Vanguard of the Imam: Religion, Politics, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards Illustrated Edition

by Afshon Ostovar (Author)

37 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0199387892

ISBN-10: 0199387893

Why is ISBN important?

Share <Embed>

Other Sellers

from

Other Sellers

See all 4 versions

Used: Good | Details

Sold by Bonafide-Books

Fulfilled by Amazon

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery: Thursday, Sep 23 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon. Details

Only 5 left in stock (more on the way).

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

FREE delivery: Thursday, Sep 23 Details

Fastest delivery: Sep 21 - 22

1-Click ordering is not available for this item.

There is a newer edition of this item:

Vanguard of the Imam: Religion, Politics, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards
$25.93
(37)
In Stock.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards are one of the most important forces in the Middle East today. As the appointed defender of Iran's revolution, the Guards have evolved into a pillar of the Islamic Republic and the spearhead of its influence. Their sway has spread across the Middle East, where the
Guards have overseen loyalist support to Bashar al-Assad in Syria and been a staunch backer in Iraq's war against ISIS-bringing its own troops, Lebanon's Hezbollah, and Shiite militias to the fight. Links to terrorism, human rights abuses, and the suppression of popular democracy have shrouded the
Revolutionary Guards in controversy.

In spite of their prominence, the Guards remain poorly understood to outside observers. In Vanguard of the Imam, Afshon Ostovar has written the first comprehensive history of the organization. Situating the rise of the Guards in the larger contexts of Shiite Islam, modern Iranian history, and
international affairs, Ostovar takes a multifaceted approach in demystifying the organization and detailing its evolution since 1979. Politics, power, and religion collide in this story, wherein the Revolutionary Guards transform from a rag-tag militia established in the midst of revolutionary
upheaval into a military and covert force with a global reach.

The Guards have been fundamental to the success of the Islamic revolution. The symbiotic relationship between them and Iran's clerical rulers underpins the regime's nearly unshakeable system of power. The Guards have used their privileged position at home to export Iran's revolution beyond its
borders, establishing client armies in their image and extending Iran's strategic footprint in the process. Ostovar tenaciously documents the Guards' transformation into a power-player and explores why the group matters now more than ever to regional and global affairs. The book simultaneously
serves as a history of modern Iran, and provides a crucial and engrossing entryway into the complex world of war, politics, and identity in the Middle East.

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

David Crist
222
Paperback
$19.49
Vali Nasr
212
Paperback
97 offers from $1.37
Kim Ghattas
939
Hardcover
$17.99
Matthew Levitt
58
Paperback
$22.60
Pierre Razoux
96
Hardcover
$43.50
Vali Nasr
31
Paperback
$12.89

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Moojan Momen
33
Paperback
$30.00
Narges Bajoghli
26
Paperback
$22.00
Stephen Kinzer
637
Paperback
$12.89
David Crist
222
Paperback
$19.49
Vali Nasr
31
Paperback
$12.89
Roham Alvandi
11
Paperback
$28.76

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Ostovar's must-read book is the first study of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards that deals not only with their military and security dimensions but also with the social and cultural history of the organization. It is a brilliant and unique achievement."

--Juan Cole, Director, Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of Michigan

"When at home or abroad, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is the tip of Iran's revolutionary spear. Ostovar offers us a detailed, nuanced, and definitive guide."

--Daniel Byman, Senior Fellow, Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution

"This is a book that will appeal both to scholars and students of contemporary Iran, and journalists and specialists, and to the literate wider public--an excellent book that deserves to be widely read and pondered."

