This study advances neorealist theory by examining how systemic constraints shape state behavior through economic statecraft, focusing on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Iran’s strategic calculations. Employing methodological triangulation – network analysis, discourse examination, and institutional assessment – this research explores the strategic logic underpinning the China-Iran engagement. For Iran, the BRI emerges as a mechanism for institutional resilience and sanctions circumvention, though its integration remains constrained by systemic limitations and regional competition. For China, the BRI serves as a geopolitical infrastructure strategy to expand influence and secure resources, despite concerns over economic sustainability. By framing economic statecraft as a strategic response to systemic constraints, this study challenges conventional materialist and militaristic paradigms of international relations. It critically assesses the generalizability of BRI partnerships, illustrating how states, bound by structural limitations, use economic instruments to reshape their strategic environments. Ultimately, the research offers nuanced insight into emerging power dynamics in a multipolar world, extending beyond traditional power-centric models.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Shiʿi theocratic state in Iran has occasionally prioritized state interests over traditional shariʿa rulings. This dynamic is best understood through the lens of the principle of maslahat (variously translated as “public good” or “the interests of the state), which has played a central role in guiding strategic state decisions. By invoking maslahat, the state has justified the modification or suspension of certain shariʿa prescriptions in pursuit of broader political and social objectives. These objectives, primarily safeguarding the Shiʿi theocratic order (hefz-e nezām) and protecting the religion from defamation (vahn-e din), were key tenets articulated by Ayatollah Khomeini and remain foundational to the state's governance. This pragmatic utilization of maslahat has enabled the Shiʿi theocratic state to adapt its legal framework to meet contemporary challenges while ostensibly adhering to shariʿa principles. Notable examples of this adaptability include reforms such as the equalization of blood money for religious minorities and the imposition of moratoriums on stoning executions. However, the inherently subjective nature of maslahat raises concerns about potential arbitrariness and misuse, prompting debates among Shiʿi jurists regarding its legitimacy and scope. This study offers a comprehensive analysis of maslahat within Iran's legal system, exploring its mechanisms, applications, and implications, and highlighting its complex role in both advancing and potentially challenging the principles of Islamic law.

This article centers on tsarist Russian officials’ understandings of and approaches to the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1905–11). Although these officials relied on fragmental information and reflected internal discoordination in their dealings with Iran over the course of the revolution, a diachronic shift marked the policies they formulated in response. Although many of them attempted to navigate the Constitutional Revolution’s complexity in its early phases, they tended toward the use of force as unrest continued, culminating in the Russian invasion of northern Iran in December 1911. Uncritically confident in their exercise of power, Russian officials proceeded without considering alternative courses of action or the potential costs of military engagement in the revolution’s final stages. This heavy-handedness reflected continuity with the tsarist government’s crackdowns on socialists in the Caucasus after the Russian Revolution of 1905, and presaged its repressive, self-defeating responses to uprisings across the Russian Empire from 1912 to 1917.

This paper examines the funding model of the Shahyad Aryamehr Monument (c. 1971) and the architectural strategies employed by the monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to project the narrative that the monument, a symbol of Iranian modernity and an international brand, was fully funded by voluntary donations from merchants and industrialists. This claim was positioned as a testament to the shah’s path to modernization through the White Revolution, a Cold War-era policy presenting Iran’s modernity as an alternative to capitalism and communism. Drawing on archival documents, print media, oral histories, and visual records, this paper contextualizes the Shahyad Monument within the broader philanthropic landscape of Iran’s 2500th Anniversary of the Founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great (Imperial Celebration), particularly projects such as Persepolis Forest. The analysis reveals significant doubts about the voluntary nature of the donations, in contrast to the monarchy’s narrative. Despite this, the celebration deployed various tactics to amplify the funding model’s symbolic power, including print proclamations, visual campaigns presenting Shahyad as a symbol of industrial progress, commemorative plaques, and the choreographed prominence of donors during the inauguration ceremony. These strategies underscored the shah’s leadership and sought to reinforce the image of widespread public support for his modernization agenda.

