Overview

The fraught relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran is usually attributed to sectarian differences, even by the states’ own elites. However, this book shows that in their official speeches, newspaper editorials and Friday sermons, these elites use sectarian and nationalist references and tropes to denigrate each other and promote themselves in the eyes of their respective constituencies in the region. Talal Mohammad, who is fluent in both Arabic and Persian, examines Saudi-Iranian rivalry using discourse analysis of these religious, political and journalistic sources. Tracing what has been produced since 1979 in parallel, he argues for a consistent pattern of mutual misrepresentation, whereby each frames its counterpart as the ‘Other’ to which a specific political agenda can be justified and advanced. The book covers key events including the Iranian Revolution, the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the Taliban war, the fall of Saddam, the Arab Spring, the rise of Mohammed bin Salman, and the war on ISIS. While until now Saudi-Iranian rivalry has been understood in primarily sectarian or geopolitical terms, the author argues here that the discursive othering serves as a propagandist function that supports more fundamental political and geopolitical considerations.

Full Product Details

Author:   Talal Mohammad (University of Oxford, UK)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   I.B. Tauris
ISBN:  

9780755634767

ISBN 10:   0755634764
Pages:   480
Publication Date:   21 March 2024
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Introduction Part I. Khomeini’s Revolution and Islamic Leadership, 1979-1988 Chapter 1. Imam Ali’s Government & The Kingdom of Islam Chapter 2. Export of the Revolution and the GCC Chapter 3. Iranian Sacred Defence & the Arab Qadissiya Part 2. Vali-ye Faqih II and the de facto King, 1989-2002 Chapter 4. Arab Treachery in the Persian Gulf: Iran’s ‘Active Neutrality’ Chapter 5. Against All Odds: Abdullah and Rafsanjani’s Seeds of Détente Chapter 6. ‘Dialogue of Civilizations’ and Islamic Partnership Part 3. The Rise of the Shi’i Crescent, 2003-2010 Chapter 7. Fall of Saddam and the Rise of Iran: Return to Radicalism? Chapter 8. Contest for Arab Leadership: Hezbollah’s 34-Day War Chapter 9. The Road to Jerusalem: A Question of Islamic and Arab Legitimacy and Leadership Part 4. Iran and Saudi After 2011: The Battle for Regional Hegemony, 2011-2020 Chapter 10. Arab Spring: Bahrain, Eastern Saudi Arabia, and Syria Chapter 11. A Treaty with the World: Iran Goes Nuclear Chapter 12. The Fight to Save Islam: The War on ISIS Chapter 13. ‘Maximum Pressure’: A Cold War Turns Hot Conclusion

Reviews

This extraordinary account breaks new ground by drawing upon Arabic and Persian sources to provide an analytically distinct, compelling, and highly original examination of the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran and how narratives in each country have evolved and interacted over four turbulent decades. -- Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Baker Institute fellow for the Middle East, Rice University, US

Author Information

Talal Mohammad is an Academic Visitor at the Middle East Centre at The University of Oxford, UK, where he obtained his DPhil on Iran-Saudi Relations. Since 2015, he has been giving expert strategic consultancies and geopolitical analysis with a focus on the Persian Gulf to a range of institutions and enterprises.

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