Author: Roger Howard, London: Zed Books, 2004. 232 pp.+selected bibliography, index.  ISBN: 1 842277 474 3 hb.

Reviewed by Emre Ozkan, USAK

In the book, Iran in Crisis, the author Rogar Howard, tries to examine some of the most important and debated issues about the contemporary politics. True to its name, the author evaluates the Iran’s policies about nuclear energy and American response to these policies. Many books with this title often discuss the issue subjectively and neglect to monitor the two sides of the coin. Howard’s book is different, offering a balanced and wide ranging analysis of Iranian domestic and foreign policy and the effects of these policies to the relations with the West. In a serious of chapters, Howard discusses the relations of Iran with the USA and analyses the Iran’s domestic crisis in the context of political, social and economic developments. 

The book is divided three main sections. The first section deals with the relation between Iran and the USA and provides a comprehensive overview about the current debates between the two sides. In addition to this, the author evaluates the possibility of Iran as a source of international terror. The second section analyses the domestic crisis in Iran. Lastly, the author examines the outcomes of his findings about Iran.

As the name of the book Iran in Crisis: Nuclear Ambitions and the American Response, the author starts with Iran and the USA in order to make the issue more understandable. Howard mentions the deteriorating character of relations and states the tension between two sides as the result of combustible mix of Iranian provocation with something belligerent US reactions. What’s more, common grounds of Iran and the West are examined by looking the political influence of the West on Iran. Besides, this section deals with the enormous geopolitical importance of Iran as a leading factor for West to cooperate with Tehran rather than to compete with it. In addition to this, US view of Iran, which is misleadingly affected by neo-conservatives or Republicans, is also assessed in this section.

In the second chapter of the first section, the author examines the attitudes of Iran against the international terror. The author objectively analyses the weaknesses of Iran and the US accusations. In this framework, the author mentions that the reputation of Iran as a sponsor of international terror is sourced from its willingness to execute its exiled dissidents and to use assassinations as an instrument of foreign policy in the past. On the other hand, the US weakness in relations with Iran is the lack of effort to define what constitutes terrorism.

Furthermore, the author questions the accusations which are directed to Iran about the relationship with terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and Al Qaeda. Besides, Iran’s nuclear programme and the US opposition are also discussed in this chapter. According to the author, the regime change within the Iran, which is strongly supported by the US, cannot be a solution under the lessons drawn in Iraq.

The second section on domestic crisis is relatively short and deals with the internal crisis by evaluating political, social and economic structure of Iran. In the first chapter of this section, the author assesses the political tensions by examining the democratic sides of Iranian constitution, the weaknesses of the constitution and intellectual disputes between conservative and reformist opinions. In the following chapter, Howard analyses the social and economic structure of Iranian society. The social and economic unrests -malaise- are deeply examined and named as an alarming trend for the Iran. Emigration of young generation and the weakness of Iranian economy are considered as perilous for Iran’s domestic stability. What’s more, high inflation, dependence of oil, growth of government spending and problems of the banking system are stated as the other important problems of Iranian economy. At the end, the author makes a significant conclusion by emphasizing the close relationship between the fate of Iran’s economy and its political order.

In the last section, the author examines the outcomes about his findings in the previous sections. He tries to predict the results of current developments in Iranian foreign policy and challenges to Iranian regime. Furthermore, author focuses on the status of dissidents in Iranian internal policy. In other words, he questions the possibility of popular rebellion under these circumstances. 

      Overall, this is an excellent book, and the author Howard evaluates Iran, which is one of the most debated states in contemporary international relations and makes an elaborate analysis about Iran and its policies. The book is highly readable because of the author’s comprehensive analysis about an eminent issue in international politics. It fulfills a gap in international relations by making an objective analysis about the policies of Iran.     

JTW
2006