Understanding Iran

by Jerrold D. Green, Frederic Wehrey, Charles Wolf, Rand Corporation Staff (Contribution by)

Overview

A compact, user-friendly handbook for U.S. Policymakers interested in understanding the Islamic Republic of Iran. It synthesizes existing analyses on Iran and draws from non-American experts with a different interpretive lens for viewing the seemingly opaque Iranian system. It provides short analytic observations about the processes, institutions, networks, and actors that define Iran1s politics, strategy, economic policy, and diplomacy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780833045584
Publisher:	RAND Corporation
Publication date:	02/15/2009
Pages:	166
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Jerrold D. Green (PhD, Political Science, University of Chicago) is director of the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy and a senior political scientist. His research interests include U.S. foreign policy, Middle East politics, sociopolitical change in developing countries, terrorism and political violence, and Mediterranean security..

Charles Wolf, Jr. (Ph.D., Economics, Harvard University), founding Dean of the RAND Graduate School, is a senior economic adviser and corporate fellow in international economics at RAND and professor in the RAND Graduate School. From 1967 until June 1981, he was head of RAND's Economics Department, and thereafter was director of RAND research in international economics. Dr. Wolf is a Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and a director of Capital Income Builder Fund, Inc. and Capital World Growth and Income Fund, Inc. He is a member of the advisory boards of the UCLA Management School's Center for International Business Education and Research, the Independent Institute, the journal Society, and the editorial board of the Korean Journal of Defense Analysis. Dr. Wolf has served with the Department of State, and has taught at Cornell, the University of California at Berkeley, UCLA, and Nuffield College, Oxford. He is the author or co-author of more than 150 journal articles and two dozen books including Markets or Governments: Choosing Between Imperfect Alternatives (MIT Press, 1993), Asian Economic Trends and Their Security Implications (RAND, 2000), China, the United States and the Global Economy, (RAND, 2001), and European Military Prospects, Economic Constraints, and the Rapid Reaction Force (RAND, 2001).

Table of Contents

Preface iii

Figures and Tables vii

Summary ix

Acknowledgments xvii

Abbreviations xix

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

Birth of the Project 1

Background 2

Contents of This Document 3

Chapter 2 Features of the Iranian System 5

Iran's Political Landscape: Individuals and Institutions 6

The Supreme Leader: Influence and Worldview 7

The National Security Establishment and the Rise of the Revolutionary Guards 10

The Iranian Economy: Oil Dependency, Key Actors, and Policies 15

Oil Export Dependency and Its Pathologies 16

Economic Policies and Institutions: Complexity and Redundancy 21

Disarray and Dysfunction in Economic Policy Execution 23

The Elite's Political Culture: Factionalism and Informality 25

Factional Dynamics at Work: The Nuclear Case Study 28

Iran's Approach to Its Arab Neighbors: Implications for Iranian Behavior and U.S. Policy 33

Iran's Outreach to Arab Publics 34

Iran and Anti-Shiism 36

Iran's Negotiating Style 39

Chapter 3 Conclusion: Iran Is Unlike Other Countries but Hardly Beyond Understanding 47

Appendix A Workshop Agenda 49

Appendix B Workshop Papers 51

Decisionmaking for National Security: The Nuclear Case Shahram Chubin 52

Negotiating with Iran: A Case Study James Dobbins 66

Iran's Defense Establishment Anoush Ehteshami 71

Negotiating with Iran Jerrold D. Green 79

Understanding Ayatollah Khamenei: The Leader's Thoughts on Israel, the U.S., and the Nuclear Program Karim Sadjadpour 87

The Politics of Factionalism in Iran Amin Saikal 96

Economic Decisionmaking in Iran Koichiro Tanaka 105

Iran in the Arab Sphere: Debating Legitimacy, Sovereignty, and Regional Order FredWehrey 113

Iran's Oil Sector: Questions, Puzzles, Explanations Charles Wolf, Jr 123

Appendix C Biographies of Workshop Participants 129

References 141