1911 to 1935 was a chaotic, yet foundational, period in the transformation of the police force in Tehran and Iran more broadly. The nationalization of modern Iranian policing can be traced back to this time period. This article explores the role of nationalism and anti-imperialism on policing, how the structure and process of policing underwent transformation, including how police were recruited, trained, and deployed. Localized and decentralized policing was slowly abandoned in favor of an integrated national force, with policing through mediation being replaced with the exercise of power in a top-down and center to periphery manner. Education of police officers also underwent transformation, as new strategies were pursued to create a modern nationalist Iranian police force.

Writing, as a beacon of democracy, is crucial to the ability of citizens to think critically and to exercise their agency in the twenty-first century. Yet the full epistemic and critical potentials of writing are realized only if writing is properly theorized and understood. Although it is commonly held to be a matter of skill or personal creativity, writing is alternatively conceptualized as process, genre, social practice and sociopolitical action. This paper examines discourses of writing and its pedagogy in Iran’s secondary education writing textbooks, known as Negāresh. Analysis of the writing tasks and activities of the textbooks attests to the dominance of discourses (skills, process, and creativity) that narrow the domain of writing to the writer and textual output. More socially oriented discourses of writing are not foregrounded. The findings carry implications for Persian writing pedagogy.

The epic folk story of Köroğlu, popular among various Turkic peoples, was also widespread among the Tajiks of the upper Oxus valleys of southern Tajikistan and adjoining Badakhshān of northern Afghanistan. The Tajik versions of the story, known as Gurughli or Gurghuli, while sharing parts of the plot and outline with Köroğlu, are distinctly shaped by Tajik culture and Iranian national traditions in both form and content. This study explores various aspects of this oral tradition, including bards and their performances, the structure, plot, and themes of their repertoires, and the documentation history. This study also assesses scholarly views on the origins and development of Tajik Gurughli. The article is supplemented by five sample texts, selected to represent major cycles of the genre.1

This paper provides a sociolinguistic and grammatical synopsis of Bavadi Bakhtiari, spoken in Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiari Province, Iran. The results presented here are based on the collection of linguistic and cultural data through field research, including ethnographic research, recording of oral texts, elicitation of a language data questionnaire, and follow-up interviews with speakers of the language. In addition to providing a linguistic snapshot of the Bavadi variety of Bakhtiari in its social context, this study offers a novel contribution to the documentation of Iran’s linguistic heritage through the presentation and analysis of culturally important oral texts of various genres. While one text belongs to the controlled and formulaic genre of the folktale, two other texts are based on free conversation among groups of speakers.

This article delves into the experience of urban modernity in Mohammad Reza’s Tehran, focusing particularly on the phenomenon of window-shopping as depicted in three films: Chaharrah-e Havades (The crossroad of events, Samuel Khachikian, 1955); Aghay-e Halu (Mr. Naive, Dariush Mehrjui, 1971); and Zir-e Pust-e Shab (Under the skin of night, Fereydun Gole, 1974). These films, set against the backdrop of Tehran’s urban metamorphosis, offer a narrative of the modern metropolis as a site of exhibition, where the gaze of characters from lower social or economic strata is ensnared by a plethora of visual spectacles. The critical portrayal of shop displays and the phenomenon of window-shopping in these films offer profound insights into the complex interplay of desires, promises, disappointments, and fears that the state’s modernization projects and urban consumer culture evoked.

This article examines the challenges of subject formation within state-building efforts by analyzing Keyhān-e Bachcheh-hā (Children’s Universe), a widely circulated Iranian children’s magazine during the post-revolutionary period. Through analyzing the magazine’s content from 1979 to 1989, when the Islamic Republic was consolidating its power and building institutions, this study reveals how the publication served as a key informal education platform, attempting to create politically conscious yet ideologically compliant young citizens. While the magazine aimed to cultivate revolutionary consciousness through anti-imperialist rhetoric and Islamic values, it simultaneously imposed rigid behavioral and ideological boundaries to produce what I term “docile revolutionary children.” The research demonstrates how political themes permeated every aspect of the magazine—from stories and poems to puzzles and contests—transforming it from an entertainment platform into a vehicle for political socialization. Through examination of revolutionary and wartime discourses, gender representation, and the promotion of social humility, this study argues that Keyhān-e Bachcheh-hā embodied a fundamental tension in the state’s vision of ideal citizenship: the simultaneous demand for revolutionary agency and absolute submission to clerical authority. This research contributes to our understanding of how post-revolutionary states employ cultural institutions to shape young citizens and the inherent contradictions in such efforts at political socialization.

