The final and most important factor behind the Uncle Napoleon complex is Iran’s failure to reconcile itself with its own history. That history-viewed broadly and with a few exceptions here and there -amounts to 2,500 years or so of gradual imperial decline. Iranians have yet to forgive themselves for this decline. Take, for example, their view of the political geography of Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. Like Greeks and Italians, Iranians are heirs to an ancient tradition of imperial conquest. Yet only modern-day Persians seriously lament the passing of the glorious days when far more territory and many more peoples were subjected to their beneficent imperium. In the Uncle Napoleon complex, then, they seek a way to relinquish their historical agency and avoid taking responsibility for the present.

Read the rest from Sohrab Ahmari, an occasional contributor to this blog, on Commentary.