--Michael Axworthy, author of Revolutionary Iran

About the Author

Afshon Ostovar is a Senior Analyst at the Center for Strategic Studies at CNA, and has joined the Naval Postgraduate School as an Assistant Professor of National Security Affairs. He lives in the Washington, DC area.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; Illustrated edition (April 1, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0199387893
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199387892
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.3 x 1.1 x 6.4 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,080,797 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #295 in Arms Control (Books)
- #346 in Military Sciences
- #1,311 in International Relations (Books)

Customer Reviews:
37 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		83%
4 star		17%
3 star 0% (0%)		0%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Michael S. Scheeringa

Thoroughly good read

Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2018

Verified Purchase

I found this book after watching the author being interviewed on a Frontline show on the Iran vs Saudi Arabia proxy wars. This is a straightforward story of the creation of the IRGC in 1979 and its growth to the present. Well-written, easy to read. Exactly what I was looking for.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Great book

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

Very good book. I like that it started with a history on Shiism, then details the history of the IRGC from 1979 to present. I didn’t realize how many Middle East conflicts Iran was involved in. It provides a good backdrop on current events, and I recommend it to everyone interested in Middle East politics.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

chris

Excellent

Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2021

Verified Purchase

Great book here. I liked the history behind Iran’s creation of the IRGC in particular.

Helpful

goly

Must read to understand the culture, scholarly and engaging, not a novel but very readable.

Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2020

Verified Purchase

Great book, specially in our current political climate. you gain a greater understanding of the culture.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Dr. Michael Speca

Very informative, apolitical exposition of the origins, activities ...

Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2017

Verified Purchase

Very informative, apolitical exposition of the origins, activities and relevance of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps to middle east regional and geo-politics.

Helpful

Alex D.

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2018

Verified Purchase

Absolutely essential for anyone seeking a primer on Iran's military and a comprehensive history from the 1979 revolution onward.

Helpful

Megan P.

Comprehensive, informed narrative on rise obased on extensive research - Free of partisan hype

Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2017

Verified Purchase

Comprehensive. Easy to read. Independent of partisan hype or bias. Dr. Ostovar presents the parallel and mutually-supported rise of the Islamic Republic and the IRGC and implications for future. Lots of details and interesting anecdotal stories from IRGC members as well as high-level politicians involved in US-Iranian negotiations.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Terry

The diffinitive source for the history of Iran's Revolutionary Guard ...

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2016

Verified Purchase

The diffinitive source for the history of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and it's role in a complex political atmosphere! This book is a very informative read!

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

commentator

A history of the Islamic Republic of Iran narrated through the lenses of the Revolutionary Guards

