Skip to main content
Support
Article

The Iran Primer: Power, Politics and U.S. Policy

The Woodrow Wilson Center and the United States Institute of Peace announce the release of The Iran Primer: Power, Politics and U.S. Policy, an unprecedented project by 50 of the world's top scholars on Iran, edited by USIP-Wilson Center Distinguished Scholar Robin Wright.

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the United States Institute of Peace today announce the release of The Iran Primer: Power, Politics and U.S. Policy, edited by USIP-Wilson Center Distinguished Scholar Robin Wright.

The Iran Primer an unprecedented project by 50 of the world's top scholars on Iran representing some 20 foreign policy think tanks, nine 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.

The list of authors includes 8 current and former experts from the Woodrow Wilson Center. Their contributions include:

Authors also include scholars from USIP, 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, George Mason University, 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 web project, as the entire book is available free online. 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.

Related Links

Related Program

Middle East Program

The Wilson Center’s Middle East Program serves as a crucial resource for the policymaking community and beyond, providing analyses and research that helps inform US foreign policymaking, stimulates public debate, and expands knowledge about issues in the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.  Read more