Police Force in the Formation of the Modern State: Development and Transformation of the Police Force in Iran

Public security was unable to achieve any systematic order until the start of urbanization. With the formation of modern cities, the need to ensure the security of people and their living spaces were met primarily by city administrators and then by regular internal security organizations. This article discusses Iran’s security system as it existed in the pre-modern period and the internal security strategies that transformed in line with the modern understanding of the state. The concept of internal security in Iran has gone through the following four main phases: (1) military methods that had been applied by the senior administrators of the states that had ruled the region before the Qajar Dynasty, (2) the first professionalization that saw the Nazmiyya Organization established in the Qajar Dynasty through efforts to separate policing from military service, (3) the re-militarization of internal security services and focus on intelligence activities during the Pahlavi Dynasty that had been established after the Rıza Han coup, and (4) the ideological appearance of the police organization accompanied by the theo-political orientation that emerged after the 1979 Revolution. This text discusses these four phases in detail.

Fateful Consequences: U.S.-Iran Relations during the Nixon and Ford Administrations, 1969-77

<p>This thesis analyzes the trajectory of U.S.-Iran relations from 1969, when Richard Nixon came to office, through the early and mid-1970s when the Nixon Doctrine embraced Iran as the cornerstone of its national security architecture in the Persian Gulf and West Asia, to 1977 when Ford left office with U.S.-Iran relations in a state of disrepair. It discusses the factors—geopolitics, economics, Iranian nationalism, domestic politics, the rise of transnational entities like Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), rivalries between the Departments of Defense, State, and Treasury and personal ambitions—which damaged the relationship and contributed to the collapse of the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran. It lays particular stress on the difficulties in resolving national security and conflicting economic interests in regards to Iran’s oil resources at time when U.S. dependency on oil from the Middle East increased. It places these conflicts in the context of a series of crises in the form of the 1973 energy crisis, the October War, Watergate, the OPEC oil embargo and oil shock. It explains that the inability or unwillingness of either side to resolve their policy differences resulted from the economic forces unleashed by the oil shock, the difficulties of reconciling strategic, geopolitical and economic goals, and the domestic political vulnerabilities of chief architects of the relationship—Presidents Nixon and Ford, Henry Kissinger, and the Shah Reza Pahlavi—at a time when Vietnam, Watergate and recession weakened the U.S. and the Shah faced the dangers of incipient rebellion, revolution and coup which he tried to suppress through the use of SAVAK, the secret police, and one-party rule. The thesis thus examines how the intrusion of economic concerns into cold war geopolitical calculations had fateful consequences, not only for U.S.-Iran relations, but for U.S. national security strategy, the survival of the Pahlavi regime, and stability in the Persian Gulf which resulted in a new U.S. reliance upon Saudi Arabia to ensure access to oil.</p>

Fateful Consequences: U.S.-Iran Relations during the Nixon and Ford Administrations, 1969-77

<p>This thesis analyzes the trajectory of U.S.-Iran relations from 1969, when Richard Nixon came to office, through the early and mid-1970s when the Nixon Doctrine embraced Iran as the cornerstone of its national security architecture in the Persian Gulf and West Asia, to 1977 when Ford left office with U.S.-Iran relations in a state of disrepair. It discusses the factors—geopolitics, economics, Iranian nationalism, domestic politics, the rise of transnational entities like Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), rivalries between the Departments of Defense, State, and Treasury and personal ambitions—which damaged the relationship and contributed to the collapse of the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran. It lays particular stress on the difficulties in resolving national security and conflicting economic interests in regards to Iran’s oil resources at time when U.S. dependency on oil from the Middle East increased. It places these conflicts in the context of a series of crises in the form of the 1973 energy crisis, the October War, Watergate, the OPEC oil embargo and oil shock. It explains that the inability or unwillingness of either side to resolve their policy differences resulted from the economic forces unleashed by the oil shock, the difficulties of reconciling strategic, geopolitical and economic goals, and the domestic political vulnerabilities of chief architects of the relationship—Presidents Nixon and Ford, Henry Kissinger, and the Shah Reza Pahlavi—at a time when Vietnam, Watergate and recession weakened the U.S. and the Shah faced the dangers of incipient rebellion, revolution and coup which he tried to suppress through the use of SAVAK, the secret police, and one-party rule. The thesis thus examines how the intrusion of economic concerns into cold war geopolitical calculations had fateful consequences, not only for U.S.-Iran relations, but for U.S. national security strategy, the survival of the Pahlavi regime, and stability in the Persian Gulf which resulted in a new U.S. reliance upon Saudi Arabia to ensure access to oil.</p>

Reza Shah, the Modernizing Strongman

This chapter explores the legacy of Reza Shah, the founder of the Pahlavi dynasty—the last dynasty to rule over Iran. It provides an overview of key military and other reforms undertaken by the king to modernize his country, as well as their implications for the advent of the modern state of Iran. The chapter also discusses how Reza Shah’s reign laid out the foundations for the rise of the Islamic Republic

