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The Iranian penal code is strictly Islamic in nature. Most all of the Quranic laws have prescribed punishments for those who are found to be guilty. Not surprisingly, there are no rights to fair trials. Phrases like due process are almost non-existent, as the Iranian police are notorious for their torture, indefinite detainment, and general mistreatment of any and all perceived as a threat to the Islamic identity of the state. (more…)

Aside from their disdain with perceived American imperialism, contemporary Iranians are enamored with the freedoms of the West. Iran also faces an important youth bulge that is experiencing discontent with strong economic, political, and social pressures (Larrabee 2003, p. 5). (more…)

Iran’s Guardian Council is not unlike the religious authority of Saudi Arabia; it acts as an enforcer of Islamic Shariah law and interrupts the workings of the Majlis (Parliament). An antiquated body, the Guardian Council has nonetheless effectively rendered popular opposition ineffective by strategically disqualifying candidates for governmental positions; (more…)

Modern Iran is the world’s only Shi’a theocracy, born out of the People’s Islamic Revolution of 1979. The deposed Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi originally sought to restore Iran to the prestige it once knew, but instead managed only to constrict his people’s freedoms and stifle their liberties. (more…)

The ‘war on terror’ is a deliberately ambiguous phrase that means little yet bequeaths very much indeed. Terror and organised terrorism is a form of extraterritorial crime that all states must deal with. The concept of terrorism is as old as the paradigm of civilisation itself. (more…)

To study the history of the world is to examine the history of civilisations interacting with one another. History also allows us to view the way in which certain cultures spend a period in dominance over other civilisations, disseminating ideas and institutions in the process. As Howe (2002:1) ascertains, history is therefore a study of empire. (more…)

The terrorist attacks centred upon the east coast of the United States on the morning of 11 September 2001 altered forever the view that America has of itself within the greater world order. (more…)

The debates between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon in the last days of the 1960 presidential campaign have become both famous (in the American public’s imagination) and influential (in determining the nature of subsequent political campaigns, not only in America but in other western democracies as well). (more…)