No Conquest, No Defeat

Iran's National Security Strategy

Ariane M. Tabatabai

An extremely timely history of what drives Iran's security policies towards both its neighbors and its adversaries further afield.
Includes discussion of Iran's controversial nuclear and missile programmes, and its involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.
Iran will continue to hit headlines, and this book helps clarify its role in the modern world

No Conquest, No Defeat

Iran's National Security Strategy

Ariane M. Tabatabai

Description

In early 2019, the Islamic Republic of Iran marked its fortieth anniversary, despite decades of isolation, political pressure, sanctions and war. Observers of its security policies continue to try and make sense of this unlikely endurance. Some view the regime as a purely rational actor, whose national security decisions and military affairs are shaped by the same considerations as in other states. Others believe that it is ideology driving Tehran's strategy. Either way, virtually everyone agrees that the mullahs' policies are fundamentally different from those pursued by their monarchical predecessors.

No Conquest, No Defeat offers a historically grounded overview of Iranian national security. Tabatabai argues that the Islamic Republic is neither completely rational nor purely ideological. Rather, its national security policy today is largely shaped by its strategic culture, a product of the country's historical experiences of war and peace. As a result, Iranian strategic thinking is perhaps best characterized by its dynamic yet resilient nature, one that is continually evolving. As the Islamic Republic enters its fifth decade, this book sheds new light on Iran's controversial nuclear and missile programs and its involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

No Conquest, No Defeat

Iran's National Security Strategy

Ariane M. Tabatabai

Introduction
1. The Rise and the Fall of the Qajars
2. Reza Shah, the Modernizing Strongman
3. The Last King: Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, The Autocratic Reformer
4. The Revolution
5. They Were Expendable: The Iran-Iraq War
6. The Revolution Matures (1988-2001): Consolidation, Reconstruction, and Reform
7. The Revolution Expands (2001-Present)
Conclusion

Notes
Index

No Conquest, No Defeat

Iran's National Security Strategy

Ariane M. Tabatabai

Author Information

Ariane M. Tabatabai, Middle East Fellow, Alliance for Securing Democracy at German Marshall Fund and Adjunct Senior Research Scholar, Columbia University

Ariane M. Tabatabai is the Middle East Fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund and an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University. She is the co-author of Triple Axis: Iran's Relations with Russia and China and holds a PhD from the Department of War Studies at King's College London.

No Conquest, No Defeat

Iran's National Security Strategy

Ariane M. Tabatabai

Reviews and Awards

"No Conquest, No Defeat offers a fresh and innovative perspective on the underlying security considerations that drive Iranian strategic thinking, its foreign policy, and its behavior in the region. Tabatabai argues that continuity rather than a sharp break characterizes Iran's international behaviou under the Islamic Republic. A must-read." -- Haleh Esfandiari, Director Emerita and Public Policy Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

"A magisterial work of scholarship that skilfuly overturns common tropes on the Islamic Republic's military behavior. Deploying a rich array of sources and written in graceful, lucid prose, No Conquest, No Defeat unspools the threads of continuity between Iran's supposedly 'exceptional' present and its pre-revolutionary past."-- Frederic Wehrey, Senior Fellow, Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

"In this comprehensive and historically informed book, Tabatabai traces post-revolutionary Iran's defense policy back to the nineteenth century and highlights elements of long-standing continuity. This is a persuasive and corrective study opposing the oft-repeated claim that the Islamic Republic's national security approach can be captured in one word: 'revolutionary'." -- Sussan Siavoshi, Una Chapman Cox Professor of International Affairs, Trinity University, San Antonio