Roots of Contemporary Iranian Politics: An Interpretation

Abstract

At the outset of 1978,Iran was still a case study of a stable
modernizing autocracy. By November of the same year, however, the Shah's apology to the nation, on the public radio,
for the oppression and corruption that had been inflicted on
the Iranians, indicated that the end had come. In February,
1979, the regime collapsed. The quick surrender of the regime
in the face of seemingIy sustained economic growth, powerful
military structure, and growing international posture questions
the validity of many theories of revalutian as well as our
understanding of Iran. Considering that guerrilla activities had
been reduced to few isolated cases and in fact by 1977,guerrilla
organizations had become infiltrated, the fall of the monarch
to the Revolution is even more enigmatic.
Corruption, oppression and rapid modernization ore often
identified as the causes of the Revolution. Had any f these factors, or their combinations, been suffident to bring about a
revolution, one might have expected revolutions in a host of
other countries before it took pl'ace in Iran. Nor would the
dependency of a system within the international arena, as some
argue, necessarily lead to a revolution.

Keywords

• Roots of Contemporary
• Iranian Politics
• Interpretation