The analysis of the impediments to political development is one of the most important discussions which has major theoretical and political consequences. This analysis has been controversial and many different aspects have been introduced as elements for political underdevelopment. In this study, Dal Seung Yu takes culture, a key element in this discussion, and explains the major cultural impediments to political development in Iran. He focuses on the historical attitudes of people towards the political management of the society and the effect these attitudes have on slowing the development of this political system in the society. Those concerned with Iran, the Middle East and political culture will be extremely interested in this provocative text.

Since the Islamic revolutionary movement overthrew the "Peacock Throne" (the Shah) in 1979 the Islamic Republic has maintained its credibility and the loyalty of the people of Iran. It has survived an extremely destructive war with Iraq, isolation from the West and the rest of the Middle East except Syria, and the death of the Ayaltollah Khomeini. This book explores the social transformation of Iran in this period stressing the importance of political culture and ideology. It argues that the systematic building of a legitimate Islamic political culture is the key to the success of the regime. The authors of the book address specific aspects of Iran's political culture within a general theoretical framework laid out in the introduction. There is discussion of a wide range of topics ranging from the relationship of the individual to society to "Westoxication", from Shi'ism to the Islamisation of film culture.

This first full-length study of the history of Iranian anthropology charts the formation and development of anthropology in Iran in the twentieth century. The text examines how and why anthropology and culture became part of wider socio-political discourses in Iran, and how they were appropriated, and rejected, by the pre- and post-revolutionary regimes. The author highlights the three main phases of Iranian anthropology, corresponding broadly to three periods in the social and political development of Iran: *the period of nationalism: lasting approximately from the constitutional revolution (1906-11) and the end of the Qajar dynasty until the end of Reza Shah’s reign (1941) *the period of Nativism: from the 1950s until the Islamic revolution (1979) *the post-revolutionary period. In addition, the book places Iranian anthropology in an international context by demonstrating how Western anthropological concepts, theories and methodologies affected epistemological and political discourses on Iranian anthropology.

Despite the relative calm apparent in Iran today, there is unmistakable evidence of political, social, and cultural ferment stirring beneath the surface. The authors of Politics and Culture in Contemporary Iran¿a unique group of scholars, activists, and artists¿explore that unrest and its challenge to the legitimacy and stability of the present authoritarian regime. Ranging from political theory to music, from human rights law to social media, their contributions reveal the tenacious and continually evolving forces that are at work resisting the status quo.

In this detailed study of modern Iran, Yadullah Shahibzadeh examines changes in people's understanding of politics and democracy. The book aims to overcome the shortcomings of traditional historiography by challenging the monopoly of intellectuals' perspectives and demonstrating the intellectual and political agency of the ordinary people.