"A wonderfully concise yet complete survey of the background and status of Islamic revivalism in all of its various forms in each region."—SAIS Review
"A rich and thoughtful study of one of the most significant events of recent times."—School of Oriental and African Studies Bulletin
Marking the tenth anniversary of the Ayatollah Khomeini’s triumphant return to the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1989 proved a benchmark year in Iran’s history, with the condemnation of author Salman Rushdie to execution, the denunciation or Iranian liberals and the West, the removal of Khomeini’s chosen successor, and the death of Khomeini himself.
John L. Esposito introduces The Iranian Revolution with an explanation of why the present is a turning point for Iran. He isolates the export of Islamic revolution as central to the Republic’s character. A concise description of the complexities of that issue is followed by a discussion of its effects within and outside Iran, with the majority of the collection then devoted to insightful analyses of the Republic’s impact throughout the Islamic world.
International experts from Iran, Europe, Africa, and the United States assess worldwide impact of the Iranian Revolution on other Muslim societies and give us a remarkable analysis of the status of Islamic revivalism in a far-flung array of Islamic statues and societies—Lebanon, Bahrain, Egypt, Tunisia, Nigeria, Turkey, the USSR, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Iraq.
The book owes its quality not only to the currency of its subject matter but also to its distinguished contributors, who address such issues as the failure of the Iranian revolution to replicate itself in other countries and the extent to which Iran’s experience has shaped the politics, economics, and cultures of other countries.
Sponsors of the book and of the 1989 conference that inspired it are the Middle East Institute, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and Royal Institute of International Affairs.
This objective and thought-provoking assessment of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s success to date in implementing its objectives, as well as its prospects for the future, makes timely reading for anyone seeking an understanding of the revolution’s impact.
Contents
Part I. Iran
1. Introduction, by John L. Esposito and James P. Piscatori
2. The Iranian Revolution: A Ten-Year Perspective, by John L. Esposito
3. Iran’s Export of the Revolution: Politics, Ends, and Means, by R. K. Ramazani
4. Iranian Ideology and Worldview: The Cultural Export of Revolution, by Farhang Rajaee
Part II. The Middle East
5. Iraq: Revolutionary Threats and Regime Responses, by Philip Robins
6. The Impact of the Iranian Revolution on the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf States, by David E. Long
7. Lebanon: The Internal Conflict and the Iranian Connection, by Augustus Richard Norton
8. The Impact of the Iranian Revolution on Egypt, by Shahrough Akhavi
9. Tunisia and Libya: Responses to the Islamic Impulse, by Lisa Anderson
Part III. Southwest Asia and Central Asia
10. The Mujahidin and the Future of Afghanistan, by Olivier Roy
11. Soviet Central Asia: Does Moscow Fear Iranian Influence? by Martha Brill Olcott
Part IV: Southeast Asia
12. Malaysian and Indonesian Islamic Movements and the Iranian Connection, by Fred R. von der Mehden
13. The Iranian Revolution and the Muslims in the Philippines, by Cesar Adib Majul
Part V. Africa
14. Islamization in the Sudan and the Iranian Revolution, by John O. Voll
15. Islamic Revivalism in Nigeria: Homegrown or Externally Induced? by Ibrahim A. Gambari
16. The Global Impact of the Iranian Revolution: A Policy Perspective, by John L. Esposito and James P. Piscatori
John L. Esposito is director of the Center for International Studies and professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross.