The Mongol conquest of Iran (1220–1231) coincided with the “literarization of history” across the Islamic world. In Iran, this phenomenon was characterized by the production of verse histories, modeled on Firdaūsī’s Shāh-nāmah. Ḥakīm Zajjājī’s Humāyūn-nāmah is one of the lesser-known examples of this genre, with modern scholars disputing both the date of its composition and the historical value of its contents. The present article analyzes the personalities and events described in the Humāyūn-nāmah, situating it in the broader community of letters cultivated by the Īlkhānid vizier Shams al-Dīn Juvaynī between 1249–1284. This article shows that the Humāyūn-nāmah was not only a piece of art, but a valuable eye-witness account of early Mongol rule in Iran (1220–1258).

Abdol-Hossain Taymourtash, Reza Shah’s first minister of court, was universally recognized as the most powerful man in Iran after the shah himself. He was the lieutenant, ran the government for him. He played a key role at the shah’s side in selecting cabinet ministers and the deputies to be elected to parliament. He helped shape and realize Reza Shah’s vision for the revival and modernization of Iran. Yet in 1933, royal favor was suddenly withdrawn, and Taymourtash was arrested and imprisoned where, in all probability Reza Shah had him put to death. This article focuses on the always fraught relationship between a powerful autocrat and his loyal and efficacious lieutenant, and on the dilemma of those who wish to serve their countries and end up doing so at the cost of serving as the agents of a dictatorship.

This essay considers the “great” status of Shah ‘Abbās I, the most consequential Safavid ruler, by comparing European descriptions to his portrayal in the Persian-language sources. While both depict him as energetic, resolute, and unadorned in attire and demeanor, European sources present him primarily as an empire builder while Persian-language works focus on his role as a warrior on horseback, fighting external enemies and putting down domestic revolts. Neither accounts ignore the violence that came with absolute power, but while Europeans viewed such violence as an unfortunate byproduct of power, Persian chronicles celebrate ‘Abbās as a ghāzi warrior, merciless in his efforts to root out heretics and unbelievers. The surviving image of the shah as a “great” ruler was first reported by European visitors and is primarily a composite of the way they depicted him – as a Renaissance prince and determined empire builder who remained close to his subjects and their concerns.

Environmental problems have become increasingly evident in post-revolutionary Iran. As a result, the field of environment has come to be a focus of research studies and technical management in the country. The recent proliferation of scientific analyses of the so-called environment indicates that the schemes of modern science are developing to combat the problems therein. Research findings also suggest, however, that environmental discourses and practices are not entirely reducible only to the terms of the natural sciences; distinctively, differing ideas of “nature” are drawn on to conceptualize differing schemes of environmental activities. This article explores how the materiality of national symbols brings to light particular social histories that reflect on and unfold through environmental discourses and practices encountered in Tehran.

This article challenges the dominant narrative of AI in Iran as a symbol of national success and technological sovereignty by examining its materiality. The Iranian government often underscores AI’s role in countering sanctions and securing national interests. However, this national narrative overlooks the complex realities of AI’s implementation. By examining the material endpoints of AI – such as data centers, supercomputers, and digital labor – this article reveals a fragmented vision of AI, one that is entangled with global neoliberal practices. The analysis uncovers the sociopolitical and economic forces shaping AI in Iran, arguing that it reflects both the nation’s ambitions and its vulnerabilities, offering a nuanced perspective on AI and its role in contemporary Iranian society.

The Bābīs and Bahā’īs have worked towards a gradual revolutionary conceptual and social transformation within their community which is based on a change in values and ethics. This paper looks first at the underlying transformation in worldview that has resulted in a move away from hierarchy and patriarchy, by creating social structures and pathways of action that are not led by powerful individuals, but rather are consultative and collaborative. Then, more specific examples are given of how this change in worldview played out with regard to social and religious leadership, education, and the role of women. What may be called a Bahā’ī counter-culture has thus been created. Evidence is provided of how these changes may have impacted the wider Iranian society and contributed to misunderstandings and persecutions of the Bahā’ī community.