The Politics of Nationalism in Modern Iran (Cambridge Middle East Studies, Series Number 40) - Hardcover

Ansari, Ali M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521867622 ISBN 13: 9780521867627

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2012

Synopsis

This sophisticated and challenging book by the distinguished historian Ali M. Ansari explores the idea of nationalism in the creation of modern Iran. It does so by considering the broader developments in national ideologies that took place following the emergence of the European Enlightenment and showing how these ideas were adopted by a non-European state. Ansari charts a course through twentieth-century Iran, analyzing the growth of nationalistic ideas and their impact on the state and demonstrating the connections between historiographical and political developments. In so doing, he shows how Iran's different regimes manipulated ideologies of nationalism and collective historical memory to suit their own ends. Firmly relocating Reza Shah within the context of the Constitutional Revolution, Ansari argues that Reza Pahlavi's identification with a monarchy by Divine Right bore a greater resemblance to, and facilitated, the religious nationalism that catapulted Ayatollah Khomeini to power on the back of a populist and highly personalized mythology. Drawing on hitherto untapped sources, the book concludes that it was the revolutionary developments and changes that occurred during the first half of the twentieth century that paved the way for later radicalization. As the first book-length study of Iranian nationalism in nearly five decades, it will find an eager readership among scholars of the Middle East and those students more generally interested in questions of nationalism and ideology.

About this title

Book Description:

Distinguished historian Ali M. Ansari explores ideas about nationalism that emerged in post-Enlightenment Europe and applies them to a non-European state. Charting a course through twentieth-century Iran, he analyzes the impact of these ideas on different regimes and their historiographical and political connections. He concludes that revolutionary developments in the early twentieth century paved the way for later radicalization.

About the Author:

Ali M. Ansari is a Professor of Iranian History at the University of St Andrews. His many publications include Iran under Ahmadinejad (2008), Iran, Islam and Democracy: The Politics of Managing Change, 2nd edition (2006) and Modern Iran since 1921: The Pahlavis and After (2003).

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0521867622
• ISBN 13: 9780521867627
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 342