Religious statecraft : the politics of Islam in Iran / Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tabaar, Mohammad, author.

Series:

Columbia studies in Middle East politics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Islam and politics--Iran--History--20th century.

Islam and politics.

Islam and politics--Iran--History--21st century.

Shīʻah--Iran.

Shīʻah.

History.

Iran--Politics and government--1979-1997.

Iran.

Politics and government.

Iran--Politics and government--1997-.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 378 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, [2018]

Summary:

In a revisionist reading of Iranian politics since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Mohammad Tabaar demonstrates that the causal link between religious ideology and political order as it has been perceived is perilously misguided. Instead of viewing ideology as a determinant of an actor's political objectives and interests, he examines the religious consequences of politics. The conflict and violence that has been interpreted as an outcome of an ideology should rather be examined as causes of that particular ideology. Tabaar rejects the claim that Shi'a theology independently led to the Islamic Revolution in Iran and shapes its consequences. In actuality, a Shi'a ideology was specifically constructed to engender and preserve the revolution. That is not to say that religion does not matter. Religious ideas, ideals, and ideologies do play critical roles in generating mass mobilization and elite cohesion. It is precisely because political actors are aware of this function that they invest so much political capital in developing and deploying religious ideologies. Tabaar traces half a century of doctrinal changes against the background of Iranian domestic and international politics, and he argues that Islamic ideology is not only used but more importantly is constructed and strategically institutionalized by elites to deal with changing opportunities and threat perceptions.

Contents:

Introduction : the politics of Islam

Factional causes and religious consequences of politics

A shi'a theory of the state

The "Islamic" revolution

Institutionalizing velayat-e faqih

The hostage crisis : the untold account of the Communist threat

Religion and elite competition in the Iran-Iraq war

The metamorphosis of Islamism after the war

The factional battle over Khomeini's velayat-e faqih

Media, religion, and the green movement

Historical revisionism and regional threats

The domestic sources of nuclear politics.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780231183666

0231183666

OCLC:

983796697