Dual Containment of Iraq and Iran

This chapter investigates the dual containment of Iraq and Iran. During their heydays, Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini were both widely believed to be difficult targets for a containment policy, even one designed and implemented by a superpower like the United States. Dual containment of Iraq and Iran during the 1980s was a case in which multiple US administrations did not want either side to emerge victorious. While the Soviet Union, China, Britain, France, and even the European Community states likely preferred this outcome too, none of them had the strength and the willpower needed to bring this outcome to fruition. Only the United States could reasonably aspire to bring about this outcome, because of the enormous resources that were at its disposal.

The Revolution Matures (1988–2001)

This chapter surveys the period of reconstruction after the Iran-Iraq War. It discusses how the regime consolidated power and undertook key reforms in the security and military sectors to ensure its survival in the aftermath of the war and the transition of power from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The chapter argues that this period was instrumental in allowing the regime to lay out the groundwork for the next phase of the revolution: Its expansion.

THE ECONOMIC COST OF REVOLUTION: THE IRANIAN CASE. A SYNTHETIC CONTROL ANALYSIS*

In 1978, a revolution in Iran succeeded in toppling Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. After the Shah was forced to leave the country, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, one of the leaders of the revolution, returned from his exile in France to become the Supreme Leader of Iran. In this paper, we investigate the economic cost of the revolution using the synthetic control method. According to our estimates, we conclude that after the emergence of the revolution, the annual real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in Iran declined by about 20.15% on average relative to its synthetic counterpart without the revolution in the period 1978–1980. If Iran had not faced such a revolution, the accumulated per capita GDP would have been 6,479 dollars higher, which amounts to an average annual loss of about $2,159 over that period.

Watching Khomeini

The fall of the Shah of Iran is often quoted as a significant intelligence failure, this chapter focuses on Ayatollah Khomeini and the CIA analysis and assessments of this key individual. The chapter provides a potted biography of Khomeini, including his influence whilst in a series of exiles from Iran, whilst also detailing the misguided CIA analysis at the time of the extent of his influence within Iran, and how they evolved over time. The chapter concludes with a short overview of contact US officials had with Khomeini and his key advisers. Document: The Politics of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

"They Were Going Together with the Ikhwan": The Influence of Muslim Brotherhood Thinkers on Shi'i Islamists during the Cold War

By analyzing the interest displayed by the followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in writings by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, this article shows how the Shi'i Islamist movement in Iran and Afghanistan was both transnational and influenced by Sunni Islamists in the Arab world. Using mostly Iranian and Afghan sources, this article discusses these influences through the notion of Islamic revolutionary ecumenism. While much attention has been given to Khomeini's call to "export" Iran's Islamic Revolution, this article shows some of the ways his own followers "imported" their ideology.

An Islamic Revolution in Iran; Initial Misreading by the Saudis

By 1978, with all avenues of secular opposition blocked by the Shah’s dictatorial regime, more and more Iranians had turned to the mosque to voice their growing discontent. The revered Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, operating from exile in Najaf, Iraq, astutely tapped into Shia history of martyrdom and Iranian nationalism to create and intensify anti-royalist militancy among different classes of Iran. He transformed the escalating street protest into a non-violent revolutionary movement demanding the end of monarchy. It succeeded in February 1979. The freshly inaugurated Islamic Republic, endorsed by citizenry in a referendum, was to be built along the lines of Khomeini’s 1971 book, Islamic Government: Rule of the Just Jurisprudent. .Unfamiliarity with this seminal work led Saudi Deputy Prime Minister, Prince Abdullah, to declare, wrongly, that obstacles to manifold cooperation between the Saudi Kingdom and the Islamic Republic had been removed. The new regime in Tehran established the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, a special force to protect the revolution, and revolutionary courts. Its constitution provided for a directly elected parliament and president, and Assembly of Experts who chose the just jurisprudent as the Supreme Leader. The regime embarked on Islamizing the state and society.

ISLAM AS A GROUND OF POLITICAL SYSTEM ACCORDING TO IMAM RUHOLLAH KHOMEINI

The article represents the views of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902–1989), the leader of the Islamic revolution in Iran, on Islam as the basis of the political system. Imam Khomeini believed that Islam should not be considered only as a set of prescriptions or as a kind of philosophical system. In his work “Vilayat-i fakih. Hokumat-i Islami ” (“Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist”) Khomeini substantiates the need for the formation of a state based on Sharia law. The ideas of the Ayatollah were not completely new to Shii political doctrine. The olitical views of Ayatollah Khomeini formed under a great infl uence of a situation in Iran in the XX cent. The author analyzes the Khomeini’s views on politics and his concept of “vilayat-i fakih”. From Ayatollah Khomeini’s point of view, we can’t imagine Islam apart from politics, otherwise Islam will be incomplete. Personal self-improvement also depends on the fullness of religion, and therefore Muslims need an Islamic state to fully keep the Sharia law. The analysis of the views of Imam Khomeini is based on the original treatise in Persian.

Islamic philosophy, modern

There are a number of major trends in modern Islamic philosophy. First, there is the challenge of the West to traditional Islamic philosophical and cultural principles and the desire to establish a form of thought which is distinctive. From the mid-nineteenth century onwards, Islamic philosophers have attempted to redefine Islamic philosophy; some, such as Hasan Hanafi and Ali Mazrui, have sought to give modern Islamic philosophy a global significance and provide an agenda for world unity. Second, there is a continuing tradition of interest in illuminationist and mystical thought, especially in Iran where the influence of Mulla Sadra and al-Suhrawardi has remained strong. The influence of the latter can be seen in the works of Henry Corbin and Seyyed Hossein Nasr; Mulla Sadra has exercised an influence over figures such as Mahdi Ha’iri Yazdi and the members of Qom School, notably Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The philosopher Abdul Soroush has introduced a number of concepts from Western philosophy into Iran. Finally, there have been many thinkers who have adapted and employed philosophical ideas which are originally non-Islamic as part of the normal philosophical process of seeking to understand conceptual problems. This is a particularly active area, with a number of philosophers from many parts of the Islamic world investigating the relevance to Islam of concepts such as Hegelianism and existentialism. At the same time, mystical philosophy continues to exercise an important influence. Modern Islamic philosophy is thus quite diverse, employing a wide variety of techniques and approaches to its subject.