Book Review: Kamran Scot Aghaie and Afshin Marashi, eds, Rethinking Iranian Nationalism and Modernity
| Date | 01 December 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0973598416674083 |
| Published date | 01 December 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
212 Book Reviews
At the end, the question still remains to be answered: Is India going to
become a global power in the twenty-first century? The chapters in this
book appear to dwell more on the challenges than on opportunities,
which may imply that the time is still not ripe to come to any definite
conclusion. What is probably more accurate is that India is a regional
power and there are opportunities for it to become an Asian power if it is
able to leverage its strengths in its hard and soft powers. But what is also
important to realize is that India does not have the capacity to change or
influence world events.
This book evokes some thought-provoking themes and is right in
emphasizing India’s place in its neighborhood, conceptualizing the
structure–agency analysis in India’s foreign policy and highlighting
the importance of the Indian diaspora in increasing India’s soft power.
It is hoped that these themes will be picked up by other scholars for
research and analysis and value-addition to existing knowledge. Students
of political science, international relations, strategic studies, and history,
as well as academics of many social science disciplines, will find the
book interesting and worth purchasing. It is a valuable addition to existing
knowledge and further opens new dimensions for research.
References
Kapur, Ashok. 2006. India—From Regional to World Power. New York:
Routledge.
Brewster, David. 2012. India as an Asia Pacific Power. London: Routledge.
Sanjukta Bhattacharya
Professor (Retired)
Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University
Kolkata, India
Kamran Scot Aghaie and Afshin Marashi, eds, Rethinking Iranian
Nationalism and Modernity. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2014,
357 pp., £38.
DOI: 10.1177/0973598416674083
The study of nationalism has experienced significant changes in the post-
Cold War period. Moreover, the history of nationalism has increasingly
come to occupy a central role in the study of modern Iran. As old paradigms
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