Mustafa Shu‘a‘iyan and Fada'iyan-i Khalq: Frontal Politics,Stalinism, and the Role of Intellectuals in Iran

This paper presents a glance into the life and times of the forgotten Iranian revolutionary and political theorist, Mustafa Shu‘a‘iyan, and his engagement with the orthodox and militant Iranian Left of the 1970s. A brief biographical sketch situates Shu‘a‘iyan in the context of the leftist groups of his time. In particular, the paper shows how upon his agonizing organizational relationship with the People's Fada'i Guerrillas, he set himself the unenviable task of launching the pathology of Stalinism that dominated the Iranian Left for decades. In this context, his bitter debate with the Fada'i Guerrillas on the role of the intellectuals in revolutionary struggle appears as a step toward unravelling the plagues that have won the Iranian Left its ill repute of being ideologically and organizationally undemocratic.     

Islam–science relation from the perspective of post-revolutionary Iranian religious intellectuals

Throughout Islamic history, various arguments have been raised by Muslim scholars concerning how the Quran and scientific knowledge are related to one another. This paper seeks to examine how contemporary Iranian religious intellectuals (rowshanfekrān-e-dīnī) have dealt with the question of the compatibility or incompatibility between Islam and science. In particular, the paper focuses on the writings of two of the most significant reformers of the post-revolutionary era, namely Abdolkarim Soroush and Muhammad Mujtahed Shabestari, concerning the relation between science and religion. The paper also examines the extent to which the ideas of these two thinkers about the relation between Islam and science reflect those of pre-modern and modern Muslim scholars. To do so, I first examine various pre-modern and modern discourses within the Islamic tradition about Islam–science relation as well as the scientific exegesis of the Quran, and then investigate the extent to which Soroush’s and Shabestari’s perspectives are related to such discourses. The central argument of the paper is that the theories proposed by Soroush and Shabestari significantly differ from the views of those modern and pre-modern Muslim scholars who attempt to argue in favour of the dichotomous view that Islam is either compatible or incompatible with scientific knowledge.     

The Civil Society Discourse in Iran

A survey of recent Iranian books and journal articles reveals four important characteristics about how writers and academics in Iran generally perceive the concept of civil society. First and foremost, the notion of 'civil society' has gone through a substantial process of indigenization. Secondly, those who theorize about the concept see a crucial role in it for the 'rule of law'. This implies, both directly and indirectly, a primary role for the State, 'coexisting in harmony' and functioning as an integral part of civil society. Thirdly, even Iran's secular theorists have not been able to fully evade the gravitational pull of Islam and its overwhelming role in Iranian culture and society. At the very least, they maintain that civil society is possible only after a 'proper' interpretation of Islam gains popular acceptance. Finally, these authors frequently mention the 'image' that non-Iranians have of the Iranian nation. The importance of this self-perception lies in its implications for how the élite literati articulates 'culture' and portrays it to the public and, in turn, to non-Iranians. Essentially, this appears to be where the most lasting consequences of the discovery of 'civil society' in Iran seem to lie: whereas the articulations of Iranian scholars and politicians appear to be little more than a native version of a global academic trend, they seem to have ignited a subtle process of cultural re-orientation and re-articulation under the rubric of religion and an institutionalized Islamic Republican State.     

Between Homeland and Exile: Iranian Jewry in Zionist/Israeli Political Thought*

This article explores the contingent nature of Zionist/Israeli understandings of Iranian Jewry, a particularly important “Oriental” (Mizrahi) group that has not yet received the attention it deserves in critical scholarship. Central to the Zionist project has been a juxtaposition of the opposition between East and West, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, between Exile and Land of Israel. These oppositions can be read as extreme expressions of the desire to assimiliate the Jews into the Western narrative of enlightenment and redemption. When applied to Iranian Jews, however, these oppositions become replete with tensions and ambiguities. First I show how, during the first three decades of the state of Israel, Israelis situated the Shah's modernization programs as part of the “West”, thereby removing Iranian Jewry from an “exilic” space. I then explore how the 1979 Iranian revolution further challenged these axiomatic oppositions. Iranian Jews living in Israel posed a serious challenge to Zionism's axiomatic assumptions. Nurturing a distinct ethnic (Mizrahi) identity within the Jewish state, they resisted the majoritarian and homogenizing tendencies of Israeli hegemony and demonstrated the fractured nature of Jewish identities.     

