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POLISCI 118P: U.S. Relations with Iran

The evolution of relations between the U.S. and Iran. The years after WW II when the U.S. became more involved in Iran. Relations after the victory of the Islamic republic. The current state of affairs and the prospects for the future. Emphasis is on original documents of U.S. diplomacy (White House, State Department, and the U.S. Embassy in Iran). Research paper.

Tehran

POLISCI 245R: Politics in Modern Iran

Modern Iran has been a smithy for political movements, ideologies, and types of states. Movements include nationalism, constitutionalism, Marxism, Islamic fundamentalism, social democracy, Islamic liberalism, and fascism. Forms of government include Oriental despotism, authoritarianism, Islamic theocracy, and liberal democracy. These varieties have appeared in Iran in an iteration shaped by history, geography, proximity to oil and the Soviet Union, and the hegemony of Islamic culture.

Azadi Tower

POLISCI 149S: Islam, Iran, and the West

Iran and Islam have had a long and complicated relationship. This course covers the rise of Islam, its expansion in Iran, forms of resistance to and acceptance of Islamic ideas in Iran, the rise of Shiism and the impact of Iran on the development of Sufism. The influence of Muslim thinkers from Iran on the rise of the Renaissance in Europe is examined. And finally, the course focuses on the varieties of Islamic responses to modernity in Iran in the last century.