Paper Summary:

This paper argues that modern-day Iran is behaving in response to long-held grievances with western powers (like the United States and Great Britain) and because the globalization and integrated world that the West champions (most conspicuously the United States) is perceived as a direct threat to Iran's status as a theocracy, and a direct threat to the austere, non-consumerist tenets of traditional Islam. The paper explains that globalization threatens the very fabric of present Iranian society and the country's leaders therefore want to combat it and those they feel embody values inimical to their own interests. The paper also looks at what it is that has prompted the Middle Eastern land's angry denunciations of Israel, its stubborn adherence to a nuclear development program that is condemned by many in the western world, and its frequently negative characterizations of the United States. The paper concludes that one of the most compelling reasons for Iran's 'odd' actions is that globalization brings with it many threats to Iran and to its leadership; it is also a reminder, surely, of the western imperialism which impressed itself upon Iran in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

From the Paper:

"To begin with, Iran is a nation that is comparatively insular and one which is dominated by a religion that frowns upon the "decadent," consumption-driven and even hedonistic lifestyle of the west. It is also, if its sometimes hysterical rhetoric and habitual defensiveness about what it is doing and why it is doing it are any indication, a nation that is deeply insecure - or, at the very least, its leaders are very insecure. More than that, Iran is a nation which has long bristled at the projection of western power via globalization and changing technologies and this has pushed it to the forefront of Middle Eastern nations committed to turning back that projection anyway they can."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Beehner, Lionel. "Iran's Involvement in Iraq." Council on Foreign Relations: Backgrounder. 12 Feb. 2007. Council on Foreign Relations: A Resource for Non-Partisan Information and Analysis. 10 Mar. 2007 <http://www.cfr.org/publication/12521/#2>
• Falk, Richard. "Religion and Global Governance: Harmony or Clash?" International Journal on World Peace, 19.1 (2002): 3-37
• "Iranian Leader: Holocaust a 'Myth.'" Cable News Network. 14 Dec. 2005. CNN.com. 9 Mar. 2007 <http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/14/iran.israel/>
• Katouzian, Homa. "The Campaign against the Anglo-Iranian Agreement of 1919." British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 25.1 (1998): 5-46.
• Takeyh, Ray. "Britain's Dark Shadow over Iran." The Globalist: Dedicated to Global Understanding. 19 Feb. 2007. The Globalist. 10 Mar. 2007 <http://www.theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=5725>

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