the Parliament; Autopsy of a failure; 2. Nationalism (1920-1953); The influence of World War I; Foreign intervention; Nationalist dominance; The two pillars of Iranian nationalism; Reza Shah : defense of national sovereignty; The flowering of patriotic tales; Fury of the clergy; Mossadeq : conversion to the nation; The protagonists of oil nationalization; The communists; The British; The coup d'etat; 3. Modernization (1953-1970); The key to the enigma; The modernizing state; The reversed relationship between politics, religion and society; An improbable coalition; The clergy's resistance; The retreat of intellectual thought; The communist struggle; 4. Communism (1920-1960); Iran's Tudeh Party; Relations with the Soviet Union; Political orientation and ideological choices; Successive crises; The great split; Settling accounts; Disappearance; The imprint of Tudeh; 5. Revolutionarism (1960-1978); The new communist movement; The remodeling; The origins of guerilla warfare; Theoreticians of armed struggle; Theoretical differences; The Fadaiyan of the people : conversion to revolution; The appearance of the revolutionary actor; 6. Ideological Islam (1960-1979); Return to the past; The rehabilitation of Islam; Islamic democracy; Ali Shariati : the religious ideology; The right to kill; The right to die; The cult of the guide; The Moudjahidine of the people : an ideology of combat; Ideological confusion; Conflict with the Olama; Internal dichotomy; The bloody purge; The OMPI after the revolution; The invention of a "secular religion"; 7. Khomeinism; A so-called Islamic revolution; "Khomeinism" or Islamizing politics; The weakness of the Shiite clergy; Ideas in evolution; Ideologization of Shiism; The power of an ideological discourse; The institutionalization of Khomeinism; From the religious to the political; Khomeini and power; Manipulating religion; International misunderstanding; Recourse to the Shariat; The deprivation of rights; The war (1980-1988); Loss of credibility; A paradoxical modernity; 8. The political-religious debate; The religion of leaving religion; Political religion against anti-religious politics; The anti-religious camp; The camp of political religion; The new Muslim thinkers; Conclusion: Iran in a changing world.
Notes:: Translated from the French.; Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:: 9781412854627; 1412854628
OCLC:: 880689655

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The mystery of contemporary Iran / Mahnaz Shirali ; translated by Bernice Dubois.

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