Trkiye, Iran, and the Politics of Comparison - 9781009623902

Trkiye, Iran, and the Politics of ComparisonAmerica's Wife, America's Concubine\nAuthor(s): Perin E. Grel\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom\nImprint: Cambridge University Press\nISBN-13: 9781009623902, 978-1009623902\nSynopsis\nIn a 1962 meeting at the White House, Iran's last monarch, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, complained to US President John F. Kennedy 'America treats Turkey as a wife, and Iran as a concubine.' Taking this protest as a critical starting point, this book examines the transnational history of comparisons between Trkiye and Iran from Cold War-era modernization theory to post-9/11 studies of 'moderate Islam'. Perin E. Grel explores how US policymakers and thought leaders strategically used comparisons to advance shifting agendas, while stakeholders in Trkiye and Iran responded by anticipating, manipulating, and reshaping US-driven narratives. Juxtaposing dominant US-based comparisons with representations originating from Iran and Trki.