Revolutionary Iran: Challenge and Response in the Middle East

by R. K. Ramazani

Overview

The policies and actions of revolutionary Iran continue to reverberate throughout the world. Now with a new epilogue on the Iranian-American arms deal. Revolutionary Iran is the most incisive account to date of the Khomeini regime's foreign policy and its impact on international affairs.

Despite its stridency, Iran has subtly and steadily moved toward a more pragmatic foreign policy. In the new epilogue, R. K. Ramazani probes the most striking manifestation of this tendency—the secret arms-for-hostages dealings that formed Iran's "America initiative." He relates this initiative to Iran's factional domestic politics and its angry conflict with the United States in the Persian Gulf. Revolutionary Iran demands the attention of anyone concerned with American interests in the Middle East.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801836107
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	12/01/1987
Edition description:	REPRINT
Pages:	350
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.78(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

R. K. Ramazani is the Harry Flood Byrd, Jr. Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia. His many books include the prizewinning Foreign Policy of Iran 1500-1941: A Developing Nation in World Affairs.

Table of Contents

Foreword, by Stanley Hoffmann
Preface
Part I. The Nature of Challenge and Response
Chapter 1. The Geostrategic Balance
Chapter 2. The Ideological Crusade
Chapter 3. The Sociopolitical Explosion
Part II. The Persian Gulf
Chapter 5. Persistence of the Iraq-Iran War
Chapter 6. Containment by Concilation: Saudi Arabia
Chapter 7. Containment by Disapporbation and Deterrence: Saudi Arabia
Chapter 8. Containment of Revolution: The Genesis of the GCC
Chapter 9. Containment of Subversion and War: The GCC in Action
Part III. The Eastern Mediterranean
Chapter 10. The Eradication of Israel?
Chapter 11. The "Excommunication" Of Egypt?
Chapter 12. The Islamization of Lebanon?
Part IV. Oil, Revolution, and War
Chapter 13. Oil and the Iranian Revolution
Chapter 14. Oil and War
Part V. The United States and the Middle East
Chapter 15. The Changing Situation in the Middle East: Guidelines for U.S. Policy
Epilogue. Iran's America Initiative
Appendix A. Table of Arms, Oil, and Population in the Middle East
Appendix B. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini: A Biography
Appendix C. Gulf Cooperation Counncil Charter
Appendix D. Revolutionary Iran at the Strait of Hormuz
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Presents a comprehensive picture of the impact of the revolution on Iran's relations with its Middle Eastern neighbors—particularly, though not exclusively, in the Gulf . . . An original study, of value both to Iranian specialists and those concerned with wider themes in Middle Eastern politics.
—International Affairs

[Ramazani] has written with sparkling clarity on a difficult subject.
—Shaul Bakhash, New York Review of Books

From the Publisher

[Ramazani] has written with sparkling clarity on a difficult subject.

New York Review of Books - Shaul Bakhash

Presents a comprehensive picture of the impact of the revolution on Iran's relations with its Middle Eastern neighbors—particularly, though not exclusively, in the Gulf . . . An original study, of value both to Iranian specialists and those concerned with wider themes in Middle Eastern politics.

International Affairs

[Ramazani] has written with sparkling clarity on a difficult subject.

— Shaul Bakhash

New York Review of Books

By far the best study available in English on Iranian foreign policy, by a doyen of Iranian political analysis. It is a thorough evaluation of the impact of Iran's revolution on that country's relations with local states, regional alliances, and the world's superpowers. Ramazani demonstrates conclusively that the forces that brought the Ayatollah Khomeini to power have also challenged the status quo elsewhere in the region. He examines Iran's war with Iraq, its competition with Saudi Arabia, the complications of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the dissolution of Iranian relations with Israel, etc. The book, however, is not an apology but very well balanced. Highly recommended for the specialist and informed lay reader. Sanford R. Silverburg, Political Science Dept., Catawba Coll., Salisbury, N.C.

Library Journal