English

How Did Iran Become an Islamic Republic? [interview with Darioush Bayandor]

Published by IranWire Iranians marked the 40th anniversary of the Iranian revolution in 2019. Many an academic conference around the world marked the occasion (including a workshop jointly held by my own New York University and Columbia University), but grand narratives or conclusive accounts of the revolution have been conspicuous in their absence. This is …

You don’t need to mourn Qassem Soleimani to be deeply worried: Reflections of an Iranian dissident in exile

Published by +972 magazine, January 5, 2020 In 18th century Vienna, where intellectuals and flaneurs liked to hob nob in the city’s fabled cafe scene, there was said to have been an infamous saying: “What’s in the newspaper today? Are the Turks killing or are they being killed?” The quote was meant to caustically symbolize …