Background
Nasr, Vali Reza was born in 1960 in Tehran, Iran. Son of Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
(Nasr examines the life and thought of Mawlana Mawdudi, on...)
Nasr examines the life and thought of Mawlana Mawdudi, one of the first and most important Islamic ideological thinkers. Mawdudi was the first to develop a modern political Islamic ideology, and a plan for social action to realize his vision. The prolific writings and indefatigable efforts of Mawdudi's party, the Jamaat-i-Islami, first in India and later in Pakistan, have disseminated his ideas far and wide. His views have informed revivalism from Morocco to Malaysia. Nasr discerns the events that led Mawdudi to a revivalist perspective, and probes the structure of his thought, in order to gain fresh insights into the origins of Islamic revivalism. He argues that Islamic revivalism did not simply develop as a cultural rejection of the West, rather it was closely tied to questions of communal politics and its impact on identity formation, discourse of power in plural societies, and nationalism. Mawdudi's discourse, though aimed at the West, was motivated by Muslim-Hindu competition for power in British India. His aim, according to Nasr, was to put forth a view of Islam whose invigorated, pristine, and uncompromising outlook would galvanize Muslims into an ideologically uniform and hence politically indivisible community. In time, this view developed a life of its own and evolved into an all-encompassing perspective on society and politics, and has been a notable force in South Asia and Muslim life and thought across the Muslim world.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195096959/?tag=2022091-20
(Today Iran is once again in the headlines. Reputed to be ...)
Today Iran is once again in the headlines. Reputed to be developing nuclear weapons, the future of Iraq's next-door neighbor is a matter of grave concern both for the stability of the region and for the safety of the global community. President George W. Bush labeled it part of the "Axis of Evil," and rails against the country's authoritarian leadership. Yet as Bush trumpets the spread of democracy throughout the Middle East, few note that Iran has one of the longest-running experiences with democracy in the region. In this book, Ali Gheissari and Vali Nasr look at the political history of Iran in the modern era, and offer an in-depth analysis of the prospects for democracy to flourish there. After having produced the only successful Islamist challenge to the state, a revolution, and an Islamic Republic, Iran is now poised to produce a genuine and indigenous democratic movement in the Muslim world. Democracy in Iran is neither a sudden development nor a western import, Gheissari and Nasr argue. The concept of democracy in Iran today may appear to be a reaction to authoritarianism, but it is an old idea with a complex history, one that is tightly interwoven with the main forces that have shaped Iranian society and politics, institutions, identities, and interests. Indeed, the demand for democracy first surfaced in Iran a century ago at the end of the Qajar period, and helped produce Iran's surprisingly liberal first constitution in 1906. Gheissari and Nasr seek to understand why democracy failed to grow roots and lost ground to an autocratic Iranian state. Why was democracy absent from the ideological debates of the 1960s and 1970s? Most important, why has it now become a powerful social, political, and intellectual force? How have modernization, social change, economic growth, and the experience of the revolution converged to make this possible?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195396960/?tag=2022091-20
(Islamization is commonly seen as the work of Islamist mov...)
Islamization is commonly seen as the work of Islamist movements who have forced their ideology on ruling regimes and other hapless social actors. There is little doubt that ruling regimes and disparate social and political actors alike are pushed in the direction of Islamic politics by Islamist forces. However, Islamist activism and its revolutionary and utopian rhetoric only partly explain this trend. Here, Nasr argues that the state itself plays a key role in embedding Islam in the politics of Muslim countries. Focusing on Malaysia and Pakistan, Nasr argues that the turn to Islam is a facet of the state's drive to establish hegemony over society and expand its powers and control.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195144260/?tag=2022091-20
( "Historically incisive, geographically broad-reaching, ...)
"Historically incisive, geographically broad-reaching, and brimming with illuminating anecdotes."―Max Rodenbeck, New York Review of Books Iranian-born scholar Vali Nasr has become one of America's leading commentators on current events in the Middle East, admired and welcomed by both media and government for his "concise and coherent" analysis (Wall Street Journal, front-page profile). In this "remarkable work" (Anderson Cooper), Nasr brilliantly dissects the political and theological antagonisms within Islam, providing a unique and objective understanding of the 1,400-year bitter struggle between Shias and Sunnis and shedding crucial light on its modern-day consequences.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393329682/?tag=2022091-20
international politics professor
Nasr, Vali Reza was born in 1960 in Tehran, Iran. Son of Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
Bachelor, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts. Master of Arts, Tufts University Fletcher School Law & Diplomacy. Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1991.
Visiting assistant professor Tufts University, 1991—1992. Assistant professor University San Diego, 1992—1996, associate professor, 1996—2002. Professor, chair research Department National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, 2003—2007.
Professor international politics Tufts University Fletcher School Law & Diplomacy, since 2007. Faculty associate Harvard University, 1991—1993. Associate University of California at Los Angeles Gustav E. von Grunebaum Center Near East Studies, 1994—2004.
Visiting associate professor University California, San Diego, 1998—2001. Member advisory committee Tufts University Faris Center Eastern Mediterranean Studies, since 2001. Board trustees Foundation Iranian Studies, since 2003.
Director Islamic Educational Reform in South Asia Project, National Bureau Asian Research, 2005—2007. Visiting professor Stanford University, 2006. Senior fellow The Dubai Initiative, Harvard University John F. Kennedy School Government, 2006.
Co-director Iran Policy Forum, United States Institute Peace, 2006—2007. Member academic council Georgetown University Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center Muslim-Christian Understanding, since 2006. Senior fellow Harvard University Belfer Center, since 2006.
Advisory United States-Iran relations Executive Office of President, since 2009.
(Islamization is commonly seen as the work of Islamist mov...)
(Nasr examines the life and thought of Mawlana Mawdudi, on...)
( "Historically incisive, geographically broad-reaching, ...)
(Today Iran is once again in the headlines. Reputed to be ...)
Member of Council Foreign Relations (life. Adjunct senior fellow 2006-2007).
Married Darya Nasr; children: Amir, Hossein, Donia.