ec-home.html

Political Economy of
the Iran Crisis

During the spring of 2006, URPE sponsored a panel called "Oil, Nukes, Mullahs, Democracy and U.S. Hegemony: The Political Economy of Iran" at the 2006 Left Forum, and another panel of the same name at the Brecht Forum, both in NYC. The 2006LF panel was videotaped, and both panels were audiotaped. The audiotapes have been used to produce radio programs on WBAI. These panels also led to the creation of this web page. URPE followed up with Left Forum panels on Iran in both 2007 and 2008.

All opinions expressed in the talks, articles and books on this page are those of the authors and do not represent positions of URPE as an organization. There is also a great variety of opinion among the authors listed on this page.

Note: If you have trouble reading pdfs, make sure you have the current version of Acrobat Reader.

Speakers

If you need a speaker on Iran for your educational or activist event, call Economy Connection at (201) 792-7459 or send an email to Economy Connection.

NEW!

URPE 2008 Left Forum Panel:

The Iran Crisis:
Continuing Threat of War,
Post-National Intelligence Estimate

2008 LEFT FORUM, March 10, 2007

Speakers: Faramarz Farbod, Reza Ghorashi, Tom O'Donnell, Ruth Indeck (chair)

MP3 recordings, in order of presentation:
Indeck (Intro) Ghorashi Farbod O'Donnell
Reza Ghorashi focuses on Iran's political and economic motivations.
Faramarz Farbod looks at the US neocon imperial vision.
Tom O'Donnell discusses US designs on Iran's oil.

Flyer for URPE at 2008 Left Forum, with panel description and speaker bios

URPE 2007 Left Forum Panel:

US, Iran and Israel: What's Ahead?

2007 LEFT FORUM, March 10, 2007

Speakers: Reza Ghorashi, Tom O'Donnell, Evan Siegel, Leili Kashani (chair and discussant)

MP3 recordings, in order of presentation:
Kashani/Indeck (Intro) O'Donnell Ghorashi Siegel Kashani
Tom O'Donnell discusses the relationship of oil to the current US/Iran crisis.
Reza Ghorashi focuses on the connection between Iran's internal political/economic situation and its international relations.
Evan Siegel traces the historical ups and downs of Israeli/Iranian relations.
Leili Kashani comments on the other presentations.

Flyer for URPE at 2007 Left Forum, with panel description and speaker bios

URPE 2006 Panels:

Oil, Nukes, Mullahs, Democracy and U.S. Hegemony:
The Political Economy of Iran

1. 2006 LEFT FORUM, March 12, 2006

Speakers: Ervand Abrahamian, Tom O'Donnell, Fatemeh Moghadam (chair)

Radio show, produced for WBAI's Global Movements, Urban Struggles by Leili Kashani and Anjali Kamat, and broadcast on March 21

Flyer for URPE at 2006 Left Forum, with panel description and speaker bios

Purchase Z Magazine video of panel, "Oil & Nukes"

2. BRECHT FORUM, May 16, 2006Radio show

Speakers: Faramarz Farbod, Reza Ghorashi, Fatemeh Moghadam, Tom O'Donnell, Leili Kashani (chair)

MP3 recordings, in order of presentation:
Indeck/Kashani (Intro) O'Donnell Ghorashi Farbod Moghadam

A radio s how was also produced for WBAI's Global Movements, Urban Struggles by Anjali Kamat, and broadcast on June 27, combining Tom O'Donnell's Brecht talk with a Judson Church talk by Timothy Mitchell to produce a friendly debate about the relative importance of oil and nukes as a cause of the current crisis.

Flyer for this panel, with panel description and speaker bios
Bios for Ruth Indeck and Leili Kashani

Articles on Iran, oil, and
related topics

Cyrus Bina
Many articles and book chapters; see website
The first two articles, focusing on declining US hegemony and changes in global oil markets, were originally written in the context of the Iraq war. The third links the above themes to a possible invasion of Iran:
The American Tragedy: The Quagmire of War, Rhetoric of Oil, and the Conundrum of Hegemony
Is It the Oil, Stupid?
New in 2007 America's Bleeding 'Cakewalk'

Faramarz Farbod
Of Real and Manufactured Crisis: Iran in the Eye of the Storm
New in 2008 Threats of War Hurt Democratic Aspirations of Iranians
New in 2008 More Than Just Another Overthrow: Let's Not Forget Mossadeq in Iran

Reza Ghorashi
Motives of the Islamic Regime's Nuclear Policy

Ismael Hossein-zadeh
Behind the Plan to Bomb Iran
US Iran Policy Irks Senior Commanders:
The Military vs. Militaristic Civilian Leadership

Michael Klare
The Tripolar Chessboard: Putting Iran in Great Power Context

Kamran Nayeri
Tehran Bus Drivers Strike Marks Revival of Iranian Labor Movement

Tom O'Donnell
The Political Economy of the U.S.-Iran Crisis:
Oil Hegemony, not Nukes, is the Real Issue

RRPE (Review of Radical Political Economics)
Over the years, URPE's journal has published many articles on Iran. Search the RRPE page on the Sage website for abstracts of articles on Iran, and purchase articles there, or find them in a library or in your own collection. URPE members can download articles free.

Hamideh Sedghi
Click here for bio, additional references, and full citations.
Global Feminism, Local Agendas and Actions
Muslims in the West’s Imagination: Myth or Reality?
Representation and Reality: Age and Gender in International Political Economy
Feminist Movements in the Pahlavi Period
Gender and ageing: problems, perceptions and policies
Women, the State, and Development: A Comparative Appraisal of Secular and Religious Gender Politics in Iran
Third World Women’s Perspectives on World Politics
The Persian Gulf War: The New International Order or Disorder?”

Behzad Yaghmaian
Bonded at Birth: How a CIA coup d'etat in Iran and my life became one

Books

Cyrus Bina
Modern Capitalism and Islamic Ideology in Iran (ed. with H. Zangeneh)
The Economics of the Oil Crisis

Ervand Abrahamian
Iran Between Two Revolutions
The Iranian Mojahedin
Khomeinism
Tortured Confessions
Inventing the Axis of Evil

Fatemeh Moghadam
From Land Reform to Revolution:
The Political Economy of Agrarian Relations in Iran, 1962-1979

Hamideh Sedghi
The following books are forthcoming. Click here for bio and full citations.
Women and Politics in Iran: Veiling, Unveiling and Reveiling
Gender and Globalization (Sedghi, et. al.)
Christian Fundamentalism and Neoconservativism in the Making of American Foreign Policy in the Middle East, 2000-2008 (Sedghi, et. al.)

Behzad Yaghmaian
Social Change in Iran
Embracing the Infidel