In the Second Edition of Nearby History, the authors have updated all chapters, introduced information about internet sources and uses of newer technologies, as well as updated the appendices.

Since the 1979 revolution, scholars and policy makers alike have tended to see Iranian political actors as religiously driven—dedicated to overturning the international order in line with a theologically prescribed outlook. This provocative book argues that such views have the link between religious ideology and political order in Iran backwards. Religious Statecraft examines the politics of Islam, rather than political Islam, to achieve a new understanding of Iranian politics and its ideological contradictions. Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar traces half a century of shifting Islamist doctrines against the backdrop of Iran’s factional and international politics, demonstrating that religious narratives in Iran can change rapidly, frequently, and dramatically in accordance with elites’ threat perceptions. He argues that the Islamists’ gambit to capture the state depended on attaining a monopoly over the use of religious narratives. Tabaar explains how competing political actors strategically develop and deploy Shi’a-inspired ideologies to gain credibility, constrain political rivals, and raise mass support. He also challenges readers to rethink conventional wisdom regarding the revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, the U.S. embassy hostage crisis, the Iran-Iraq War, the Green Movement, nuclear politics, and U.S.–Iran relations. Based on a micro-level analysis of postrevolutionary Iranian media and recently declassified documents as well as theological journals and political memoirs, Religious Statecraft constructs a new picture of Iranian politics in which power drives Islamist ideology.

Energy recovery from waste resources holds a significant role in the sustainable waste management hierarchy to support the concept of circular economies and to mitigate the challenges of waste originated problems of sanitation, environment, and public health. Today, waste disposal to landfills is the most widely used methodology, particularly in developing countries, because of limited budgets and lack of efficient infrastructure and facilities to maintain efficient and practical global standards. As a consequence, the dump-sites or non-sanitary landfills have become the significant sources of greenhouse gases emissions, soil and water contamination, unpleasant odors, leachate, and disease spreading vectors, flies, and rodents. However, waste can be utilized to produce a range of potential products such as energy, fuels and value-added products under waste biorefineries. A holistic and quantitative view, such as waste biorefinery, on waste management must be linked to the actual country, taking into account its socio-economic situation, local waste sources, and composition, as well as the available markets for the recovered energy and products. Therefore, it is critical to understand that solutions cannot be just copied from one region to the others. In fact, all waste handling, transportation, and treatment can represent a burden to the cities’ environment and macro and micro economics, except for the benefits obtained from recovered materials and energy. Equally significant is a clear and quantitative understanding of the industrial, and public potential of utilizing recovered materials and energy in the markets as these can be reached without exacerbating the environmental issues using excessive transport. The book explores new advancements and discoveries on the development of emerging waste-to-energy technologies, practical implementation, and lessons learned from sustainable wastemanagement practices under waste biorefinery concept, which will accelerate the growth of circular economies in the world. The articles presented in this book have been written by expert researchers and academics working in institutions at different countries across the world including Germany, Greece, Japan, South Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran, and India. The research articles have been arranged into three main subject categories; 1) Resource recovery from waste, 2) Waste to energy technologies and 3) Waste biorefineries. This book will serve as an important resource for research students, academics, industry, policy makers, and government agencies working in the field of integrated waste management, energy and resource recovery, waste to energy technologies, waste biorefineries etc. The editorial team of this book is very grateful to all the authors for their excellent contributions and making the book successful.

Provides new ideas to address today's global development challenges, evaluating past experience and exploring answers for the future.