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Journal ArticleDOI

The 1953 Coup D'Etat in Iran

01 Aug 1987-International Journal of Middle East Studies (Cambridge University Press)-Vol. 19, Iss: 3, pp 261-286
TL;DR: The United States sponsored coup d'etat in Iran of August 19, 1953, has emerged as a critical event in postwar world history as discussed by the authors and contributed greatly to the 1978-1979 Iranian revolution.
Abstract: In retrospect, the United States sponsored coup d'etat in Iran of August 19, 1953, has emerged as a critical event in postwar world history The government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq which was ousted in the coup was the last popular, democratically oriented government to hold office in Iran The regime replacing it was a dictatorship that suppressed all forms of popular political activity, producing tensions that contributed greatly to the 1978–1979 Iranian revolution If Mosaddeq had not been overthrown, the revolution might not have occurred The 1953 coup also marked the first peacetime use of covert action by the United States to overthrow a foreign government As such, it was an important precedent for events like the 1954 coup in Guatemala and the 1973 overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile, and made the United States a key target of the Iranian revolution
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The state has always been difficult to define and its boundary with society appears elusive, porous, and mobile as discussed by the authors, and this elusiveness should not be overcome by sharper definitions, but explored as a clue to the state's nature.
Abstract: The state has always been difficult to define. Its boundary with society appears elusive, porous, and mobile. I argue that this elusiveness should not be overcome by sharper definitions, but explored as a clue to the state's nature. Analysis of the literature shows that neither rejecting the state in favor of such concepts as the political system, nor “bringing it back in,” has dealt with this boundary problem. The former approach founders on it, the latter avoids it by a narrow idealism that construes the state-society distinction as an external relation between subjective and objective entities. A third approach, presented here, can account for both the salience of the state and its elusiveness. Reanalyzing evidence presented by recent theorists, state-society boundaries are shown to be distinctions erected internally, as an aspect of more complex power relations. Their appearance can be historically traced to technical innovations of the modern social order, whereby methods of organization and control internal to the social processes they govern create the effect of a state structure external to those processes.

1,518 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For example, the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions to force Iraq out of Kuwait, to force Serbia to stop aiding the Bosnian rebels, to topple the Haitian military, and to end apartheid.
Abstract: T h e worlds major powers and the United Nations (UN) are increasingly using economic sanctions to achieve international political objectives. For example, the United Nations recently imposed sanctions to force Iraq out of Kuwait, to compel Serbia to stop aiding the Bosnian rebels, to topple the Haitian military, and to end apartheid. Similarly, the United States has threatened to punish China economically for human rights abuses and has tightened its long-standing embargo of Cuba. From 1991 to 1994 the UN Security Council imposed mandatory sanctions eight times, compared to only twice from 1945 to 1990.' A critical signal that faith in economic sanctions continues to grow was given in January 1995, when then-UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali prop s e d the creation of a new UN agency to monitor the implementation of economic sanctions and to assess in advance the likely effectiveness of contemplated sanctions? Military instruments are often thought to be the only effective means for achieving ambitious foreign policy goals like taking or defending territory, altering a state's military behavior, and changing a state's regime or internal political structure. Since World War I, however, economic sanctions have come to be viewed as the liberal alternative to war.3 From crises involving the League of Nations before World War I1 to disputes involving the United Nations today, proponents typically argue that economic sanctions can often be as effective as military force and are more humane. As David Baldwin has stated, \"Reasonable people may differ with respect to the utility of

749 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the imperialism of decolonization is discussed and discussed in the context of the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History: Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 462-511.
Abstract: (1994). The imperialism of decolonization. The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History: Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 462-511.

249 citations

Book
Janet Afary1
09 Apr 2009
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a history of Islam in Iran, including slave concubinage, temporary marriage, and harem wives, and the emergence of Islamic feminism.
Abstract: Part I. Pre-modern Practices: 1. Formal marriage 2. Slave concubinage, temporary marriage, and harem wives 3. Class, status-defined homosexuality, and rituals of courtship Part II. Toward a Westernized Modernity: 4. On the road to an ethos of monogamous, heterosexual marriage 5. Redefining purity, unveiling bodies, shifting desires 6. Imperialist politics, romantic love, and the impasse over women's suffrage 7. Suffrage, marriage reforms, and the threat of female sexuality 8. The rise of leftist guerrilla organizations and Islamism Part III. Forging an Islamist Modernity and Beyond: 9. The Islamic revolution, its sexual economy, and the Left 10. Islamist women and the emergence of Islamic feminism 11. Birth control, female sexual awakening, and the gay lifestyle Conclusion: toward a new Muslim-Iranian sexuality for the twenty-first century.

178 citations

Book
19 Dec 2005
TL;DR: Taking Power as discussed by the authors analyzes the causes behind some three dozen revolutions in the Third World between 1910 and the present, and proposes a theory that integrates political, economic, and cultural factors that brought these revolutions about, and links structural theorizing with original ideas on culture and agency.
Abstract: Taking Power analyzes the causes behind some three dozen revolutions in the Third World between 1910 and the present. It advances a theory that seeks to integrate the political, economic, and cultural factors that brought these revolutions about, and links structural theorizing with original ideas on culture and agency. It attempts to explain why so few revolutions have succeeded, while so many have failed. The book is divided into chapters that treat particular sets of revolutions including the great social revolutions of Mexico 1910, China 1949, Cuba 1959, Iran 1979, and Nicaragua 1979, the anticolonial revolutions in Algeria, Vietnam, Angola, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe from the 1940s to the 1970s, and the failed revolutionary attempts in El Salvador, Peru, and elsewhere. It closes with speculation about the future of revolutions in an age of globalization, with special attention to Chiapas, the post-September 11 world, and the global justice movement.

157 citations

References
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Book
01 Jan 1982
TL;DR: Abrahamian et al. as mentioned in this paper studied the emergence of horizontal divisions, or socioeconomic classes, in a country with strong vertical divisions based on ethnicity, religious ideology, and regional particularism.
Abstract: Emphasizing the interaction between political organizations and social forces, Ervand Abrahamian discusses Iranian society and politics during the period between the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1909 and the Islamic Revolution of 1977-1979. Presented here is a study of the emergence of horizontal divisions, or socio-economic classes, in a country with strong vertical divisions based on ethnicity, religious ideology, and regional particularism. Professor Abrahamian focuses on the class and ethnic roots of the major radical movements in the modem era, particularly the constitutional movement of the 1900s, the communist Tudeh party of the 1940s, the nationalist struggle of the early 1950s, and the Islamic upsurgence of the 1970s. In this examination of the social bases of Iranian politics, Professor Abrahamian draws on archives of the British Foreign Office and India Office that have only recently been opened; newspaper, memoirs, and biographies published in Tehran between 1906 and 1980; proceedings of the Iranian Majles and Senate; interviews with retired and active politicians; and pamphlets, books, and periodicals distributed by exiled groups in Europe and North America in the period between 1953 and 1980. Professor Abrahamian explores the impact of socio-economic change on the political structure, especially under the reigns of Reza Shah and Muhammad Reza Shah, and throws fresh light on the significance of the Tudeh party and the failure of the Shah's regime from 1953 to 1978.

652 citations

Book
01 Jan 1979

103 citations

Journal ArticleDOI

73 citations

Book
01 Jan 1969
TL;DR: In this article, the new imperialism in action in Iran is discussed. But the focus is on Iran's new imperialism, and not Iran's military capabilities, as opposed to Iran's economy.
Abstract: Iran; the new imperialism in action , Iran; the new imperialism in action , کتابخانه دانشگاه امام صادق(ع)

50 citations