...From reading Janet Afary's "Iranian Revolution of 1978–79" I learned that on January 1979, thousands of young religious school students took to the streets protesting a newspaper that had slandered the name of the Khomeini in Iran; those who followed the students were considered the unemployed immigrants that protested the regime's "excesses". The shah, who was in charge of Iran at that time, would give in to some demands and forcefully shut down others. The government killed many citizens who were part of anti-regime protests and fueled more acts of violence by the citizens. Many acts of violence by the people of Iran were considered acts of "martyrdom". Khomeini who was exiled during this time in 1979 would declare the Shah a failure; In...
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...A Delicate Balance In The Midst Of A Crisis This article is about the recent problems in the Middle Eastern Countries. Saudi Arabia and Iran have not been getting along with each other. They have been very competitive with each other recently. The tension between these countries has been mainly caused by the rise of the terrorist group ISIS. ISIS has also caused a lot of problems with the United States. Saudi Arabia and Iran have not been getting along since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. However, the tension is getting worse due to the terrorist group ISIS. Saudi Arabia has been excluding Iran from their conferences that are about how to deal with ISIS. This is happening, because Saudi Arabia believes they have a much stronger militant group then Iran. Saudi Arabia’s population consists of mostly Sunnis, while Iran’s population consists of mostly Shias. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran see Isis as a major threat. That is why both of these countries are being competitive with each other recently. This has led to a meeting between both foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran. They had a meeting to discuss the entire situation about ISIS. After meeting both Saudi Arabia and Iran want to form an alliance with each other to confront ISIS. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran are worried about confronting ISIS, because Iraq and Syria are nearby. They are afraid that ISIS will try to take over Iraq and Syria, then go after them next. That is why both countries would like to form an alliance...
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...involved in the peace process between Saudi Arabia and Iran?” In the last few years, especially since the outbreak of sectarian violence in Syria in early 2013, the Middle East has gradually moved towards a sectarian regional political order.The surge in sectarian fighting between Shi’ites and Sunnis in Iraq. Syria and Yemen, the proclamation of the Islamic state by Sunni militants in 2014 and the competition of power and dominance between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi’ite Iran have increasingly come to define and shape the current Middle Eastern political order. Saudi Arabia and Iran are both muslim majority nations but relations prevailing between them have been affected mainly because of different geopolitical issues which are sectarianism which includes different interpretations and leadership issues over the Islamic world, oil export policy and relations with western countries such as US. After the Islamic revolution, relations between both the countries ran down because Iran indicted Saudi Arabia for having relations with US. Iran wanted to adopt westernized culture which was opposed by the Saudis whereas on the other hand the king of Saudi thought that Islamic solidarity would be something that would actually make both of the countries unite. The rebels in Yemen killed two Saudi guards which infused the Sunni government of Yemen. They accused Iran that the houthis shouldn’t have been armed due to which in retaliation Iran said that Saudi Arabia shouldn’t have intervened...
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...As a young girl, Dumas and her family lived in America for a year while her father was on an assignment. Originally from Iran, she and her family had no idea what to expect. However, most of the Americans they encountered treated them with kindness. They asked questions about Iran, for most were unknowing about it. When they asked they asked with curiosity and respect. Dumas’s family returned home with nothing but happy memories from America. Their relatives did not feel the same, though. When those Dumas and her family knew went to America, they went after the Iranian revolution. During their stay, Americans looked at them with hate and ignorance. They did not return with the same happy memories. In the story, Dumas says “After almost two years in Whittier, my father’s assignment was completed and we had to return home. The last month of our stay, I attended one slumber party after another, all thrown in my honor” (Dumas 92). This quote shows the happy memories that Dumas made during her stay in America and also how those she met during that tie were sad to see her go....
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...The Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906 The Iranian Constitutional Revolution was the first event of its kind in Asia. The Revolution opened the way for cataclysmic change in Persia, heralding the modern era. It saw a period of unprecedented debate in a burgeoning press. The revolution created new opportunities and opened up seemingly boundless possibilities for Persia’s future. Many different groups fought to shape the course of the Revolution, and all sections of society were ultimately to be in some way changed by it. On August 5, 1906, Mozzafar ud-din Shah of the Qajar dynasty issued the decree for the first constitution in West Asia following ten years of the increasingly popular demands of the Iranian upper and middle class (Sources, pp. 97). In the summer of 1906 approximately 12,000 men camped out in the gardens of the British Embassy. Many gave speeches, many more listened, in what has been called a “vast open-air school of political science” studying constitutionalism. On August 18, 1906, the first legislative assembly formed in Tehran to prepare the drafting of electoral law. On December 30, 1906, the Fundamental (Mashrutehl) Laws of Iran we approved and put into play. In a little over five months, Iran had moved from an autocratic monarchy to a constitutional republic based on the representation of six classes. These classes were: princes and the Qajar tribe, doctors of divinity and students, nobles and notables, merchants, landed propietors and...
