Iran's Grand Strategy - by Vali Nasr (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Two pervasive fears-of external aggression and internal dissolution-have dominated political discourse and state action in Iran for many decades, and arguably for centuries. This book closely examines these fears, how they've shaped political trends in Iran, and specifically how they have undergirded the conduct of state actors during both the regime of the Shah (the Pahlavi monarchy) of the twentieth century and the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution. Drawing on archival sources in the West and in Iran, as well as interviews with key Iranian decision-makers both past and present, Vali Nasr traces this thread of national security through key modern historical episodes in Iran. By viewing modern Iranian history through this lens, Nasr argues that decrying the current Iranian regime as a theocracy is a tired rhetorical move--and inaccurate as an explanation for how it conducts itself in the world. Today's Islamic Republic functions as a modern legal-rational nation-state. It is one that has evolved around a distinct and deeply held view of national interest and national security, rooted in both recent and not-so-recent history. Nasr's book will serve as a corrective to a deeply-rooted view in policy-making circles that the Iranian ruling elite's commitment to Islamic theocracy has driven the country's foreign policy since the time of the revolution"--

Book Synopsis

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Shia Revival
A gripping account that overturns simplistic portrayals of Iran as a theocratic pariah state, revealing how its strategic moves on the world stage are driven by two pervasive threats--external aggression and internal dissolution

Iran presents one of the most significant foreign policy challenges for America and the West, yet very little is known about what the country's goals really are. Vali Nasr examines Iran's political history in new ways to explain its actions and ambitions on the world stage, showing how, behind the veneer of theocracy and Islamic ideology, today's Iran is pursuing a grand strategy aimed at securing the country internally and asserting its place in the region and the world.

Drawing on memoirs, oral histories, and original in-depth interviews with Iranian decision makers, Nasr brings to light facts and events in Iran's political history that have been overlooked until now. He traces the roots of Iran's strategic outlook to its experiences over the past four decades of war with Iraq in the 1980s and the subsequent American containment of Iran, invasion of Iraq in 2003, and posture toward Iran thereafter. Nasr reveals how these experiences have shaped a geopolitical outlook driven by pervasive fear of America and its plans for the Middle East.

Challenging the notion that Iran's foreign policy simply reflects its revolutionary values or theocratic government, Iran's Grand Strategy provides invaluable new insights into what Iran wants and why, explaining the country's resistance to the United States, its nuclear ambitions, and its pursuit of influence and proxies across the Middle East.

Review Quotes

"Iran's Grand Strategy is seriously good, profoundly insightful and full of fresh thinking."---Justin Marozzi, The Standard

"A lot of discussion in the west of what drives Iran's foreign policy struggles to rise above clichés about Islamist fanatics and mad mullahs. Nasr's detailed study, more relevant than ever, draws on a lifetime of research and new interviews, providing a detailed and nuanced account of the mixture of domestic and international imperatives that really drive Iranian policy. The west's understanding of Iran is, he argues, 'hopelessly inadequate and dangerously outdated'."---Gideon Rachman, Financial Times

"Books like this that can help find method and reason behind the thinking at the highest levels within the Iranian leadership shed a welcome light on a country where what happens in the coming months and years will have implications that extend far beyond the corridors of power in Tehran."---Peter Frankopan, Financial Times

About the Author

Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. His books include The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat, The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future, and (with Ali Gheissari) Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty. His writing has appeared in leading publications such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Affairs.