Vanguard of the Imam
Subtitle: religion, politics, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards
By: Afshon Ostovar
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 306
ISBN-13: 9780199387892
Subjects: Politics and government; Military History; Sipāh-i Pāsdārān-i Inqilāb-i Islāmī (Iran); Civil-military relations
Description: "Iran's Revolutionary Guards are one of the most important forces in the Middle East today, but remain poorly understood to outside observers. In Vanguard of the Imam, Afshon Ostovar has written the first comprehensive history of the organization. Situating the rise of the Guards in the contexts of Shiite Islam, Iranian history, and international affairs, Ostovar takes a multifaceted approach in demystifying the organization and detailing its evolution since 1979. The book documents the Guards transformation into a power-player and explores why the group matters now more than ever to regional and global affairs. It is simultaneously a history of modern Iran, and an engrossing entryway into the complex world of war, politics, and identity in the Middle East"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: 1. Introduction; title: Brief Overview of the IRGC; title: Conceptualizing the IRGC; title: Pro-clerical Activism; title: Primacy of the Leader; title: Conflict and State Formation; title: Chapters and Questions; title: 2. From Ali to Khomeini; title: The Formation of Shiite Islam; title: Rise of the Clergy; title: The Islamic Movement; title: Revolutionary Ideology; title: 3. Vanguard of the Imam; title: Enter the Vanguard; title: Roots and Radicals; title: Khomeini Über Alles; title: One System to Rule Them All; title: 4. The Imposed War; title: Invasion; title: A Stymied War Effort; title: Death of the opposition; title: The Islamic Republic Strikes Back; title: 5. The Long War; title: The International Dimension; title: Running into Walls; title: In the Path of the Divine; title: A Fleeting Taste of Victory; title: The Bitter End; title: 6. Exporting the Revolution; title: Revolutionary Internationalism; title: A Conservative Turn; title: Onward to Jerusalem; title: The Revolution Comes to Lebanon; title: Fall of the Radicals; title: 7. Warriors of Karbala; title: The Islamic Model Army; title: Power of the Pen; title: Wartime Cultural Activism; title: Visual Identity; title: Iconology of the Self; title: Warriors of Karbala; title: 8. When Johnny Comes Marching Home; title: Postwar Reconstruction under Rafsanjani; title: Propagating Virtue, Prohibiting Vice; title: Taking Back the Revolution; title: 9. The War on Terror; title: Axis of Evil; title: Electing Ahmadinejad; title: An Iran Ascendant; title: The Specter of War; title: 10. Big Bang, Big Crunch; title: "Death to the Dictator!"; title: The Soft War; title: Springtime; title: The Instruments of Coercion; title: Knives Out; title: 11. In Defense of the Family of the Prophet; title: In Defense of Sayyida Zaynab; title: A Return to Karbala; title: 12. Epilogue; title: 13. Conclusion.