This book highlights fundamental, but often neglected, issues important for a better understanding of present-day Iran. It underlines the idea that the most effective means for a nation to meet challenges and practices of the modern era lies with the fundamental values and norms that resonate with its inhabitants. The book begins with a look at contemporary Iran, focusing on the impacts of modernity in Iran. In Chapter 2, the book examines modern Iran from a policy perspective. It argues that effective policy making must be based on intrinsic circumstances and existing conditions. It also emphasizes the need for educational rethinking that promotes critical thinking and self-realization. The next chapter surveys economic policy alternatives. It points to past experiments and argues that a status quo approach would lead to familiar failed outcomes. It offers analytical-based policy alternatives as conceptual paths to move Iran out of its innate gridlock. Chapter 4 showcases the importance of mass media in shaping the public’s mindsets. By using a text mining to analyze Western mass media’s coverage of Iran and though a thematic analysis of the major themes, the book demonstrates that uninformed and popular narratives of the mass media and mainstream, particularly in Western countries, frequently created false contexts to justify and legitimize certain prevalent ideologies. This book is meant to be a companion to the author’s published book that expands upon that book’s ideas, without repeating its theoretical reasoning. Its goal is to offer a better understanding of the current and evolving situations in Iran.weiterlesen