Iran 1925-2014: OD Pahlawich Do Rouhaniego

ROBERT CZULDA (ed.): Iran 1925-2014: od Pahlawich do Rouhaniego (Iran 1925-2014: From Pahlavis to Rouhani). Warszawa: PWN, 2014, 224 pp.The modern history of Iran is full of turning points. Within the last century Iran has experienced strong political, social and economic tensions and faced numerous crises of legitimacy and disruptions to its political stability. The most important of these events seems to be connected to the state-building process that resulted in Iran's radical transformation into the Islamic Republic and vanguard of U.S. opposition in the Persian Gulf region. Despite organised efforts to limit Iran's political and economic potential, the Islamic Republic proved that it cannot be sidelined or completely ignored in both regional and global politics. It plays a leading role in the Shiite world, providing a helpful hand and assistance to others of that faith in the Middle East, while creating strategic alliances that rarely fit the official policy adopted by Western, post-colonial actors. From an international relations point of view, Iran's foreign policies are a key factor in terms of the stability of the Persian Gulf region. As a large, oil-and-natural-gas-rich, ambitious regional actor that does not share a Western perspective of the international order, its views and potential actions have to be taken into consideration in the decision-making process of any state or organisation interested in developing or maintaining a presence in the Middle East. Thus, since the Iranian Revolution, the way Tehran perceives the international order has become the object of interest of political scientists and the worries of policymakers. The most significant element to both is Iran's nuclear programme.Iran's attitude towards nuclear energy is clear and simple. It consistently stands up for its right to obtain and develop technology crucial to the nuclear energy production process. On one hand, the steadfast approach of the Islamic Republic toward this matter clearly indicates strong national pride and fierce attachment to independence from any foreign political influence. On the other hand, the way Tehran handles the matter, namely its readiness to defy the interests of all contemporary international powers, shows not only the regional but the global ambitions of the state. Iran's mixture of unique cultures, historical heritage and modern experiences and ambitions often makes both its partners and opponents confused, if not annoyed.Iran's nuclear programme, the economic sanctions against it, and the high-level diplomacy surrounding it has resulted in a growing interest in Iranian affairs and in the main pages of news outlets as well as a growing number of analytical studies and scientific monographs covering the country's political situation. The authors of these attempt to analyse and evaluate the importance of both current and past developments in Tehran's politics.When it comes to scientific literature on Iran in Poland, there are two dominant types. One of them encompasses books written from a predominantly cultural perspective. The respective authors concentrate on an analysis of the culture of contemporary Iran, but even more often of ancient Iran. The studies particularly concern literature and language issues, with little regard for politics. Among these we can point out well-known works by Prof. Maria Skladankowa and other Orientalists who have introduced Iranian studies to the Polish reader. The other dominant area of study emphasises an historical perspective within an analysis of the context of contemporary political developments. One of the best known examples of these is the collective work edited by Anna Krasnowolska, The History of Iran. Such comprehensive studies provide a broad picture of Iran's nuanced history and are based on original sources and contain a very extensive bibliography. Apart from these two mainstream approaches represented by Polish academics, a reader interested in Iranian matters may also find some selected translations into Polish of well-known and acknowledged foreign scholars such as Nikkie Keddie, whose monograph Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution is available on the Polish market under the title Wspolczesny Iran: zrodla i konsekwencje rewolucji, or the work by Ervand Abrahamian, The History of Modern Iran (Historia wspolczesnego Iranu). …