The Iran Primer

   “The Iran Primer: Power, Politics and U.S. Policy” is an unprecedented project by 50 of the world’s top scholars on Iran representing some 20 foreign policy think tanks, eight universities, and senior foreign policy officials from six U.S. administrations. The book has no single political perspective or agenda, as the authors approach the subjects with a wide range of views.

   They include scholars at the US Institute of Peace, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Council on Foreign Relations, Brookings Institution, Rand Corp, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Asia Society, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, American Enterprise Institute, the Institute for Science and International Security, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, New America Foundation, Stimson Center, Center for Naval Analyses, Nixon Center, The Century Foundation, International and Foreign Policy Institute (Berlin), the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and several universities, including Stanford, Michigan, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Syracuse, and the U.S. Naval Academy.

   Two of the authors are former U.N. weapons inspectors. And the national security adviser or top National Security official in charge of Iran from six presidencies also contributed chapters on what happened between the United States and Iran during that administration.

   The book is also a living website project, as the entire book is available free on the web. It will also be constantly updated. The goal is to provide information about the many complex sides of a country with which the United States has not had relations for more than three decades.

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The Islamists Are Coming, edited by Robin Wright, surveys the rise of Islamist groups in the wake of the Arab Spring. Often lumped together, the more than 50 Islamist parties with millions of followers now constitute a whole new spectrum—separate from either militants or secular parties. They will shape the new order in the world’s most volatile region more than any other political bloc. Yet they have diverse goals and different constituencies. Sometimes they are even rivals.