The Changing Spaces of Local Governance in Nicaragua

This article considers the new spaces for the participation of civil society organisations (CSOs) in local governance that have emerged in Nicaragua between 2000 and 2009, and how government and CSOs interact in these spaces. It discusses the significant changes that have taken place in Nicaraguan local governance during this period, and highlights the challenges for CSOs to engage with these spaces at different points in time. It finds that grassroots CSOs in Managua that based their engagement with the Bolaños government through these spaces on citizenship have been drawn into a more clientelist relationship with Ortega's government.     

Muhammad Reza Pahlavi and the Bahrain Question, 1968–1970

This paper examines the role of Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, the late Shah of Iran, in the secret Anglo-Iranian negotiations over Bahrain from January 1968 to March 1970. Despite a clear strategic imperative for abandoning Iran's claim to Bahrain in the wake of the British withdrawal from the Persian Gulf, the Shah feared that such an act would be seen by the Iranian public as collusion with the British to surrender Iranian territory, thereby further eroding the Pahlavi monarchy's precarious legitimacy. Drawing on British official papers and Iranian oral histories and memoirs, this paper explores for the first time the story of these secret negotiations and the extent to which the Shah's diplomacy was constrained by domestic considerations.     

The Scum of Tabriz: Ahmad Kasravi and the Impulse to Reform Islam

Ahmad Kasravi (1890–1946), one of the most influential Iranian thinkers of the twentieth century, delivers a stinging criticism of Shi′ism and Islam in two works which have been almost completely ignored by secular scholars, despite their immense influence on the thought and writings of Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic revolution as well as Ali Shariati and Jalal Ale Ahmad, its ideological forebears. The article considers the paradoxical reception of Kasravi's Shi′ism (Shi′igari) and On Islam (Dar Piramun-i Islam): both their extraordinary impact on Islamic revivalists and their neglect by specialists in Iranian affairs and Islamic studies. The occlusion of Kasravi's impulse to reform, the reduction of his ambiguous position in the Iranian intellectual tradition, has functioned to all but foreclose discussions of Islamic reform among secular scholars, deforming the contemporary intellectual history of Iran and Shi′ism more broadly.     

Constitutionalism as a solution to despotism and imperialism: the Iranian Constitutional Revolution in the Ottoman-Turkish press

This article contributes to the growing scholarship on the connections between the Ottoman and Iranian revolutions by exploring Ottomans’ reactions to and portrayal of the constitutional struggle in Iran. Based on an examination of primary sources that have not been utilized before, it reveals how an ideologically diverse group of intellectuals tried to link the two revolutions together in the Ottoman-Turkish press, focusing on shared problems and ideals. It demonstrates that undergoing a revolutionary process themselves, these intellectuals interpreted the events in Iran through the prism of their own experiences and used them to garner support for the constitutional regime at home. Through their depictions of the Iranian revolution, they not only portrayed the 1908 Revolution as part of a broader struggle against despotism and imperialism with significant implications for the Islamic world, but also conveyed the message that the Ottoman constitution needed to be supported and protected so that it did not fail like the one in Iran.     

Prayer house or cultural centre? Restoring a mosque in post-socialist Armenia

ABSTRACT

Post-socialist urban dynamics in the Caucasus have been characterized by uneven processes of rebuilding and reclaiming of sacred spaces. Exploring re-emerging Shia Muslim lifestyles in post-conflict Armenia around Yerevan's Blue Mosque, I examine how a religious place is perceived and used in everyday life. Built at the end of the eighteenth century in a multi-religious environment, today the Blue Mosque is associated with the political body symbolizing the recent Iranian–Armenian friendship and with Iran's soft-power policy in the Caucasus. The ethnographic research reveals that the mosque complex is not an isolated sacred site emphasizing differences between Iranian migrants and Armenian locals, worshippers, and non-worshippers, but a spatial expression of the coming together of groups from different backgrounds and of the vernacular hybridity that existed in Yerevan in the past. In spite of the invisibility and the silence of the Blue Mosque's past from the point of view of government officials, the physical restoration of the mosque is triggering unembodied memories of people in conscious and unconscious reconstructions of the multi-religious past. The question, is to what extent does the Blue Mosque contribute to a visible rediversification of religious and ethnic life in Armenia?     

