Harvard Professor Solutions Burning Questions About Iranian Historical past

In a brisk WIRED inter­view, Pro­fes­sor Tarek Masoud solutions fre­quent­ly requested ques­tions about Iran’s his­to­ry. He explains that Iran will not be an Arab coun­strive however a pre­dom­i­nant­ly Per­sian one, with a dis­tinct lan­guage and iden­ti­ty. He traces how the coun­strive turned an Islam­ic repub­lic after the 1979 rev­o­lu­tion, dri­ven by polit­i­cal repres­sion, eco­nom­ic ten­sions, and resis­tance to West­ern influ­ence.

Alongside the way in which, he tack­les the fol­low­ing ques­tions: Simply how liberal/progressive was Iran pri­or to the 1979 rev­o­lu­tion? Why did the Iran­ian rev­o­lu­tion hap­pen? Is Iran the one Mid­dle East­ern coun­strive whose mod­ern bor­ders weren’t cre­at­ed by colo­nial pow­ers? The son of Iran’s final Shah is ral­ly­ing professional­take a look at­ers, however do Ira­ni­ans actual­ly need anoth­er king?

By the tip, you’ll know a lit­tle bit extra in regards to the coun­strive on the cen­ter of Amer­i­ca’s lat­est mil­i­tary adven­ture.

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