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...Reflective Statement: Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution’s roots can be traced all the way back to 1925. Fundamentalism and modernism both originated in that period as well. However, I have come to realize that time does not play a significant role so much as place does. It was because of the people living in Iran that such a divide between those with anti-western sentiments and the supporters of western powers existed. I learned today that the Cultural Revolution was essentially the government trying to get rid of western influences. It surprised me how dedicated some fundamentalists were to the cause of holding on to their traditional roots—I would have figured that the goal of the majority would be to barrel ahead with modernity, as this is the norm. The place of school—especially the strict reforms in school—also gave me insight into how important school was to the Iranians. I suppose the government realized that the best way to change Iran back to its traditional ways was to target the schools, which held the children, the next generation of Iran. The harsh punishments that communists had to face were a concept I found difficult to understand. I have never personally experienced in any way beating, shooting, or whipping. The idea that a group of people could so violently discipline another simply because of conflicting beliefs is very strange to me. However, I found it very easy to understand and relate to the Satrapi family’s actions in the novel when they disagreed...
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...The Pros and the Cons of Middle East Policies Name of Student Institution. The Pros and the Cons of Middle East Policies Background The international politics and relations are currently being dominated by the issue of the Middle East and the US relationship. It is, therefore, important to look at the factors that have resulted in a fragile relationship between the world superpower and the Middle East. For decades, the Middle East has been dealing with power struggles, Israeli-Palestinian border conflict, and the Arab-Israeli war. Some states in the region are pushing for constitutional monarchies or liberal democracies. My essay will examine the underlying animosity between these nations. It will also look at the pros and con of the American policies towards the Middle East and the ways it has succeeded. Hypothesis The USA is doing enough in its dealings with the Middle East. Analysis There has been an ongoing debate regarding the question of what the US’s foreign policies are towards the Middle East. Two main defense strategy objectives were resulting from the Pentagon’s Defense Planning Guidance between the year 1994 and 1999 (Reveron et al., 2014). This period was prior to President Bush Jr. Administration and has since then become more relevant. The primary objective was to deter another world war or an extreme enmity like the one portrayed between the former Soviet Union towards America. A new region strategy has therefore been put in place to prevent a hostile power from...
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...As an immigrant, I spent most of my life in the Middle East, specifically the Islamic Republic of Iran. As known by many and popularised by the media, Iran is a very religious country. In fact, religion has found its way into the education system and most households. During my study back there, religion was a mandatory subject for all students who were past grade five, and Quran was taught to students starting from the second grade. Subsequently, most students grow up with the religious beliefs taught to them from a very young age and they would take initiative acting in accordance to the structure, which might come across as primitive to the western culture. This is a very apparent example of religiosity of the state in Iran. Ever since the...
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...digitally networked era. Digital media shape intercultural communication by (1) producing new public fora capable of (2) hosting rich, multimodal ‘‘spaces’’ of contact on (3) a scale of many-to-many communication that (4) challenges traditional modes of representation. Keywords: Digital Media; Intercultural Communication; 2009 Iran Protests; Networked Communication As internetworked media technologies gradually diffused throughout the world, they have often been sparks for intercultural dialogue. Internet websites enabled web-savvy organizations, like the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, to circulate their views throughout the 1990s. The power of citizens to communicate directly with each other through digital media was not fully apparent until late 2002, when the pseudonymous Salam Pax began reporting through his blog what life was like for Iraqis in the run-up to the 2003 combat operations. Since then, citizens have relied on the tools of digital media to coordinate protests internally and communicate with outside audiences in a number of colorful revolutions: Rose (Georgia, 2003), Orange (Ukraine, 2004Á2005), Saffron (Burma, 2007), Green (Iran, 2009), and Jasmine (Tunisia, 2011). In January 2011, Egyptian citizens, mobilizing primarily through Facebook, organized protests that drew concentrated global attention and ultimately replaced the authoritarian Hosni Mubarak with a potentially more democratic electoral process. Global turmoil prompts citizens to learn...
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...Comparison and Contrast between the Evolution of Democracy in Iran and Turkey, from 1900 to the Present. Name: Institution: Date: Please write on top of each of your exams its exact title as its appear below, making sure your answers are itemized (i.e., answer the points ONE BY ONE, and not combine them). ITEMIZE YOUR ANSWERS Mid Term Exam Compare and contrast the evolution of democracy in Iran and Turkey, from 1900 to present. In process of writing your exam, you must provide the following A history of democratization process in (1) Iran (two pages) Comparison and Contrast between the Evolution of Democracy in Iran and Turkey, from 1900 to the Present A History of Democratization Process in Iran Iran has had some important movements that lead towards democracy from the year 1900 to present. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Iran experienced protests and disagreements against the foreign intervention and Qajar. Patriotic opinions of the religious classes established a Constitutional Movement that took place from 1905 to 1911. An alliance consisting of ulama bazaaris and fellow thinkers forced Qajar Shah to pass a constitution to enact a parliament 1906. The introduction of the constitution limited the absolutist rule powers. After the discovery of oil in 1908 in Britain, Qajar Shah Position and military power weakened. Some artists were in Europe to study and master academic paintings and upon their return; they found fine arts academies (Arjomand, 2008). During the...
