ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyzes transformations in the ideological, political, and socioeconomic structures of post-revolutionary Iran. It discusses government policies in order to shed light on the nature and direction of the state and society in the Islamic Republic. The book examines the factional politics surrounding national-development planning in the context of an Islamic economic model and gives an outline of the processes that led to the formulation of the First Islamic Plan. It argues that, while such an economic system is compatible with the working of capitalism, the Iranian conception of it originated with Islamic radicals and tends to be populist in its orientation. The book presents an overview of social and legal changes in the Islamic Republic and examines the consequences of such changes, along with the impact of the war with Iraq, on population dynamics in Iran.
