The College of Social Sciences and the Department of History held a presentation titled “World Order Institutions” on March 3 in the Fresno State Library. The presentation was part of the department’s “teach-in” series, which informs the public about complex current events.

The teach-in discussed how the recent conflict between the U.S. and Iran is occurring after a long history of foreign intervention in Iran that, combined with the changes in the U.S., led to the bombings in Iran by the U.S. and Israel last weekend.

The teach-in started with a presentation by Lori Clune of the Department of History, who specializes in modern U.S. history and diplomacy. She talked about the “rules-based order” that developed after World War II.

Clune said that the U.S. had historically used soft power by utilizing diplomacy and aid funding to establish positive relationships with countries.

However, she said that the recent administration is “pulling the rug” out of rules-based order in favor of “wrecking ball politics,” as it is distancing itself from the U.N. and NATO.

“I would argue it is not about carrots anymore, it’s about sticks,” Clune said.

The next presentation was done by Julia Shatz of the Department of History, who specializes in transnational and modern Middle Eastern history. She talked about Iran’s long history of protests, with the recent protests against the Iranian government being the largest since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

“Iran has had a very long history of popular protest; what we’ve seen recently is not new, and a very, very long history of being intervened upon by imperial countries,” Shatz said.

A Q&A was held following the presentation. One person asked if protests in Iran that called for the removal of Iran’s leaders could be benefiting the goals of the Trump administration.

“There are absolutely people in Iran, and Iranians outside of Iran, in the diaspora, who are very happy about what happened Saturday,” Shatz said. “This regime [current Iranian government] is incredibly oppressive.”

Shatz said that the Iranian people may have to decide to support either the Iranian government that brutally suppresses protests calling for liberal reforms, or support the U.S. government’s intervention and the control from a foreign power that comes with it.

“These are not people who are naive; they are stuck with very, very bad political choices right now,” Shatz said. “There can be a realistic, cynical but realistic, view of politics that says ‘okay fine, bring back the Shah, undo the 1979 revolution, make us an American colony.’”

Shatz said the U.S. recent conflict does not involve a serious commitment to influence Iranian ideologies in a way that will unify the country.

“You cannot bomb that into happening,” Shatz said.

Shatz said that teach-ins give students a chance to approach difficult-to-understand topics by encouraging them to come ready to learn when they are unsure of their position.

“I’m always interested in illuminating complexity for my students,” Shatz said. “The students I know often feel really pressured to pick a team and have a fully established take on really complex political issues, and I always want them to slow down.”

Clune started the College of Social Sciences’ teach-in series in Spring 2017, and said that the current political climate has increased the importance of informing people about such topics.

“It’s complicated, that’s always our standard,” Clune said. “Be careful where you get your news from, and pay attention because this is a sign that things are going in, what I would argue, is a really dangerous direction.”

Future teach-ins can be found in the College of Social Sciences calendar once they are scheduled.

Correction: This story was adjusted on March 9 at 6:31 p.m. to correct Julie Shatz’s comment about illuminating complexity for her students.