The Rise and Fall of a Partnership

The British Council and the Islamic Republic of Iran (2001–09)

Bibliographic Data

ID9979677
AuthorsMaryam Borjian (Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume44
Issue4
Pages541-562
Publication date2011-06-25
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIranian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-0862 • E-ISSN: 1475-4819
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1080/00210862.2011.569330
OpenAlexW2018790731
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited12

This paper examines a partnership between the British Council and the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) that emerged in March 2001 as a result of their shared aspiration for collaboration in scientific, academic and cultural arena. The alliance came as a surprise because after twenty-three years of antagonism on the part of the government of the IRI, the hostile attitudes were put aside virtually overnight to reunite with an old adversary for a mutual collaboration. The present qualitative study examines the reasons behind the start of the partnership, the domains within which the British Council was permitted to operate in Iran, and the reasons behind the end of the partnership. The data were gathered from various sources, including field-notes, policy documents analysis, personal interviews, and various online sources. The findings reveal that the duration of the partnership was closely intertwined with the rise and fall of the reformist administration, under President Mohammad Khatami (1997–2005). The partnership began mainly due to efforts made by the reformist administration to take the IRI out of its international isolation and thus became inactive not long after the reformist administration, and eventually came to an end in January 2009, under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Administration (probate law · Adversary · Alliance · General partnership · Government (linguistics · Islam · Islamic republic · Political science · Politics · Presidency · Sociology · Surprise · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts · Public Administration · Socioeconomic Development in MENA

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