Iran is too often characterised by its strong identity (Great civilisation, nationalism, Shiism, poetry, Isfahan...) and the myths related to it. But to understand today's Iran, other factors must be taken into account: the emergence of the country as both a republic and Islamic, the emergence of neighbouring oil monarchies dominated by Saudi Arabia, the advent of an educated and urban middle class that did not exist forty years ago and is now at the heart of national policy. This new edition offers a detailed analysis and goes against the grain of conventional wisdom by studying the balance of power between national heritages, Islamic ideologies and globalisation. Because the geopolitics of Iran are not only related to one of these factors and contrary to what one hears too often, there is no "Sunni / Shia" or "Persian / Arab" war: they are but the actors of the conflict, not the cause. Iran's geopolitical situation is first and foremost of a political origin: the rivalry between two emerging States.
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