Iran's Intellectual Revolution

CAMBRIDGE MIDDLE EAST STUDIES
Since its revolution in 1978-79, Iran has been viewed as the bastion of radical Islam and a sponsor of terrorism. The focus on its volatile internal politics and its foreign relations has, according to Mehran Kamrava, distracted attention from more subtle transformations which have been taking place there in the intervening years. With the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, a more relaxed political environment opened up in Iran, which encouraged intellectual and political debate between learned elites and religious reformers about the nature of Iranian society, its traditions, and its principles. What emerged from these interactions were three competing ideologies which Kamrava categorizes as conservative, reformist, and secular, and which he illustrates with reference to particular thinkers. As the book aptly demonstrates, these developments, which amount to an intellectual revolution, will have profound and far-reaching consequences for the future of the Islamic Republic, its people, and very probably for countries beyond its borders. This thought-provoking account of the Iranian intellectual and cultural scene will confound stereotypical views of Iran and its mullahs.
"Kamrava's meticulous examination of different orientations - religious conservative, religious reformist, and secular modernist - in present day Iran offers a valuable perspective on the changes in the intellectual and ideological landscape of the country since the 1979 Revolution."
Alli Gheissari, University San Diego
"A thorough and engaging work. Kamrava has produced an excellent introduction to the intellectual discourse of contemporary Iran and the silent revolution which quietly transforming the political culture of the country."
Alli Ansari, University of Andrews
MEHRAN KAMRAVA is the Director of the Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar. His recent publications include The Modern Middle East: A Political History since the First World War (2005) and The New Voices of Islam: Rethinking Politics and Modernity (ed., 2006).
Cover illustration: mullahs debate outside the Feizieh Theological Centre Qom. Yaners Kontos/ Pictures.