Independence without Freedom: Iran’s Foreign Policy

401 Pages·2013·1.64 MB·English

by  R. K. Ramazani

independence
without freedom
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Independence
without Freedom
iran’s foreign policy
r. k. ramazani
university of virginia press
Charlottesville and London
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To my wife, my children, and my grandchildren, wishing for them a better world
University of Virginia Press
© 2013 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
First published 2013
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ramazani, Rouhollah K., 1928–
Independence without freedom : Iran’s foreign policy / R. K. Ramazani.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8139-3498-3 (cloth : alk. paper) — isbn 978-0-8139-3499-0 (e-book)
1. Iran—Foreign relations. I. Title.
ds274.r338 2013
327.55—dc23
2013012019
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There can be no durable political order without equitable
justice under the law and no justice without liberty.
— The author’s address to President Mohammad Khatami
at the United Nations, September 4, 2000
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contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
part i. the shah and khomeini revolutions
“Church” and State in Modernizing Society: The Case of Iran 9
Iran’s “White Revolution”: A Study in Political Development 16
Iran’s Revolution: Patterns, Problems, and Prospects 33
Who Lost America? The Case of Iran 50
part ii. revolutionary foreign policies
Khomeini’s Islam in Iran’s Foreign Policy 71
Iran: Burying the Hatchet 94
Iran’s Foreign Policy: Contending Orientations 111
Iran’s Export of the Revolution: Its Politics, Ends, and Means 128
The Shifting Premise of Iran’s Foreign Policy: Toward a Democratic Peace? 148
Refl ections on Iran’s Foreign Policy: Defi ning the “National Interest” 160
Ideology and Pragmatism in Iran’s Foreign Policy 184
Refl ections on Iran’s Foreign Policy: Spiritual Pragmatism 196
part iii. security in the persian gulf
Security in the Persian Gulf 215
The Strait of Hormuz: The Global Chokepoint 229
Shiism in the Persian Gulf 240
Sociopolitical Change in the Gulf: A Climate for Terrorism? 263
part iv. international law and diplomacy
Who Started the Iran-Iraq War? A Commentary 287
Iran’s Hostage Crisis: International Legitimacy Matters 307
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part v. the shah and israel, khatami and bush
Iran and the Arab-Israeli Confl ict 319
Iran, Democracy, and the United States 335
Afterword 353
Appendix: The Role of Iran in the New Millennium—
A View from the Outside 359
Index 365
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acknowledgments
I would like to thank Ms. Lillian Frost, a scholar in her own right,
for her unstinting and indispensable help in preparing this volume. It has
been an enormously challenging task, particularly considering the condition
of my health, which has limited my ability to contribute to the publication
process, and she has performed it with fl ying colors. I thank Ms. Carah Ong,
also a scholar in her own right, for recommending Lillian to me. I am grateful
for the research assistance of W. Scott Harrop, a lecturer on the Middle East
at the University of Virginia, who fi rst inspired me to compile a collection of
my essays into a new book. There is no appropriate way for me to thank Nesta
Ramazani, my beloved wife and an author in her own right. She has read and
edited selfl essly and tirelessly everything I have written for publication over the
past sixty years. I am indebted to my son, Jahan, a world-renowned scholar in
English literature, for helping me every step of the way in the course of prepar-
ing this volume. He has made sure that I got it right. Finally, I thank heartily Ms.
Penelope J. Kaiserlian, director of the University of Virginia Press from 2001 to
2012, for taking an extraordinary interest in the publication of this volume, as
well as everyone else at the University of Virginia Press who has helped trans-
form this manuscript into a book, including special thanks to Mark Mones,
assistant managing editor, Joanne Allen, manuscript copy editor, and Rich-
ard K. Holway, history and social sciences acquisitions editor.
[ ix ]
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