Table of Contents

 

1. Introduction: Iran in the 21st Century: Politics, Economics and Confrontation Homa Katouzian and Hossein Shahidi  National Identity and National Interests  2. Crafting a National Identity amidst Contentious Politics in Contemporary Iran Farideh Farhi  3. The Dilemma of National Interest in the Islamic Republic of Iran Hamid Ahmadi  4. From Multilingual Empire to Contested Modern State Touraj Atabaki  Dissent  5. Three Faces of Dissent: Cognitive, Expressive and Traditionalist Discourses of Discontent in Contemporary Iran Mahmood Sadri and Ahmad Sadri  6. From Motherhood to Equal Rights Advocates: The Weakening of Patriarchal Order Azadeh Kian Thébaut  Foreign Policy Challenges  7. Iran and the United States in the Shadow of 9/11: Persia and the Persian Question Revisited Ali Ansari  8. A Look to the North: Opportunities and Challenges Farhad Atai  9. Israel-Iranian Relations Assessed: Strategic Competition from the Power Cycle Perspective Trita Parsi  Nuclear Policy  10. Nuclear Policy and International Relations Saideh Lotfian  11. Nuclear Energy: A Case for Sustainable Development Mehdi Askarieh  Economic Performance  12. Oil, Economic Diversification and the Democratic Process in Iran Massoud Karshenas and Hassan Hakimian  13. Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth in Iran: Past Experience and Future Prospects Ahmad Jalali Naini  14. Human Resources in Iran: Potentials and Challenges Djavad Saleh-Isfahni  15. The Significance of Economic History and the Fundamental Features of the Economic History of Iran Homa Katouzian  

 

Reviews

 

'This is a rich and important collection. The scholarship is original and of the highest quality, and the book is a must for anyone seeking to understand Iran's place in the modern world.' - Stephanie Cronin, University of Northampton, UK

 

'A highly significant volume and the first of its kind to introduce Iran in the 21st century, through a variety of themes with clarity and detachment. Featuring outstanding contributions written from a fresh perspective, this book stresses the vital need for reform for a complex and rapidly changing society. A must read for the study of contemporary Iran.' - Vanessa Martin, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

 

'In a remarkably wide-ranging and forward-looking set of essays, the contributors to this volume – all prominent scholars in the field – offer the most comprehensive and trenchant analysis of Iran's economic, political, and cultural problems and prospects in the new century. More so than any other work on Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, this book will admirably serve the needs of scholars, students, journalists, and others interested in contemporary Iran and the dilemmas that it faces in its international relations.' - Ali Banuazizi, Boston College, USA and Past President of the Middle East Studies Association

 

 

 

About Sadeq Hedayat: His Work and his Wondrous World

 

Featuring contributions from leading scholars of Iranian studies and / or comparative literature, this edited comprehensive and critical edited collection provides detailed scholarly analysis of Hedayat's life and work using a variety of methodological and conceptual approaches.

 

Hedayat is the author of The Blind Owl, the most famous Persian novel both in Iran and in Europe and America. Many of his short stories are in a critical realist style and are regarded as among some of the best written in twentieth century Iran. But his most original contribution was the use of modernist, more often surrealist, techniques in Persian fiction. Thus, he was not only a great writer, but also the founder of modernism in Persian fiction.

 

Yet both Hedayat's life and his death came to symbolize much more than leading writers would normally claim. He still towers over modern Persian fiction and will remain a highly controversial figure so long as the clash of the modern and the traditional, the Persian and the European, and the religious and the secular, has not led to a synthesis and a consensus.