Skip to content
Home/ Vanguard of the Imam: Religion, Politics, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards
Vanguard of the Imam: Religion, Politics, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards

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

No customer reviews yet ISBN 9780199387892 Oxford University Press

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.

About the author

Product details

BrandOxford University Press
Pub dateApr 1, 2016
ISBN-100199387893
ISBN-139780199387892
LanguageEnglish
Dimensions6.1 × 1.3 × 9.3 in
Weight1 lb
Last updated 2025-11-29 22:19
$96.86
In stock — ships in 24 hours with free tracking
Delivery by Monday, September 14, 2026
Qty
Sign in to Add to Saved list
Free delivery on orders over $35.
15-day returns. Any reason.
Secure checkout. We never store card details.

Readers who bought this also bought

More from International Relations - Arms Control
See all
Foreign Relations of the United States: 1964-1968: National Security Policy
<p><b>NOTE: NO FURTHER DISCOUNT FOR THIS PRINT PRODUCT--OVERSTOCK SALE -- Significantly reduced list price while supplies last</b></p><p>State Department Publication 10921. General Editor: David S. Patterson. Documents United States national security policy during the Johnson administration. This volume presents documentation illuminating responsibility for major foreign policy decisions in the U.S. Government, with emphasis on President Lyndon B. Johnson and his advisers. The documents include memoranda and records of discussions that set forth policy issues and options and show decisions or actions taken. The emphasis is on the development of U.S. policy and on major aspects and repercussions of its execution rather than on the details of policy execution.</p><p>The volume documents as much as possible the roles of President Lyndon Johnson and his key foreign policy advisers, particularly his White House assistants McGeorge Bundy and Walt W. Rostow, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, and Secretary of State Dean Rusk, in the administration's consideration of a wide range of national security issues. Major topics covered in the volume include: analyses of the Soviet military threat, the development of new U.S. weapons, the question of U.S. development and deployment of an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system, chemical and biological weapons, tactical nuclear weapons, counter-insurgency policy, improvement of command and control systems, and military force structure.</p><p>Included is a selection of intelligence estimates and analyses seen by high-level policymakers, especially those that were made available to President Johnson.</p><p>The documents in this volume are presented chronologically according to Washington time or, in the case of conferences, in the order of individual meetings. Memoranda of conversation are placed according to the time and date of the conversation, rather than the date the memorandum was drafted.</p><p>Related products: <br /><b>The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, Volume 8, 1961-1964</b> is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01039-1<br /><br /><b>Underestimated: Our Not So Peaceful Future</b> is avaiable here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01175-3<br /><br /><b>Nuclear Weapons Materials Gone Missing: What Does History Teach?</b> can be found here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01175-3<br /><br /><b>Airborne Hazards Related to Deployment i</b>s available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-023-00154-5<br /><br /><b>Russian Ballistic Missile Defense: Rhetoric and Reality</b> is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01163-0<br /><br /><b>Parsing Chinese-Russian Military Exercises</b> is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01135-4<br /><br /><b>Chinese Lessons from Other People's' Wars </b>can be found here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01078-1<br /><br /><b>Seize the High Ground: The Army in Space and Missile Defense</b> can be found here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-029-00392-9<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>
$24.13
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, V. XLI, Western Europe&#x3b; NATO, 1969-1972
<b>NOTE: NO FURTHER DISCOUNT FOR THIS PRINT PRODUCT--OVERSTOCK SALE -- Significantly reduced list price while suppleis last</b><br /><br /><br /> Part of a subseries of the State Department's <i>Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series</i> that documents the most important issues in the foreign policy of the administrations of Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford, this volume documents U.S. regional and bilateral relations with Western Europe from January 20, 1969 to January 20, 1973. <p>In this printed volume, you will find highlights of U.S. policy regarding European economic and political integration, U.S. participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as U.S. bilateral relations with Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.</p><p>The first chapter focuses on U.S. policy toward Western Europe and Canada as a whole, with a focus on two key issues that faced the Nixon administration: <br /><br /> 1) how to maintain the cohesion of the Atlantic Alliance at a time of reduced tensions with the Soviet Union, and<br /> 2) how to respond to the emergence of serious economic tensions among the advanced industrialized nations.<br /><br /> The country chapters in this volume emphasize the key issues that affected each bilateral relationship. Political scientists, historians, foreign policy and international relations scholars, and students pursuing coursework in world history, political science, and international relations may be interested in this historical, primary source volume for research.<br /><br /> Related products: <br /> Other products within the renowned <b>Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series</b> can be found here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/international-foreign-affairs/foreign-relations-united-states-series-frus<br /><br /><b>Resources about International Organizations & United Nations </b>are available here<b> https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/international-foreign-affairs/united-nations-international-organizations<br /><br /> Foreign Affairs & Policy resources collection</b> can be found here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/international-foreign-affairs/foreign-affairs-policy<br /><br /><b>Russia and the Soviet Union collection</b> is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/international-foreign-affairs/russia-soviet-union<br /><br /><b>Richard Nixon collection </b>is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/us-military-history/presidential-history/37-richard-m-nixon<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p><p><b> </b></p>
$99.06