A book by a demographer in charge of research at CNRS has just come out: Iran, a world of paradox. It enables us to improve our understanding of Iranian society, and the last thirty years of Mullah power. Over and above the caricatures.

Bernard Langlois, Politis, 11 June 2009

 Thirty years after the Islamist revolution, Iran (three times as big as France, with just over 70 million inhabitants) has experienced various changes in society: the quasi disappearance of polygamy, a drop in the fertility rate, a massive rural exodus and increasing urbanisation, generalisation of the nuclear family, a demographic rise in the proportion of young people, the strengthening of feminist claims, female education and mounting disapproval of the moral order imposed by the ruling power, itself delegitimated daily, etc. The author, a socio-demographer, perceptively analyses these changes and places them in the context of the country's recent history. [...] This particularly well-documented work reveals the divide between the aspirations of the Iranian people and the group that has seized political and religious power. Each day that ever-widening gap can only be controlled through moral and police repression. But for how long?

Thierry Paquot, Alternatives Internationales, n°44, September 2009 

What do we know of Iran? In truth very little since geopolitical considerations make any in-depth analysis impossible. Marie Ladier-Fouladi figures among those researchers who have observed Iranian society for a long while. Through the surveys with the people she wants us to meet, her book reveals a young population that does not adhere to the politico-religious ideals of the State and highlights women who have never left the public arena.

Presse Océan, August 2009

Demonstrating that the drop in the fertility rate in Iran started in the mid-eighties, i.e. even during the Islamic Republic: this is what challenges received wisdom. This is the confirmation that women, supposedly excluded from the public arena, have in fact managed to keep a form of control. Through their influence over the birth-rate, thus going against the slogans of the regime, women have proved that the controlling process is not infallible.

Laurence Zordan, La Quinzaine littéraire n°998