The Cultural Transformation of Divorce in Pre-Islamic and Islamic Iran

Целью исследования является сравнительный анализ культурных диахронных изменений института развода в конкретные исторические эпохи развития иранского общества. Материалами послужили исторические источники, работы иранских культурологов, философов, историков и социологов. Исследовано влияние зороастризма на практику разводов в древнем Иране. Рассмотрены изменения в культуре развода, произошедшие с принятием ислама. Определено, что культурную трансформацию развода, наряду с религиозной догматикой, определяли распространение арабской и тюркской культур, а также западной культуры. Парадигмы шиитской религии и дискурс революции влияли на культуру иранской семьи и институт развода после 1979 г. Сделан вывод, что отношение различных поколений иранцев к разводу всегда было негативным, но в разные исторические периоды имело свою специфику. Иранская семья до конца не утратила своих традиций, что не позволяет расценивать процессы трансформации развода как детрадиционализацию. The aim of this article is a comparative analysis of cultural diachronic changes in the phenomenon of divorce in specific historical periods of the development of Iranian society. The study employs historical-genetic and historical-comparative methods, and the method of empirical observations. The materials are historical sources, works of Iranian cultural scientists, philosophers, historians, and sociologists. The culture of divorce in ancient Iran is investigated, the rarity of this phenomenon in the Achaemenid era is noted, its causes are indicated, and the social reaction to incest and polygamy is revealed. The influence of Zoroastrianism on the practice of marriage and divorce in the Sassanid Empire is studied. In this era, consanguine marriages (xwedodah) and chakar zani (divorce of a woman from a man with the subsequent adoption by him of children born by a woman in the next marriage), as well as the prevalence of polygamy in aristocratic circles, are noted. The changes in the culture of divorce that took place in Iran with the adoption of Islam (650) are considered, the established mechanism of Islamic divorce is described. The peculiarities of divorce are noted during the seizure of Iran by the Turks, the rise to power of the Khorezmshahs, the Mongol conquest, and the rule of the Timurids. Various aspects of divorce in the Safavid era are analyzed, the significance of mahr (the remuneration that a wife received upon marriage) for financial support of a woman in case of divorce is determined. An increase in the number of divorces during the reign of the Afsharids and their decrease in the era of the Qajars, who were adherents of Islamic fundamentalism, are noted. The influence on marriage and divorce of the modernization processes that took place during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty is considered. It has been found that as these processes deepened, the number of divorces increased. The procedures for divorce and the possible consequences of divorce for a woman at that time are described. The cultural changes that affected the institution of divorce after the Islamic revolution are examined. It is determined that the attitude of society towards divorce has been progressively changing from rejection and condemnation to a widespread “divorce by mutual consent” in recent years. It is concluded that the attitude of different generations of Iranians to divorce has always been negative, but in different historical periods this attitude had its own specifics. At the same time, the Iranian family has not completely lost its traditions, which does not allow regarding the processes of transformation of divorce as detraditionalization.

Cultural Expertise in Iran: From the Pahlavi Dynasty to Contemporary Diasporas

This paper suggests the use of cultural expertise as encompassing concept that can account for the natural cultural competence developed in Iran. In earlier times, Zoroastrian law was first based on religious norms and the primary theological division between sins and offenses. Iranians had to adapt to different legal systems: customary law, religious law and secular law. Priests, jurists, judges, officials and translators were the main cultural “experts” and mediators between the people and the normative institutions. The introduction of imami legal theories and jurisprudence in the 16th century together with the reinforcement of the secular political power engaged Iran in a stabilized judicial context ruled by shiʿi scholars, qāzis and mujtahids. In 1919, as a consequence of the new French inspired Constitution, the Ministry of Justice, in order to train a new generation of judges, magistrates and justice personnel, set up a law school. Professors, who can be considered as cultural experts, contributed to the acculturation process initiated in the judicial system. Examples of his continuous struggle are recounted in Ostad Elahi's (1895-1974) memoirs, relating the difficulty Iranians had to accept the change, both cultural and psychological, initiated by the modernization and westernization program put into operation (1911-1935).

Iran and European Union Politics

The Islamic Republic of Iran and the European Union (EU) have not yet established formal diplomatic relations, but since 1979 the Union and its member states have had various strong if often conflictual interactions. The relationship has been marked by distinct phases that reflect the emerging character of the partners, a theocratic republic on the one hand and a Union of interdependent democratic states on the other. While mutual economic interests have formed the basis for substantial interactions, relations with member states and the EU itself have been colored by a long and sometimes hurtful history of European states’ role in Iranian politics, including the Russian and British imperial influence over Persia in the late 19th and early 20th century, the British (and American) involvement in the coup against democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq in 1953, and the French hosting of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, an avowed critic of the Pahlavi dynasty, prior to the anti-authoritarian revolution in 1979. Over time, the relationship has substantially shaped the character and direction of the politics of the EU’s common foreign and security policy, resulting in more policy coherence between member states and the EU, more policy autonomy, particularly vis-á-vis the United States, and more proactive behavior, such as during the nuclear negotiations leading to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (in 2015). By engaging with a problematic member of the nonproliferation treaty, the EU not only specified and thus strengthened the treaty, but it also grew into an international nonproliferation actor to reckon with.