Dr. Eric Lob talks about his super new book: " Iran’s Reconstruction Jihad: Rural Development and Regime Consolidation after 1979"

A great conversation with my guest Dr. Eric Roe on his brilliant new book Iran’s Reconstruction Jihad: Rural Development and Regime Consolidation after 1979. You can get it on Amazon or wherever you get your books online.Some brief background on the book from Dr. Roe: Based on extensive fieldwork in Iran and Lebanon, this book examines how the Islamic Republicof Iran (IRI) instrumentalized rural development to consolidate power at home and projectinfluence abroad. A cornerstone of the IRI’s domestic consolidation and overseas influence wasthe significant, yet understudied organization and ministry, Reconstruction Jihad (RJ). The term“jihad” in RJ’s name constituted a powerful recruitment and mobilization tool that referred to asacred struggle to improve society and the self through rural development and other positivepursuits beyond the military sphere.