Economic Causes Of The Iran Revolution

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To what extant was the economic state of Iran the main cause of the Iranian Revolution in 1979? Throughout the years revolutions had been shaping Iranian society, in many cases shifting it towards future modernization and towards the democracy. However, there are some unique exceptions. The Iranian Revolution which occurred in 1979 gave different consequences; it shifted Iran to theocracy and restricted on several human rights. It is important to assess the causes of such a contrasting revolution. There are four most significant causes: Shah’s policies and his lack of leadership, the economic situation, Iran’s relationship with the United States and the Clergy involvement. After analysing all the arguments, this essay will argue that it was…show more content…
For every two families which obtained land, one received nothing. These actions contributed towards creating a gap between rich and poor, where the wealthy citizens represented only a small proportion of Iran. Therefore, Abrahamian’s argument should be quantified as the discontent of the bottom class was one of the main causes of the revolution. However, Foran argued that while the economic state of the country was a vital factor, the other factors also had an important role for starting a revolution. ‘It was not the erosion of traditional values or the failure of the market, but rather the adverse effects of government economic policies, combined with a set of pre-existing conflicts unresolved by the 1953 coup d’état and attempts at political liberalisation, that set the stage for conflict and collective action.’ Despite some drawbacks the economy was still the growing, the resources gained from the oil revenues rapidly rose, clearly Shah had enough money to invest in improving the living conditions, it was his poorly chosen economic strategies and policies that led the country to the poor economic state and the creation of the immense gap between the rich and the…show more content…
The policies put through by Shah during his 25 years of rule can be considered to be the crucial cause of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. While the dissatisfaction caused by sudden cultural change was a significant issue, it is believed that the political injustice still played a more important role in evoking the revolution. This belief is backed by the number of scholars including Pesaran, he argued that it was the social- economic position of the country and the countless political suppressions combined cased the revolution, ‘Contrary to what might appear at first, the February Revolution came about not because of a sudden dramatic Islamic resurgence but largely as a result of social-economic conditions and ever-rising inequities as well as political suppression by the old regime that became intolerable as soon as the masses realized that it was possible to avoid.’ The power and the freedom given to citizens during the modernization can be considered to encourage them and to realize that they do not have to live with a government which constantly suppressed them. Therefore,
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