Is Spain Different? The Tamed Memory of the Spanish Civil War and the Limits of Spain's National Self-Image (2008–10)

This article focusses on ongoing discussions about the place of the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) and the Franco dictatorship (1939–75) in Spain's democracy. Following the suspension of Judge Baltasar Garzón by the Spanish Supreme Court in 2010, who had indicted General Francisco Franco (1892–1975) and thirty-four accomplices under international law for committing crimes against humanity, a debate arose between leading intellectuals in Spain about the growing international influence on Spain's war past. This debate revealed that a group of influential left-wing intellectuals attempted to curb the social and political influence of the citizens' memory movements. The author observes how this happened by applying three strategies: the foreign strategy, the nationalistic-ethical strategy, and the saturation strategy. He concludes that the growing international pressure on Spain's handling of the Civil War and dictatorship led to a “Spanification” of the “culture of the transición” as a national memory, causing the memory movements to lose momentum and curbing the international influence on Spain's handling of its dictatorial past.     

China Comes Home: The Re-integration of China into the World Economy

This paper examines changes in the Iranian educational system implemented by the Islamic theocracy of Ayatollah Khomeini and his religious followers in the decade after the Revolution overthrowing the Shah. The study demonstrates weaknesses in the theoretical literature on development and education because of its inability to anticipate people in a developing nation empowering a government controlled by religious leaders. Religious values dominate this society and they have significantly altered Iranian education in terms of who teaches; how political/religious ideology, gender roles, and other subjects are taught; who attends schools; and consequentially, these affect Iran's literacy rates.     

Liberty in Akhundzadeh's and Kermani's Thoughts

Here I examine the modern idea of liberty in works of Akhundzadeh and Kermani – two leading Iranian intelligentsia under the Qajar Iran (1794–1925). In doing so, first, I set forth a brief (intellectual) background that shows some of the influences of Iranian, Russian, and European scholars on Akhundzadeh and Kermani. Then, their thoughts will be represented systematically by following a simple theoretical framework driven from their works. Applying one model to both cases particularly helps to demonstrate their similarities and differences, as well as how fundamentally different was their understanding of liberty from their contemporaries. To Akhundzadeh and Kermani, life under the Qajars resembled the lawless state of nature, transcending which, however, required more than establishing laws. For the transcendence to occur, a revolution in mind was needed; and for that matter to happen, liberty was a critical prerequisite and consequence.     

The Iranian Revolution, 1977–79: Interaction and Transformation

Within a short time after the Iranian revolution of 1977-79, a number of studies were published concerning the dramatic process. It was presumably the spectacular turn of events, comprehensive media coverage, and relatively long period of time over which the revolution took place that enhanced the attention it received, and still receives from academic research. Taking its point of departure in theories of revolution by Theda Skocpol, this article discusses the character of the revolution. The article problematises Skocpol's theories through a discussion of the special characteristics of the Iranian Revolution, thus adding new dimensions to the comprehensive discussions of the dramatic developments. It is the article's perspective that the revolution must be conceptualised as a complex and dynamic process involving a high degree of internal dynamism and unpredictability, which made possible a radical break from the past, the development of new constructs, and unintended consequences. The execution of a revolution resulting in a clerical dictatorship was made possible by the dialectical and creative interaction between the groups involved, an interaction that took place over the two years during which the revolution occurred.     

Machiavelli’s Arab Precursor: Ibn Zafar al-Siqilli¯

Virtually unknown to contemporary Western scholars and most Arab intellectuals is the political thought of Ibn Zafar al-Siqille¯ , a distinguished Arab philosopher and political activist of the twelfth century. First discovered in mid-nineteenth century by an Italian Arabist, Ibn Zafar was considered a worthy precursor to Machiavelli by Gaetano Mosca. This paper presents an analysis of Ibn Zafar's theories of power and leadership and draws relevant parallels between Ibn Zafar's magnum opus, Sulwa¯n al-Muta¯, and Machiavelli's Prince. Written in the genre of 'advice to the prince', Ibn Zafar's book offers an empirical analysis of power and a set of maxims and strategies to be used by a virtuous ruler in order to preserve his power and secure his realm. It will be shown that Ibn Zafar's maxims, like Machiavelli's, transcended his historical milieu and therefore, deserve attention by modern students of Arab political thought.     

