This book offers a distinctive approach to understanding Anglo-American relations with Iran in the early Cold War. It establishes how the United Kingdom and United States used soft power between 1953 and 1960 to combat communism and promote their respective ways of life in Iran. It identifies their motives, the types of initiatives employed, and the extent to which they perceived their policies to be a success. It is a historical case study through which wider conclusions regarding UK and US foreign policy can be drawn. As well as illustrating the competitive tensions within the Anglo-American 'special relationship', it highlights the role of individuals in the making and shaping of diplomatic endeavours. More broadly, the analysis of UK and US interactions in Iran through the prism of soft power underlines that there was more to both countries’ Cold War foreign policies than the containment of communism.
Author(s): Darius Wainwright
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 246
City: Cham
Acknowledgements
Contents
Abbreviations
Chapter 1: Introduction
Methodology, Sources and Chapter Structure
References
Chapter 2: Soft Power, the ‘Special Relationship’ and the Roots of Anglo-American Cultural Diplomacy in Iran
American and British Soft Power
The ‘Special Relationship’ and the Cold War in the Middle East
Iran’s Importance to British and American Foreign Policy Goals
American and British Cultural Diplomacy in Iran Before 1951
The Anglo-Iranian Oil Crisis
References
Chapter 3: Maintaining Geopolitical Stability: The USIS and the Containment of Soviet-Inspired Communism in Iran
The Expansion of USIS Initiatives in Iran
Initial USIS Initiatives in Iran
USIS-Iranian Government Collaboration: The Information Council
USIS and Iranian Government Collaboration Beyond the Information Council
References
Chapter 4: Education and Socio-economic Development: Promoting the American Way of Life in Iran
USIS Rationale for Promoting American Norms, Values and Ideas in Iran
Expansion of USIS Activities in Iran
The USIA and the Plan Organisation
References
Chapter 5: Maintaining Britain’s Position in Iran: The Information Research Department, SAVAK and Anti-Soviet Propaganda
Britain, Iran and the Baghdad Pact
IRD-SAVAK Collaboration
The Expansion of British Propaganda Activities in Iran
References
Chapter 6: Anglicising Iranian Society and Culture Through Education: The UK Foreign Office and the British Council
The BBC Persian Service’s Failings and the British Council’s Return to Iran
The British Council and the Anglo-Iranian Cultural Convention
The State Department and the USIS’ Response to British Cultural Diplomacy in Iran
References
Chapter 7: The Impact of American and British Soft Power in Iran
The USIA, USIS and the Containment of Communism in Iran
The USIA, USIS and the Promotion of the American Way of Life in Iran
The Foreign Office and the Containment of Communism in Iran
The Foreign Office, the British Council and UK Cultural Diplomacy in Iran
References
Chapter 8: Conclusion
Index
