In Evolving Iran, Barbara Ann Rieffer-Flanagan consolidates information from a range of diverse, highly specialized scholarship resources in order to describe the context within which the Islamic Republic of Iran makes political decisions. Rieffer-Flanagan begins her analysis by examining the important political events that preceded the creation of the Republic, including the Constitutional Revolution (1905–11) and the Pahlavi dynasty. Referencing Ayatollah Khomeini's writings, she describes his influence on the Iranian Revolution and the organization of Iranian politics that followed. Her description of Iran's political system emphasizes the importance of Shiʿi Islam and elections in the Republic, and explains its commonly misunderstood political institutions such as the Guardian Council and the Assembly of Experts. Rieffer-Flanagan examines Iran's poor human rights record, which she attributes to the government's narrow interpretation of Islam, and the way it perceives threats. She also addresses the negative implications that Iran's oil supply carries both for the country itself, and for the international community. Concluding her analysis, Rieffer-Flanagan comments that Iran's foreign policy is motivated more by realpolitik than by Islam, and argues that when working with Iran, other countries should cooperate on common interests, and avoid threats of coercive or military action.