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...The veil is one of the most prominent objects that represent the Iranian culture. In the 1980s, the year the leaders of the Islamic revolution made it mandatory for all women to wear a veil (Satrapi, 3). In the opening of the memoir, the frames portray a group of girls who are wearing the veil, immediately it depicts the importance of the veil during the revolution in Iran. In fact, Satrapi narrated, “Everywhere in the streets there were demonstrations for and against the veil”(Satrapi, 5). The veil was very controversial during the beginning of the revolution and people were able to demonstrate their own believes without punishment and it gave them a bit of freedom. Although the leaders of Islamic revolution has already demanded all the women...
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...the symbolism that correlated to the downfall of the Soviet Union in the Russian Revolution. Also, the novel a Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens put the reader in the setting of the French Revolution, where treachery and societal injustice was prominent. Furthermore, the article “Iranian Revolution” by Janet Afary highlights the depression that was drawn upon the...
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...Yulia, Eurasian National University after L.N. Gumilyov The US and Iran: foreign policy and economy. Foreign policy Nowadays, there are no formal diplomatic relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America, instead of exchanging ambassadors, Iran maintains an interests section at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, D.C., while the United States has maintained a corresponding interests section at the Swiss Embassy in Tehran. Since December 2011, the United States has also maintained a virtual embassy on-line. Historical background. The United States and Iran (then called Persia) established diplomatic relations in 1883. 1979- revolution against the shah.-The United States broke diplomatic relations with Iran in 1980 after a group of revolutionary Iranian students, angered that the deposed Shah has been allowed to enter the United States, seized the U.S. Embassy Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage The United States has long-standing concerns over Iran’s nuclear program, sponsorship of terrorism, and human rights record. The United States and the international community have imposed comprehensive sanctions against Iran to compel Iran to engage seriously in discussions with the international community and address concerns over its nuclear program and human rights abuses. US sanctions against Iran refer to economic, trade, scientific and military sanctions against Iran. On July 14, 2015, the United States, along with China, France, Germany...
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...ularism Modern Myths, Locked Minds by T. N. Madan Introduction: Scope, methods and Concepts 1. Secularization, secularism, Christian tradition and the Enlightenment: a brief history T. N. Madan differentiates between secularism, secularization and secularity. 1) Secularization refers to socio cultural processes in which the role of the sacred is progressively limited; 2) Secularism is the ideology that argues for the historical inevitability and progressive nature of secularization everywhere and 3) Secularity is the resultant state of society. The term "secularism" was first used by the British writer Holyoake in 1851 to describe his views of promoting a social order separate from religion. The English word ‘secular’ comes from the Latin ‘saeculum’, which means ‘an age’ or ‘the spirit of an age’ and has the same meaning as the Greek ‘aeon’. In general terms, secularism means “belonging to this age, or worldly” along with a denial of other worldly realities (i.e. religious). The Bible introduces the idea of divine creation in the book of Genesis. God speaks directly to Man in Genesis: “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it”. As Peter Berger, a social theorist notes that in this the idea of a secular world is sown as a God who stands outside of the Cosmos which is his creation. This opens the way for self making activity which Berger calls ‘historization’. Caesar was the emperor of Rome. In a famous passage Jesus said, "Render to Caesar the things...
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...Swot analysis (4 pages) Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats Strengths: Iran is located between the Middle East and Central Asia, with an access to two maritime frontages, the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. This geographical situation provides economic, politic and military advantages (easiness to exchange with the rest of the world, access to international resources and the sovereignty of Iran is extended to its territorial waters). Iran is the eighteenth largest country in the world. It has a surface of 1 648 000 km² (3 times the size of France). The economy of the Islamic Republic Iran is the twenty-eight largest in the world by GDP (nominal) and the nineteenth largest economy in the world by Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). Iran is the world’s second largest proven oil and gas reserves after Saudi Arabia and Russia. It is the first exporter of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Oil and gas aside, Iran is rich in other resources and has a important agricultural sector with the culture of cereals (wheat, corn, barley, rice), fruits (dates, figs, pomegranates, grapes, melons and watermelons) and vegetables, cotton, pistachios, olives, spices (saffron), tobacco and tea. Thanks to its location, Iran has an easy access to markets of neighboring countries Furthermore, Iran has one of the highest urban growth rates in the world. From 1950 to 2002, the urban proportion of the population increased from 27% to 60%. TSE (Tehran...
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