MER Article Thirty Years of the Islamic Revolution in Rural Iran Development, or modernization, of the Iranian countryside became an ideological imperative at the very outset of the post-revolutionary period. Both the religious and secular leaders of the Islamic Revolution believed that the deposed Pahlavi monarchy deliberately had neglected agriculture and rural economic development in its efforts to create in Iran Eric Hooglund • 15 min read
MER Article Recent Books on the Kurds Nader Entessar, Kurdish Ethnonationalism (Lynne Rienner, 1992). Philip Kreyenbroek and Stefan Sperl, eds., The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview (Routledge, 1992). Sheri Laizer, Into Kurdistan: Frontiers Under Fire (Zed, 1991). Martin van Bruinessen, Agha, Shaikh and State: The Social and Political Eric Hooglund • 3 min read
MER Article Iranian Populism and Political Change in the Gulf From the political perspective, the main consequence of the Persian Gulf War has been the restoration of the status quo ante. In Iraq and Kuwait, dissidents who had expected the military defeat of Saddam Hussein to usher in a new era of freedom and democracy have been sorely disillusioned. In the sh Eric Hooglund • 7 min read
MER Article The Other Face of War The human toll of the Persian Gulf war -- as many as 100,000 deaths, 5 million displaced persons and over $200 billion in property damage -- ranks this conflict as the single most devastating event in the Middle East since World War I. Eric Hooglund • 24 min read
MER Article "The Fear Can Drive You Crazy" “Roya” is how she wants to be known. She was arrested in Iran in the fall of 1982. She was released four years later and lived in Tehran for 15 months before coming to the US in early 1988. Eric Hooglund spoke with her in Washington in October 1988. Can you describe the circumstances of your arrest Eric Hooglund • 11 min read
MER Article The Islamic Republic at War and Peace Ten years after the Iranian revolution swept the Shah from power, and contrary to innumerable prophecies of its demise, the Islamic Republic endures. Many of the revolution’s original leaders remain in power and many of their goals, although not yet fulfilled, continue to be policy objectives. Eric Hooglund • 23 min read
MER Article Reagan's Iran Despite its reputation for having inflexible ideological positions on all foreign policy issues, the Reagan administration actually came to office in January 1981 without a coherent policy for dealing with Iran. At first the new administration was content to let Iran fade from the spotlight of natio Eric Hooglund • 8 min read
MER Article Hiro, Iran Under the Ayatollahs Dilip Hiro, Iran Under the Ayatollahs (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985). Although this book is thin on analysis, it is filled with valuable details about political and economic developments during the first five years of the Islamic Republic. It is thus a good source book for information abo Eric Hooglund • 1 min read
MER Article Pakistan's Movement Against Islamization Nikki Keddie traveled to Pakistan in 1985 and 1986 to investigate groups that in various ways have worked against President Zia ul Haq’s attempts to “Islamize” Pakistan’s legal system. Many of these activists are from women’s organizations; the Shi‘i community and certain lawyers groups have also mo Eric Hooglund, Joe Stork • 6 min read
MER Article The Search for Iran's "Moderates" Revelations about secret talks and arms deals between the United States and Iran have focused attention on the internal politics of the Islamic Republic. The Reagan administration justifies its policy as an 18-month effort to reach out to “moderate elements” in the Iranian government. Eric Hooglund • 7 min read
MER Article Abraham and Abraham, Arabs in the New World Sameer Abraham and Nabil Abraham, eds., Arabs in the New World: Studies on Arab-American Communities (Detroit: Wayne State University, 1983). Eric Hooglund • 2 min read
MER Article Abrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions Ervand Abrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982). A major lesson of the Iranian revolution was how poorly students of the Middle East understood the social and political forces there. This was a country which had been the object of more official and Eric Hooglund • 5 min read
