Understanding Iran's involvement in the Syrian civil war.
May 14 2016
Of course the government itself is not going to claim it's over its head, and if you look at the scale of involvement, it's not Vietnam 1968. It's Vietnam 1962. We're talking about between two and three thousand troops, still largely fighting irregularly in various battles.
The Radical Pessimist, Kevan Harris explores the factors behind Iran's role in the Syrian civil war - from a post-1979 Revolution alliance between the two nations that has enduring multiple regional wars, to the Islamic state driven chaos spreading outward from Iraq - and explains how Iran's involvement in the conflict is becoming more politically controversial within the county, the deeper and more costly it becomes.
Kevan's first book A Social Revolution: Politics and the Welfare State in Iran will be released in January 2017 from University of California Press.
Guest
Kevan Harris
Kevan Harris is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California at Los Angeles.
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