This course will focus on Iran. Through a multidisciplinary approach, students will acquire an in-depth understanding of the Islamic Republic of Iran's economy and political system, locating the country within the region and the international dimension. As a necessary step for an understanding of the Revolution of 1979 and its aftermath, time will be devoted from the outset to examining pre-revolutionary Iran. This course will thus examine the history of Iran since the so-called tobacco revolution which took place in 1890-92 and saw the strategic alliance between the Shi'i clergy and the merchants of the bazaar. This alliance between the mosque and the bazaar served its purposes again in the XX century, under the Pahlavi monarchy, allowing ayatollah Khomeini to unexpectedly take power in 1979.
If you have to know the past to understand the present, a multidisciplinary approach is needed to seize the complexities of Iran. Besides history and economics, other instruments such as politics, religion, gender studies, demography, literature and cinema will be used in class. Current events will be closely examined, in order to understand the strategic role of Iran in international affairs, and especially the proxy wars taking place in the region. As a result, students will be able to understand how different Iran is, compared to other countries in the region, as well as the reasons behind the fears it raises amongst its rivals.
SCHEDULE

1) Welcome Session. Iran: an ethnic, religious, linguistic puzzle.

2) The reasons behind Iran's delay in modernisation. The tobacco revolt of 1890-92. The Constitutional Revolution of 1906. The rise of the modern State with Reza Shah Pahlavi (1925-1941).

3) The Allies' invasion of Iran in 1941. The “Children of Tehran”. The reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1941-1979). Mohammad Mosaddeq’s government and the coup d’état of 1953.

4) Iran in the 1960s and 1970 and the economic reasons behind the Revolution of 1979.

5) Khomeini's biography, writings and political views. Iranian intellectuals.

6) The main events leading to the Revolution of 1979 and the Islamic Republic. The seizure of the US hostages. The political institutions of the Islamic Republic.

7) The Iran-Iraq war and its legacy. Khomeini's death. Khamenei Rahbar, Rafsanjani President (1989–97). Reconstruction and economic growth.

8) Khatami, the reformist president (1997–2005): expectations and political mobilisation.
President Ahmadinejad and the confrontation with Israel (2005–2013). Religious minorities in Iran. The Green Movement (2009).

9) Rohani's presidency (2003-), the broad coalition government, the revival of the expectations for change. The nuclear deal (2015). Iran's foreign policy. Trump and Soleimani’s assassination (2020).