Iran'S ‘White Revolution’: A Study In Political Development

International Journal of Middle East Studies

Volumn 5, Issue 2, 1974, Pages 124-139

  Ramazani, Rouhollah K ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA   (United States)

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EID: 84975988100     PISSN: 00207438     EISSN: 14716380     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0020743800027781     Document Type: Article

References (20)

1. Muammad Reżâ Shâh's book, Enqelâb Sefid, was published in Tehran in 1965/66, and appeared in a number of languages, including English, subsequently. It is currently used as a text in Iranian high schools, where students are encouraged to take a course in the ' White Revolution'. The only extensive commentary on the Shâh's book in Persian is the apologetic work of 'Ali Zarrynqalam, Sayri dar Ketâb Enqelâb Sefid (Tehran, 1966/67). English readers may find useful Points for Progress: A Glimpse into the Farreaching Effects of Iran's ' White Revolution', published by the Iranian Ministry of Information in 1967. Also see note 3 below.
2. Of course, whoever writes about contemporary Iran deals in one way or another with aspects of problems and programs related to the ‘ White Revolution’, but this is not the same as subjecting it specifically to analysis with the special purpose of exploring its meaning and place in Iran's modern political development. For first-hand descriptive accounts of Iran during the 1960s see, for example, two articles by Peter Avery, ‘Trends in Iran in the Past Five Years’, World Today, vol. 21, no. 7 (July 1965), pp. 279-90; and ‘Iran 1964-8: the Mood of Growing Confidence’, World Today, vol. 24, no. 11 (November 1968), pp. 354–466.
3. See Gabriel A. Almond, Political Development: Essays in Heuristic Theory (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1970), pp. 223–33. These pages are reprinted from Stanford Today, Autumn 1964, series 1, no. 10.
4. See Rouhollah K. Ramazani, The Foreign Policy of Iran 1500-1941: A Developing Nation in World Affairs (Charlottesville, 1966).
5. See Gabriel A. Almond, ‘National Politics and International Politics’, in Albert Lepawsky, Edward H. Buehrig and Harold D. Lasswell (eds.), The Search for World Order: Studies by Students and Colleagues of Quincy Wright (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1971), pp. 283–97.
6. For a succinct social history of Iran from the dawn of the nineteenth century to 1969 see Nikki R. Keddie, ‘The Iranian Power Structure and Social Change 1800-1969: An Overview’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 2, no. 1 (January 1971), pp. 3–20. For an earlier sketch of the Western challenge to the Iranian society see Ann K. S. Lambton, ‘The Impact of the West on Persia’, International Affairs, vol. 33, no. 1 (January 1957), pp. 12–25.
7. The evidence for the adoption of independence, modernization, and democratization as well as centralization of authority, and national integration as the fundamental goals of modern Iran is spread throughout early constitutional documents, namely The Royal Proclamation of 5 August 1906, The Fundamental Laws of 30 December 1906, and the Supplementary Fundamental Laws of 7 October 1907, and subsequent amendments. For the texts see Helen Miller Davis, Constitutions, Electoral Laws, Treaties of States in the Near and Middle East (Durham, 1953), pp. 104–30.
8. See Gabriel A. Almond, Political Development, op. cit. pp. 229–30.
9. E. Browne, ' The Persian Constitutional Movement ', in Proceedings of the British Academy (London, 1917–1918), pp. 223–4.
10. See Rouhollah K. Ramazani, op. cit. pp. 256–7.
11. This portrayal is perhaps much induced by Amin Banani, The Modernization of Iran, 1921-1941 (Stanford, 1961), although the author does not seem to suggest that Reżâ Shâh accorded the goal of modernization the highest priority throughout his rule.
