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In a revisionist reading of Iranian politics since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Mohammad Tabaar demonstrates that the causal link between religious ideology and political order as it has been perceived is perilously misguided. Instead of viewing ideology as a determinant of an actor's political objectives and interests, he examines the religious consequences of politics. The conflict and violence that has been interpreted as an outcome of an ideology should rather be examined as causes of that particular ideology. Tabaar rejects the claim that Shi'a theology independently led to the Islamic Revolution in Iran and shapes its consequences. In actuality, a Shi'a ideology was specifically constructed to engender and preserve the revolution. That is not to say that religion does not matter. Religious ideas, ideals, and ideologies do play critical roles in generating mass mobilization and elite cohesion. It is precisely because political actors are aware of this function that they invest so much political capital in developing and deploying religious ideologies. Tabaar traces half a century of doctrinal changes against the background of Iranian domestic and international politics, and he argues that Islamic ideology is not only used but more importantly is constructed and strategically institutionalized by elites to deal with changing opportunities and threat perceptions

From encounters with Western powers in the nineteenth century through to a Constitutional Revolution at the beginning of the twentieth century, and from the overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mosaddeq in the 1950s to the current Islamic Republic, Iran's history has rarely been far from tumultuous and dramatic. And the ways in which Iranian society has participated in and reacted to these events have been equally fascinating and revolutionary. Here for the first time in English, Yann Richard offers his take on the social and political history of Iran since 1800. Richard's account traces the common threads of national ideology and violent conflict that have characterised a number of episodes in Iranian history. By also concerning himself with the reactions and feelings of Iranian society, and by referring frequently to Persian sources and commentaries, Richard gives us a unique insight into the challenges encountered by Iranians in modern times.

Das Buch enthält 13 ausführliche Porträts österreichischer Historiker. Es knüpft konzeptionell an zwei Vorgängerbände an, die 2008 und 2012 erschienen sind, und schließt diese Serie nun ab. Die Porträts setzen sich mit den wissenschaftlichen Karrieren und Werken der Historiker auseinander sowie mit ihrer Einbindung in akademische Netzwerke und politische Tätigkeiten. Porträtiert werden in dieser Reihenfolge: Oswald Redlich (1858–1944), Ludo Moritz Hartmann (1865–1924), Hermann Wopfner (1876–1963), Hugo Hassinger (1877–1952), Hans Uebersberger (1877–1962), Adolf Helbok (1883–1968), Camillo Praschniker (1884–1949), Balduin Saria (1893–1974), Erna Patzelt (1894–1987), Lucie Varga (1904–1941), Otto Brunner (1898–1982), Richard Wolfram (1901–1995) und Taras von Borodajkewycz (1902–1984).

Introduction: Dreams of a future in a new world -- Jefferson's blueprint for an egalitarian republic -- A nature's nation in the garden of the world -- America's anti-urban bias -- The small town as an ideal: Puritan covenants to Celebration, Florida -- The company town away from town -- "Grace dwelling in it": the romance of the suburb -- Seeding settlement: homesteads, land grants, and capital seats -- Making nature urbane: Olmsted and the parks movement -- Utopians and reformers in a cauldron of urbanization -- Washington: city of magnificent intentions -- Chicago 1910: logistics utopia -- Autopia: the drive to disperse -- Communitarian journeys -- Misguided renewal: the urban clearance decades -- Walt Disney's EPCOT and the new town movement -- Fabulous and commonplace: seeking paradise in Las Vegas -- New Orleans and attachment to place -- E-topia: smart cities for the creative class -- Postscript: Heading to that better place.

Democracy in the twenty-first century faces a number of major challenges, populism, neoliberalism and globalisation being three of the most prominent. This book examines such challenges by investigating how the conditions of democratic statehood have been altered at several key historical intervals since 1945. It demonstrates that the formal mechanisms of democratic statehood, such as elections, have always been complemented by civic, cultural, educational, socio-economic and constitutional institutions that mediate between citizens and state authority. Rearticulating critical theory with a contemporary focus, the book shows why a sociological approach is urgently needed to address conceptual deficits and explain how the formal mechanisms of democratic statehood need to be complemented and updated in new ways today