Sanctioning Iran

Juan Cole examines the way in which Iran's development has been stunted in modern history by imperial considerations. From railroads in the nineteenth century to modern day nuclear power restraints: how has Iran been affected by a Eurocentric world system? These imperial considerations include the way in which Iran, unlike Egypt or India, was forbidden by Britain and Russia to build a railroad in the nineteenth century. In later decades the same issue re-emerged, this time in regard to the nationalization of the oil industry. Now, in our own time, considerations of American grand strategy have placed constraints on Iran's nuclear program. While apologists for imperialism, such as Niall Ferguson have stressed the technological benefits he alleges it brought to the colonized, Iran is a clear example of how the Eurocentric world system has stunted the potentiality of less powerful countries.