The current presentation is an article review as a part of my university assignment of the article : MANUFACTURING WAR: IRAN IN THE CONSERVATIVE IMAGINATION authored by Arshin Adib Moghaddam.

1. ARTICLE REVIEW
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
SMRITIREKHA SARMA HALOI
1757362

2. MANUFACTURING WAR: IRAN IN THE NEO
CONSERVATIVE IMAGINATION
 AUTHOR: ARSHIN ADIB-
MOGHADDAM
 Reader in Comparative Politics and
International Relations Chair for the
Centre of Iranian Studies at University
of London’s Oriental and African
Studies
 PUBLISHED BY: Taylor & Francis Ltd

3. Research questions posed in the article
 How Iran is represented by neo-conservative activists and analysts
particularly in USA?
 Impact of contemporary US neo-conservatism on the decision making
process in Washington
 Its consequences in American-Iranian relations

4. What is neo-conservatism?
 A political movement born in the US in 1960s
 Arose among American intellectuals who shared a dislike for
communism
 A mix of traditional conservatism and political individualism and a
qualified endorsement of free markets

5. Neo-Conservatism in American Foreign Policy
 A specific school of thought in foreign policy especially among
Republicans
 Basically advocates a forceful and active stance for America in the
world
 America should be active and interventionist
 Envisages a world where US is the sole superpower and any regime
outwardly hostile to US would be confronted aggresively

6. Theoretical Framework
 Theoretical basis used is the ‘Construction of Reality’
 Meaning:
People and
groups interact
Creates mental
representation
of each others
actions
These
eventually
becomes habit
Roles are
divided among
members of
the society
Meaning of the
society
established

7. Theoretical Framework
 Every political activity occurs within a context which is constituted by
invented narratives, institutions, norms and other ideational factors
 Facts cannot exist independently of the manufactured context, they
have to rely on historical backgrounds

8. Arguments
 Iran as an Islamic republic has an image of being in the grip of hostile
revolutionaries
 The author claims that this image is a construction of the neo-
conservatives in America and their allies in the Likud Party in Israel which
is an extremely right wing party (conservative) in Israel
 Such notions about Iran have been rampant also in case of Iran’s nuclear
energy program
 AIPAC greatly emphasized that Iran is developing nuclear weapons
 They almost equate Iran with Nazi Germany. According to the author this
is center to the neo-conservative propaganda against Iran which engulfs
mindsets of decision makers in US

9. Arguments continued..
 Another important policy maker who speaks of such a threat is New
Gingrich, who said that Iran could be planning for a pre-emptive nuclear
attack on USA
 Interesting to note is that Gingrich is a member of the Senior Advisory
Board of United States Commission on National Security-21st Century
 The Commission has produced several policy recommendations
regarding American Security policy

10. Neo-conservative grand strategy and Iran
 Coming up with new terminologies, scripts and speeches
 Using a public face in order to claim casual validity
 Legitimizing war (most significant according to the author)
Global war on terror, Bush doctrine are prominent examples
Announced in June 2002 by President Bush. Says that US will confront evil
and lawless regimes, if necessary by military force

11. Iran on the target list of USA
 Repeated warnings by Seymour Hersh, Scott Ritter and Robert Fisk that a
war in Iran is already on its way.
 Classified security data leaked to the Washington Post. Data provided
Iran as one of the countries within the security radar of US
 Iran was mentioned 16 times in the National Security Strategy of USA

12. Conclusion
In conclusion, the author discusses 2 central concerns:
 Whether a military attack on Iran is imminent?
 Are there no competitive narratives in USA? Because there is
no denying to the fact that neo-conservatives have a strong
influence on the levers of power in Washington

13. My Inferences
 Neo-conservatism is a malicious ideology according to the author
 A critical approach, rather than a positivist approach is required to
understand the realities in Iran

14. THANK YOU !