Iran and the revolution

Iran since the Revolution: Internal Dynamics, Regional Conflicts and the Superpowers. Edited by Barry M. Rosen. New York: Brooklyn College Studies on Society in Change, No. 47, Social Science Monographs, Boulder, Distributed by Columbia University Press, 1985. 187 pp.

The State and Revolution in Iran, 1962–1982. By Hossein Bashiriyeh. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1984. 203 pp.

Islamic Iran: Revolution and Counter‐Revolution. By Asaf Hussain. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1985. 225 pp.     

从零售革命到消费革命:以近代上海百货公司为中心

Following the Industrial Revolution in Europe and America, the market was flooded with manufacturing goods. To promote sales, the department store that stressed a “low profit, high volume” model appeared in Shanghai. Sellers lowered prices to encourage purchases, and used rapid and high volume turnover to make up for lower profits. To speed up turnover, department stores invented various devices to increase sales, including intensive media advertising, open and comfortable store spaces, and free and attentive services. The new sales philosophy and tactics not only brought about a breakthrough in the retailing, but also reshaped consumer life and urban culture. The Shanghai department store evinced the social and cultural meaning of consumption in its building and inner design, its application of new technology, and its promotional activities and products display. A consumer lifestyle centering on the department store also remolded the Shanghai society. __________ Translated by Yang Kai-chien from Lishi Yanjiu 历史研究 (Historical Research), 2008, (5): 76–93     

Arab commentaries on the Iranian revolution

Muhammad as‐Sa^cid ^cAbd al‐Mu'min: Mas'ala ath‐Thawra al‐Iraniyya (The Case of the Iranian Revolution), Cairo, 1981.

Sami Dhabiyan: Iran wa al‐Khumayni: Muntalaqat ath‐Thawra wa Hudud at‐Taghyir (Iran and Khomeini: The Foundations of the Revolution and the Limits of Change), Beirut, 1979.

Ibrahim ad‐Dissuqi Shita: ath‐Thawra al‐Iraniyya: al‐Judhur‐ al‐Idilujiyya (The Iranian Revolution: The Roots‐the Ideology), Beirut, 1979.

Talal Majdhub: Iran: Min ath‐Thawra ad‐Dusturiyya hatta ath‐Thawra al‐Islamiyya (Iran: From the Constitutional Revolution to the Islamic Revolution), Beirut, 1980.

Mahmud an Najjar: ath‐Thawra al‐Iraniyya wa Ihtimalat al‐Khatar fi al‐Khalij (The Iranian Revolution and the Possibilities of Danger in the Gulf), Beirut, 1980.     

Rationality and revolution

The article deals with the political thought of the young Spanish philosopher and intellectual, José Ortega y Gasset (1883–1955). The main aim is to examine to what extent his political thought was articulated in a systematic manner, and to understand if it was meant to be practically implemented. Ortega's political thought has been described as liberal on the one hand, and anti-democratic and conservative on the other. The disparities regarding Ortega's politics usually arise from his declarations, which aimed to confront the changing social and political situation in Spain. To many researchers, these declarations seem incoherent, evolutionary, or ideas that can be directly deduced from the evolution of his philosophical theory. The extent to which Ortega's political theory was systematic will be understood through focusing on the role designed for the Spanish intellectuals in Ortega's declarations and works. Instead of considering his political thought in relation to either his philosophy or the political events and changing circumstances in Spain, I will attempt to examine how, during the years of his youth, his political declarations were always guided by a consistent feature with a practical political purpose: to challenge the Spanish intellectuals to promote social awareness of and reflection on the country's problems, and to consider potential solutions to these problems.     

World politics and the behavioural revolution

Davis B. Bobrow, International Relations: New Approaches, Free Press, New York, 1972, pp. 95.

Robert J. Lieber, Theory and World Politics, George Allen and Unwin, 1973 pp. 166.

Ralph Pettman, Human Behaviour and World Politics, Macmillan, London, 1975, pp. 343.

Steven Rosen and Walter Jones, The Logic of International Relations, Winthrop, Cambridge (Mass.), 1974 (1st edn.), 1977 (2nd edn.), pp. 390.