Empire, Region, World: the International Context of Australian Foreign Policy since 1939

What have been the most important factors in international relations for Australian foreign‐policymakers over the last sixty years? Five broad themes stand out: the end of empire; Cold War dependency; the changing nature of security; economic development; and race and national identity. Cumulatively, and often in intertwined ways, these themes have amounted to little short of a revolution in Australia's place in the world since the Second World War. The challenges facing Australians have, as a result, been considerable. The international context in which Liberals have made foreign policy has been reshaping Australia as it has been reshaping the external environment.     

内藤湖南笔下的中国人形象——以内藤湖南1899年第1次访问中国为契机

1899年,内藤湖南第一次踏上中国大陆,就此开始了与中国文人之间的正式交往。在这期间,内藤湖南与中国知识分子展开交往,潜在地批判改良派的知识分子,高度赞美与自己抱有一样志向的"有识之士",与一批从事汉学研究、诗歌创作的文人形成了"唱和"的挚友。就在这样的交往之中,内藤湖南奠定了自己从事学问、研究中国的远大目标。     

Transforming an Empire: The Ottoman Empire’s Immigration and Settlement Policies in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

The Ottoman Empire's immigration and settlement policies were redefined in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a result of the population movements caused by the rise of nationalism, wars and territorial losses. With changing demographics and the acceptance of a new citizenship concept by the Tanzimat Edict in 1839, the millet system which had previously secured the multi-ethnic and multi-religious nature of the empire for centuries was challenged. The central argument of the paper is that the Ottoman state responded to these challenges by supporting a liberal migration and settlement policy in an institutionalized and highly complex structure through the pioneering Ottoman Migration Commission. Although certain restrictions later took place due to internal and external factors such as a changing economic, social and political climate, the institutionalized settlement and migration policy proves that a multi-dimensional system was developed in response to the challenges of a dissolving and yet transforming Empire.     

Water,Sheikhs and Dam Builders: Stories of People and Water in the Middle East

Edward Said's idea is that intellectuals should be ‘amateurs’, in the French sense of the term, in order to be involved with knowledge production out of their passion and keen interest, rather than as a duty-bound job. This should generate excitement and create dedication in their explorations and activism in and out of their professional fields. Following this idea, I argue in this paper how Egypt's radical feminist, Nawal el Saadawi, a physician by profession but humanist by passion, became a key dissident figure inside her country and abroad. I discuss her writings and activism that contribute towards advancing social justice for all, especially repressed women under patriarchy. Further, I argue that Saadawi's writings take part in a Gramscian hegemonic war against power in order to assert non-coercive knowledge in opposition to power's discursive formation. In doing so, Saadawi is guided by her moral principles. The combination of these two aspects not only makes her a Saidian ‘amateur’ but also a voice of resistance to be reckoned with.     

DIALOGUE WITH THE WEST

Abstract

This portrayal of China by one of the most respected intellectuals ever to emerge from the shadowy labyrinth of the American diplomatic establishment mirrors twenty years of concentrated work by American China scholars. Not every China expert would accept all of Kennan's assumptions or express them in such strident form. Yet over the last two decades the China profession has evolved a style of thought, a mode of asking questions, which has largely substantiated such views in both the public and scholarly worlds. The majority of China watchers have pleaded for “tolerance” and “patience” towards the People's Republic as she gradually learns, aided by a flexible American containment policy, to “adjust” to the “international community of nations” and the “rationalizing” qualities implicit in the “modernization” process. While protesting against certain aspects of America's foreign policy toward China, however, their thought and work has reinforced, at times deepened, the ideological justifications that support America's role in Asia and her attitudes towards China.     

Egyptian Intellectuals in the Shadow of British Occupation

The 1930s bore witness to a turning point in the work of several important Egyptian intellectuals who were recognized for their Western inclinations. In light of the British presence in Egypt—which was accompanied by internal problems such as the economic crisis and the abrogation of the constitution by Prime Minister Sidqi—these intellectuals turned to Islamic-oriented writings. Their work was characterized by an anti-Western tone, and the general underlying message was that Europe was attempting to oppress as well as ‘westernize’ Islamic heritage. A claim that was frequently voiced by intellectuals was that orientalism, under the façade of scientific research, was consciously being used as a tool for undermining Islam as part of the cultural war between the East and West. The present article surveys the statements that were articulated on this topic by several of the era's most prominent Egyptian thinkers.