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 2, 2017

Verified Purchase

Most countries have one army. Some have two or more. Which in practice mostly means they have a conventional, traditional army, staffed by conscripts from the general (male) population, and a “second” army, often a cross-breed between a conventional army and some sort of an enhanced police force, recruited among the “most loyal” parts of the population. Which leads to the fact that these countries with two or more armies usually are governed by a very ideological and sometimes expansionist-revolutionary regime. The division of labour between the armies is that the conventional army is responsible for national defence and the second army for regime defence – effectively, the latter are praetorian guards.
Iran is one of these countries. It has a conventional army – the artash – and it has a regime praetorian guard – the pasdaran, or the Islamic Revolutionary Guards’ Corps (IRGC), as the usual English translation goes. This makes Iran an interesting case for students of historical or contemporary military affairs. Given the headlines that Iran continues to produce today, the pasdaran elicit particular attention – though more in the general media than in academia. That is a pity and in my view relates to the fact that the Farsi-speakers among scholars and experts are rare. In 1993, Kenneth Katzman published his landmark study on the Revolutionary Guards (“Warriors of Islam”); since then, not much more has been happening. And - otherwise brilliant - his analysis –suffered exactly from this shortage, i.e., non-access to Farsi sources. So when Afshon Ostovar’s “Vanguard of the Imam” came along, this promised to fill the gap as this author is a Farsi reader and speaker.
Yet, there are essentially two ways to write a history of the pasdaran: either as an institutional and organisational analysis, focusing on the origins, development, role(s), motivation and capabilities of this military body, or as a broader politico-military history of the Islamic Republic of Iran, highlighting the moments and junctions where the Corps entered the stage and played a critical and sometimes paramount role. The first is for the expert, the latter is for the novice to Iranian and Middle East affairs. Ostovar has decided to take the latter route. This makes the book somewhat disappointing to the expert, as there is little new not already read somewhere else. But it does not necessarily make this a bad book.
Ostovar's outline is chronological. He starts with the origins of the Guards in the immediate aftermath of the Islamic Revolution, sketchily refers to their first deployments against separatist rebels (deemed to be anti-revolutionary), and then covers the massive growth and gain of prestige with the imposed war against Saddam Hussein. He further describes the redeployment after the war, the role in the repression of the protest waves of 2000 and 2009, and finally outlines the performance of the pasdaran in Iraq after 2003 and in Syria after 2011, spearheading Iran’s volley deep into Arab territory in the wake of Saddam’s downfall and the eruptions of the Arab Spring. Particularly the concluding chapters on the IRGC’s involvement in Syria and Iraq are definitely worthwhile reading, as they relate to topics and issue still evolving. They also highlight how the IRGC –or, more precisely, the Quds Force – are a key tool in Iran’s neo-imperial policy in the region.
The book says nothing or very little about the particular social environment in which the guards are recruited, the social composition of the force, the daily life of the individual pasdar, on barracks and off barracks, the relationship between rank-and-file and the higher echelons of the organisation, the pasdaran network in Iran’s semi-electoral politics, their role in the national economy. One wonders about the chain of command. One gets a vague idea that it starts in the Revolutionary Leaders’ Office. But it is not very specific. Some of the anecdotes of IRGC or Quds Force operations – such as the infiltrations in Iraq or the alleged assassination plot of the Saudi ambassador in Washington DC – generate the impression there is a large degree of military entrepreneurialism by individuals. If so (which is rather awkward for a military organisation) – is that intentional or is it a product of a lack of discipline? Does the supreme leadership – if there is anything like this – condone this type of entrepreneurialism, or does it want to stamp it out? How monolithic are the IRGC? Are they a victim to the factionalism prevalent in Iranian politics, or are they a faction themselves? Also, there is comparatively little information about the IRGC’s mastery of Iran’s missile programme, and the role it played in Iran’s now frozen nuclear programme.
Obviously, when you are writing a book about an institution that now looks back on more than 40 years of history, you have to be selective. In that sense, it is understandable that the author may have decided against providing these details instead of following the big lines. In several places, he reaffirms – and produces sufficient evidence for that – Katzman’s thesis of the pasdaran as an essentially ideological force, sword and shield of an ideological regime (to borrow the former KGB motto). Benefitting from Ostovar’s Farsi knowledge, chapter 7 about the imagery and iconography used during the war against Iraq underlines this assessment and actually is one of the more interesting part of the story. Still, there remains a bit the impression of the IRGC as a phantom force after these 242 pages.

Vibius

Fantastico e interessante

Reviewed in Italy on August 30, 2020

Verified Purchase

Estremamente interessante e ben scritto. Mi è stato utilissimo per la mia tesi di ricerca

Translate review to English

AliJS

Top

Reviewed in Spain on August 21, 2019

Verified Purchase

Muy bien explicado un tema complejo y sobre el que hay pocas fuentes fiables...

Translate review to English

Amazon Customer

I'm not a scholar of Iranian history, but this ...

Reviewed in Canada on April 25, 2016

Verified Purchase

I'm not a scholar of Iranian history, but this book is a well researched and insightful look into a particular aspect of Iranian culture, both military, religious and social. Ostovar's writing is clear, transparent and informative.

pompom

Topissime.

Reviewed in France on February 20, 2020

Verified Purchase

Simple:il n'y a pas mieux!!!!

Translate review to English

See all reviews

Vanguard of the Imam: Religion, Politics, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards Illustrated Edition

Buy used: $21.56

Buy new: $40.99

There is a newer edition of this item:

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Buy used:

$21.56

Buy new:

$40.99