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BestsellerE-book
Author Tabaar, Mohammad, author.

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

Publication Info. New York : Columbia University Press, [2018]
©2018

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (xii, 378 pages).
Physical Medium polychrome
Description text file
Series Columbia studies in Middle East politics
Columbia studies in Middle East politics.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
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.
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.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Islam and politics -- Iran -- History -- 20th century.
Islam and politics.
Iran.
History.
Chronological Term 20th century
Subject Islam and politics -- Iran -- History -- 21st century.
Chronological Term 21st century
Subject Shīʻah -- Iran.
Shīʻah.
Iran -- Politics and government -- 1979-1997.
Politics and government.
Chronological Term 1979-1997
Subject Iran -- Politics and government -- 1997-
Chronological Term 1997-
Since 1900
Genre/Form Electronic books.
History.
Added Title Politics of Islam in Iran
Other Form: Print version: Tabaar, Mohammad Ayatollahi. Religious statecraft. New York : Columbia University Press, [2018] 9780231183666 (DLC) 2017014876 (OCoLC)983796697
ISBN 9780231545068 (electronic book)
0231545061 (electronic book)
9780231183666
0231183666