The academic literature on the study of modern Iranian history and politics is extensive. The standard for scholarship has been set by the influential works of eminent social scientists such as Nikki Keddie, Ervand Abrahamian, Hamid Dabashi, Janet Afary, Houchang Chehabi, Ali Ansari, Said Amir Arjomand, Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Shahrough Akhavi, and Asef Bayat. Anyone writing in this field will be judged in relation to this panoply of erudition. Given this high intellectual standard, Barbara Ann Rieffer-Flanagan's Evolving Iran: An Introduction to Politics and Problems in the Islamic Republic does not fit into this genre and deserves to be consigned to a less august category of books on the topic.

Evolving Iran begins with an introduction where the author announces that this “book seeks to explain the creation and development of the theocracy in Iran” (p. 11). Eight chapters are divided among three time periods (the past, the present, and the future), and three interrelated themes are investigated. The first theme explores policymaking inside the Islamic Republic focusing on the extent that decisions are informed by religious ideology versus pragmatic realpolitik considerations. Theme two examines policymaking in relation to threats, both internal and external, facing the Islamic Republic. The final theme considers the prospects for democracy in Iran.

The author argues that a “strongly conservative interpretation of Islam has not determined many of the policies in Iran” but rather “self-interest and pragmatism have taken precedence over theology and religious values” (p. 2). Thus, politically the Islamic Republic is evolving “in a more pragmatic direction” (p. 2). In terms of external and internal threats, they are responsible for Iran's poor human rights record (along with a “narrow interpretation of Islam” [p. 7]), and it is also these threats that are responsible for the Islamic Republic's tense relations with some members of the international community. The author contends that “an increase in threat perceptions will result in further entrenchment of illiberalism and confrontational policies” (p. 12). Thus, the best way to promote human rights in Iran, and better relations with the international community is to reverse these threat perceptions that are held by Iran's clerical leadership.

Already we can see a contradiction in Rieffer-Flanagan's argument. On the one hand she claims that conservative religious interpretation has not been a key factor in shaping the policies of the Islamic Republic but then she acknowledges, in the context of Iran's human rights record, that it is precisely “a specific and narrow interpretation of Islam” that is to blame for these abuses. This, however, is just the beginning of a series of problems one encounters in this book.

The style of writing and the quality of analysis leave a lot to be desired. For example, on page four in reflecting on the conditions that led to the 1979 revolution, the author observes that “ideas such as communism and modernization did little to improve the lives of many in the region.” Is modernization really a political idea similar to communism? An insignificant observation, perhaps, but then a few pages later there is a reference to the “American-led coup of Mossadeq,” when it should be the coup against Mosaddeq. In keeping with this style of writing, the author observes that “all further references to the shah refer to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi” (p. 20), yet on the very next page she proceeds to talk about “Reza Shah.” Stylistic errors such as these litter the book. The 1953 coup is listed according to the Persian date of Mordad 28, 1332 (p. 24), hardline conservatives such as Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi is spelled as “Ayatollah Yardi” (p. 69), the distinguished Iranian political scientist Shahrough Akhavi is spelled “Akhan” (p. 79), Rafiq Hariri is spelled “Hareri” (p. 9), etc.

Simple factual errors are also abundant. For example, when discussing the 2009 crackdown on the Green Movement, Rieffer-Flanagan claims that the “regime did not justify its use of force with religious references” (p. 2). How then does she explain the repeated use of the Islamic term fitna (sedition) and saran-e fitna (leaders of sedition) by Iran's leaders to describe the Green Movement? Dates cited, such as the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war and the year Iran's reformists parliament tried to repeal a restrictive press law are incorrect (pp. 9, 71), simple data such as the percentage of Iranians under the age of thirty and the voter turnout in the 1997 election are misstated (pp. 92, 93), Ali Shariati is described as a “philosopher” and “leftist intellectual,” when he was a sociologist and an Islamist (p. 36), and Akbar Ganji's ideas on how to democratize the Islamic Republic are misrepresented (p. 212). Finally, the author makes the analytical error of claiming that most of Iran's elections, with the exception of 2009, have been “free and fair” (p. 214). Fair perhaps, but free elections in Iran have never existed because of the Guardian Council's veto. If such freedom exists, how does the author reconcile this claim with her earlier characterization of Iran as a “theocracy” (p. 3)?

The source citations in Evolving Iran are also a cause for concern. No primary documents are utilized, while the secondary literature that is cited often borders on the bizarre. When discussing Reza Shah's forced unveiling policy in 1935 she cites Azar Nafisi. Amir Taheri is a reference for a Khomeini quotation, Fred Reed is cited on the Assembly of Experts, and oddly when discussing the Constitutional Revolution, Janet Afary's Sexual Politics in Modern Iran (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009) is cited, but not her actual book on the topic, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 1906–1911 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996).

A significant part of Rieffer-Flanagan's book seeks to examine the role of religion in Iranian politics. Here she blames the problem on a conservative religious interpretation, implying that a liberal interpretation of Islam will pave the way toward democracy. She seems to be adopting an analytical paradigm from established democracies in the West, and applying it to the developing world, where the struggle for democracy is a work in progress. This binary construction of conservative-religion-bad versus liberal-religion-good, does little to help us understand contemporary Iran, or for that matter other Muslim majority societies. This paradigm fails to explain figures such as the maverick MP Ali Motahari or Ayatollahs Montazeri, Dastghayb, and Sanei, who are socially conservative yet simultaneously critics of authoritarianism and supportive of democracy. Moreover, the author overstates the role of religion in politics and society. There is no recognition that one of the key drivers of politics in Iran is the naked pursuit to preserve and perpetuate political power at any cost. She ignores the fact that within society there has been a massive trend of sociological and political secularization among young people, especially in urban centers.

On the positive side, the author is well intentioned. She genuinely tries to demystify Iran, and push back against the mainstream Iranophobia regularly encountered in the media and in US foreign policy debates. A deeper understanding of Iranian politics is the goal of this book, and some progress is made in this direction. In the end, this book is suitable for seniors in high school and perhaps freshmen in college. Anyone interested in a serious study and examination of the Islamic Republic of Iran is advised to look elsewhere.