What Is Iran? Domestic Politics and International Relations in Five Musical Pieces

Volume:45
Issue:3
Book Review

In What is Iran?, Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, professor in Global Thought and Comparative Philosophies at SOAS, University of London, tells the story of Iran’s international affairs and domestic politics with the help of five musical pieces that he found emblematic of the subject matter. The book discusses Iran as a global object, with a post-national approach beyond conventional understanding of Iranian politics. It conceptualizes the dynamics of the country’s domestic politics, underlines the strategic preferences of the Iranian state, analyzes the impact of right-wing thinking on Iran’s relationship with the United States and Israel, and evaluates the Iranian dialectic with the Middle East, Eurasia and the wider world.