{"product_id":"religious-statecraft-the-politics-of-islam-in-iran-9780231183673","title":"Religious Statecraft: The Politics of Islam in Iran","description":"\u003cp\u003eSince the 1979 revolution, scholars and policy makers alike have tended to see Iranian political actors as religiously driven--dedicated to overturning the international order in line with a theologically prescribed outlook. This provocative book argues that such views have the link between religious ideology and political order in Iran backwards. \u003ci\u003eReligious Statecraft\u003c\/i\u003e examines the politics of Islam, rather than political Islam, to achieve a new understanding of Iranian politics and its ideological contradictions. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar traces half a century of shifting Islamist doctrines against the backdrop of Iran's factional and international politics, demonstrating that religious narratives in Iran can change rapidly, frequently, and dramatically in accordance with elites' threat perceptions. He argues that the Islamists' gambit to capture the state depended on attaining a monopoly over the use of religious narratives. Tabaar explains how competing political actors strategically develop and deploy Shi'a-inspired ideologies to gain credibility, constrain political rivals, and raise mass support. He also challenges readers to rethink conventional wisdom regarding the revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, the U.S. embassy hostage crisis, the Iran-Iraq War, the Green Movement, nuclear politics, and U.S.-Iran relations. Based on a micro-level analysis of postrevolutionary Iranian media and recently declassified documents as well as theological journals and political memoirs, \u003ci\u003eReligious Statecraft \u003c\/i\u003econstructs a new picture of Iranian politics in which power drives Islamist ideology.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar \u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eis an assistant professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A\u0026amp;M University and a fellow at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50410009362706,"sku":"9780231183673","price":38.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_480b6a6f-d265-4809-9901-c83055f54f11.jpg?v=1729298415","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/religious-statecraft-the-politics-of-islam-in-iran-9780231183673","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}