How Iran - and the world around it - have changed in the four decades since a revolutionary theocracy took power. Iran's 1979 revolution is one of the most important events of the late twentieth century. The overthrow of the Western-leaning Shah and the emergence of a unique religious government reshaped Iran, dramatically shifted the balance of power in the Middle East and generated serious challenges to the global geopolitical order challenges that continue to this day. The seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran later that same year and the ensuing hostage crisis resulted in an acrimonious breach between America and Iran that remains unresolved to this day. The revolution also precipitated a calamitous war between Iran and Iraq and an expansion of the U.S. military's role in maintaining security in and around the Persian Gulf. Forty years after the revolution, more than two dozen experts look back on the rise of the Islamic Republic and explore what the startling events of 1979 continue to mean for the volatile Middle East as well as the rest of the world. The authors explore the events of the revolution itself; whether its promises have been kept or broken; the impact of clerical rule on ordinary Iranians, especially women; the continuing antagonism with the United States; and the repercussions not only for Iran's immediate neighborhood but also for the broader Middle East. Complete with a helpful timeline and suggestions for further reading, this book helps put the Iranian revolution in historical and geopolitical perspective, both for experts who have long studied the Middle East and for curious readers interested in fallout from the intense turmoil of four decades ago.
Suzanne Maloney is the interim vice president and director of the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. Her books include Iran's Political Economy since the Revolution and Iran's Long Reach. Maloney has advised both Republican and Democratic administrations on Iran and the Middle East and previously served as Middle East advisor for ExxonMobil Corporation. She holds a Ph.D from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and has studied and conducted research in Iran.
Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: Iran Recast 1. A View of the Revolution from the Shah's Palace 2. The Revolution's Broken Promises 3. Iran's Economy since the Revolution: Populism and Pragmatism 4. Revolution, Reform, and the Future of the Islamic Republic 5. Poppies and Public Health: 1979 and Narcotics in Iran 6. Girls of Revolution Street: Iranian Women since 1979 Part II: The Revolution and Washington 7. "We Used to Run This Country": How the Revolution Upended an American-Iranian Alliance 8. After 1979, America's Torch Song for Tehran 9. The Iranian Hostage Crisis and Its Effect on American Politics 10. Washington, the Shah, and the Problem of Autocratic Allies 11. The Revolution and Washington's Reliance on Economic Pressure 12. The Rules of the Game: International Law and Iranian-American Relations 13. 1979 and the World's Second Oil Shock Part III: The Ripple Effect of Iran's Revolution across the Middle East 14. How 1979 Transformed the Regional Balance of Power 15. The Iranian Revolution's Legacy of Terrorism 16. Iraq and the "First Islamic Revolution" 17. Saddam's Monumental Mistakes 18. Hezbollah: Revolutionary Iran's Most Successful Export 19. The Origins of the Saudi-Iranian Battle for the Broader Middle East 20. Coexistence and Convergence in Turkish-Iranian Relations 21. Israel's Reverse Periphery Doctrine 22. Emboldened and Then Constrained: Repercussions of Iran's Revolution for Sunni Islamists 23. In Pakistan, Another Embassy Under Siege 24. Bad Judgment and a Chain of Blunders: Soviet Responses to the Iranian Revolution Appendix A: Iranian Revolution Timeline of Events Appendix B: What to Read to Understand the 1979 Iranian Revolution Contributors Index
