Political economy of Iran under the Pahlavi Monarchy

Document Type : Original Article

Author

St Antony’s College, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom

10.48308/jep.2026.106834

Abstract

Reza Shah and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, father and son, ruled Iran between 1926 and 1979. During their reign Iran saw all seasons, including modernisation, dictatorship, arbitrary despotism, chaos, foreign invasion and revolution. It was also a period in which the Pahlavis’ nationalist ideology clashed with democratic ideals, communist aspirations and – ultimately – Islamist ideology. This article is analysing the above mentioned issues 

Keywords


Alam , Asadollah, The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran’s Royal Court, 1969-1977, intro. and ed., Alinaghi Alikhani, tr., Alinaghi Alikhani and Nichloas Vincent, London and New York, I. B. Tauris, 1991.
Al-e Ahmad, Jalal, Gharbzadegi [Weststruckness], tr. John Green and Ahmad Alizadeh, Costa Mesa, Mazda Publishers, 1997.
Azimi, Fakhreddin, The Quest for Democracy in Iran: A Century of Struggle against Authoritarian Rule, Cambridge, Mass. ; London, Harvard University Press, 2008.
 
Bill, James A., and Wm. R. Louis, eds., Musaddiq, Iranian Nationalism, and Oil, London, I. B. Tauris, 1988.
Cronin, Stephanie, The Making of Modern Iran, State and Society under Riza Shah, 1921-1941, London and New York, Routledge, 2003.
Fateh, Mostafa, Panjah Sal Naft-e Iran, Tehran, Entesharat-e Peyam, 1979.Fawcett, Louise L'Estrange, Iran and the Cold War: the Azerbaijan Crisis of 1946, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Fischer, Michael M. J., Iran: from religious dispute to revolution. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1980.
Gasiorowski, Mark J., and Malcolm Byrne, eds., Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran, Syracuse, N. Y: Syracuse University Press, 2004.
Hedayat, Mehdiqoli, Khāterāt o Khatarāt.
Karshenas, Massoud, Oil, State and Industrialization in Iran, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Kasravi, Ahmad, Tarikh-e Mashruteh-ye Iran, Tehran, Amir Kabir, 1976.
 
--------------------, Tarikh-e Hijdahsaleh-ye Azerbaijan, Tehran: Amir Kabir
Katouzian Homa, Khalil Maleki, The Human Face of Iranian Socialism, London: Oneworld, 2018.
--------------------, The Persians, ancient, mediaeval and modern Iran, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010.
-------------------, Iranian History and Politics, the Dialectic of State and Society, Routledge: London and New York, paperback edition, 2007.
----------------------, ‘The Short-Term Society: A Study in the Problems of Long-Term Political and Economic Development in Iran’, Middle Eastern Studies, 40, 1, January 2004.
--------------------, State and Society in Iran, the Eclipse of the Qajars and the Emergence of the Pahlavis, London and New York, I. B. Tauris, paperback edition, 2006.
--------------------, Musaddiq and the Struggle for Power in Iran, second (paperback)edition, London and New York, I. B. Tauris, 1999.
--------------------, The Political Economy of Modern Iran, London and New York, Macmillan and New York University Press, 1981.
Khomeini, Imam, Velayat-e Faqih (Hokumat-e Eslami), new edition, n.d.
 
Lambton, Ann K. S., Persian Land Reform 1926-1969, Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1969.
Menasheri, David, Post-Revolutionary Politics in Iran, London, Portland, Or., Frank Cass, 2001.
----------------------, Education and the Making of Modern Iran, Ithaca and London, Cornell University Press, 1992.
Milani, Abbas, The Persian Sphinx: Amir Abbas Hoveyda and the Riddle of the Iranian Revolution, A Biography, London and New York, I. B. Tauris, 2000.
Milani, Mohsen M., The Making of Iran’s Islamic Revolution: From Monarchy to Islamic Republic, Boulder and London, Westview Press, 1988.
Nabavi, Negin, ed., Intellectual Trends in Twentieth Century Iran: A Critical Survey, Gainesville, etc., The University Press of Florida, 2003.
 
Pahlavi, Mohammad Reza Shah, Mission for My Country, London, Heinemann, 1960.
--------------------------------------, Answer to History, New York, Stein and Day, 1980.
--------------------------------------, Besu-ye Tamaddon-e Bozorg, Tehran: Markaz-e Pazhuhesh va Nashr-e Farhang-e Dowran-e Pahlavi, 1975.
Rahnema, Ali, The Political History of Modern Iran: Revolution, Reaction and Transformation, 1905 to the Present, London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2023.
 
----------------, The Rise of Modern Despotism in Iran, Oneworld Academic, London, 2021.
----------------, Behind the 1953 Coup in Iran, Thugs, Turncoats, Soldiers and Spook’s , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
 
Rohani, Fouad, Tarikh-e Melli Shodan-e San‘at-e Naft-e Iran ,Tehran, Jibi, 1974.
Shahidi, Hossein, Journalism in Iran: From Mission to Profession, London and New York, Routledge, 2011.
Taqizadeh Seyyed Hasan, Zendegi-ye Tufani: Khaterat-e Seyyed Hasan Taqizadeh, ed., Iraj Afshar, Tehran, Elmi, 1983.
Wilber, Donald, Riza Shah Pahlavi: The Resurrection and Reconstruction of Iran, New York, Exposition Press, 1975.
 
 
 
 
 
   

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 17 March 2026
  • Receive Date: 17 March 2026
  • Accept Date: 17 March 2026
  • First Publish Date: 17 March 2026
  • Publish Date: 17 March 2026