12. Reżâ Shâh's own statement the the correspondent of the Daily Telegraph of 5 September 1930 clearly reveals that he believed that the construction of the railway would first and foremost contribute to Iran's political and economic independence. See the text of this statement as reproduced in Persian in Fathullâh Nuri Esfandiyâri, Rastâkhiz Irân (Tehran, 1956/7), pp. 486—90. Even a leading Western student of Iran regarded the construction of this gigantic feat significant as a sign of Iran's financial independence. L. P. Elwell-Sutton wrote that 'perhaps for the first time since the Middle Ages, a major undertaking was carried through in an Oriental country without leaving it indebted to the finances of the West'. See his Modern Iran (London, 1942), p. 94.
13. A leading Iranian professor of jurisprudence, ‘Ali Pâsâ âleh, states that for many years prior to the adoption of the Civil Code several commissions of jurists had been constituted and dispersed, but for the purpose of abolition of capitulations in 1928 the first 955 articles of the Civil Code were presented to the Majlis for approval. See his Quveh Muqananneh va Quveh Qażâ’iyyeh (Legislative and Judicial Corps: A Glance at Iran's Legal History from the earliest times until 1962 is the work's English title although it is in Persian) (Tehran, 1964), p. 38. Amin Banani states that Reżâ Shâh's ‘interest in legal reforms was motivated by nationalistic considerations, for his first objective was to abolish the system of capitulations’. See his op. cit. p. 70. See also Rouhollah K. Ramazani, op. cit. pp. 243–5.
14. Ahmad Qavam went even so far as to decree the distribution of the state lands to peasants at the time in order to blunt the Tudeh and the Azeri Communist propaganda campaign for reforms. All observers in Iran at the time noted that Qavam's primary motive was to maintain Iran's national independence; under the circumstances he had no serious interest in economic welfare or political participation. See, for example, various revealing dispatches in United States Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, vol. vII, The Near East and Africa (Washington, 1969), pp. 490–1, 505.
15. Rouhollah K. Ramazani, ‘Iran's Changing Foreign Policy: A Preliminary Dis-', cussion The Middle East Journal, vol. 24, no. 4 (Autumn 1970), pp. 421–37. For detailed analysis of Iran's new role in international politics with particular reference to its all-important policy in the Persian Gulf see Rouhollah K. Ramazani, The Persian Gulf: Iran's Role (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1972).
16. See Rouhollah K. Ramazani, ‘The Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan and the Kurdish People's Republic: Their Rise and Fall’, Studies on the Soviet Union, ser. 2, vol. xvi, no. 4 (1971), 401–27.
17. Quite apart from the Shah's well-known Mission for My Country (New York, 1961), and the ‘ White Revolution ’ (mentioned in note 3, p. 124 above), the recent volumes prepared by the Pahlavi Library can shed.much light on his views on a variety of subjects. The Library's Bargozideh-ey az Neveshteh-hâ va Sukhanân Shâhhanshâh Âryâmehr (n.d.) is quite a convenient collection, but it is not as complete as Majmu`ah Muntakhab: Nutqhâ, Payamhâ, Neveshtehhâ, va Muâhebehhâ-ye A'alâhazrat Humâyoon, Muammad Reżâ Shah Pahlavi, Shahanshah Iran az Shahrivar 1320 td Mehr Mah 1340 (n.d.), or as specialized a collection as the two volumes prepared by Ghulamreżâ Nykpay, urat Jalasât Shurâ-ye Eqtisâd dar Pyshgâh Shâhanshâh Âryâmehr yâ Majmu'ah-ey az Asnâd Târikh Muâer Irân (n.d.).
18. See Kayhan, International Edition, 3 October 1970.
19. The editorial stated also that: ‘ The main lesson to be learnt from the general election is that parliamentary democracy is here to stay. This in itself is enough to show that an increasing number of people from all walks of life are beginning to consider parliamentary democracy as the backbone of the nation's political life.’ See Kayhan, International Edition, 17 July 1971.
20. See articles 90–3 of the Supplementary Fundamental Laws. The text is in Helen Miller Davis, op. cit. p. 127.