Analysis of the Failure of Iran’s Economic Development Process in the Transition from Natural State During 1941-1979

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D in Economics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

2 Full Professor in Economics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

3 MA in Economics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

The institutional economists’ view of transition from the Natural State is one of the common theoretical models pointing to the perception of the historical origins of the underdevelopment in different societies. The societies should pass some bottlenecks in order to transition from the natural state (namely coalition or conflict, organization with personal or impersonal relations, and the distribution of productive or unproductive rent) and pass through the Limited Access Order ranges from Fragile limited Access Order to Mature Limited Access order toward Open Access Order conditions. The present paper tries to analyze the institutional barriers of economic development in the framework of Douglas North's views of the natural state during the 1941-1979. The performance of the ruling coalition members are analyzed in each bottleneck of transition from the Natural State. The present research results indicate that the conflict over the power and the exerting of violence from those groups external to the ruling coalition under the shadow of interference by the foreign factors have led to the decentralization of the state power in this period Under such circumstances, the uncertainty atmosphere overshadowed the political and economic market so that the political and economic superordinates consider short-term targets. The unproductive rent distribution was therefore formed under the shadow of personal relations so the extractive institutions were produced and disseminated for supporting benefit's to a certain group in Iran. This has led to Iran moving toward vicious cycles instead of transitioning from Limited Access Order and moving toward the evolutionary cycles.

Keywords


Abrahamian, E. (1982). Iran between two revolutions. Princeton University Press.
Amjad, M. (1989). Iran: From royal dictatorship to theocracy, (Vol. 242). Greenwood Pub Group.
Ashraf, A. (1995). From the White revolution to the Islamic revolution. Iran after the Revolution: Crisis of an Islamic State, (eds) Saeed Rahnama and Sohrab Behdad, London and New york: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 21-44.
Ashraf, Ahmad and Banozizi, Ali (1993), Social classes in the Pahlavi era, Strategy, No. 2.
Azghandi, A. (2009), the political superordinates of Iran, between two revolutions, Ghoomes Publishing
Bostock, F., & Jones, G. (2014). Planning and Power in Iran: Ebtehaj and Economic Development under the Shah. Routledge.
Dehbashi, H. (2014), Economy and security: the memoirs of Alinaghi Alikhani, National Library and Archives of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Tehran. [In Persian].
Digard, J. P., Richard, Y., & Hourcade, B. (2007). L'Iran au XXe siècle: Entre nationalisme, islam et mondialisation. Fayard. [In French].
Foran, J. (2009). Fragile resistance: Social transformation in Iran from 1500 to the revolution. Routledge.
Halliday, F. (1978). Iran: dictatorship and development. Penguin.
Halliday, F. (1981), Reviewed Work: Iran: Dictatorship and Development, Iranian Studies.
Kamali, M. (2018). Revolutionary Iran: Civil society and state in the modernization process. Routledge.
Katouzian, H. (1981). The political economy of modern Iran: Despotism and pseudo-modernism, 1926–1979. Springer.
Katouzian, H. (1999). Musaddiq and the Struggle for Power in Iran. IB Tauris.
Katouzian, H. (2004). The short-term society: a study in the problems of long-term political and economic development in Iran. Middle Eastern Studies, 40(1), 1-22.
Katouzian, H. (2012). Iranian history and politics: the dialectic of state and society. Routledge.
Keddie, N. R., & Richard, Y. (2006). Modern Iran: Origins and results of revolution. Yale University Press.
Levy, B. (2013). Seeking the elusive developmental knife edge: Zambia and Mozambique–A tale of two countries. DC North, JJ Wallis, SB Webb, & BR Weingast, Under the shadow of Violence: Politics, Economics and the Problems of Development, 112-148.
Madjidi , A. M., (2002), Memoirs of Abdol Madjid Madjidi director of the plan and budget Organization (1973 - 1977), Tehran: Gam-e-no Publishing. [In Persian]
Milani, A (2000), the Persian Sphinx: Amir Abbas Hoveyda and the Riddle of the Iranian Revolution: a Biography, I.B.Tauris, 2000 - Iran.
Milani, A. (2011). The Shah. Palgrave Macmillan.
Milani, M. M. (2018). The making of Iran's Islamic revolution: from monarchy to Islamic republic. Routledge.
Motalebi, M. (2007). Exploring the causes of the opposition of the bazaars to the Pahlavi state. Zamaneh Journal, No. 57, pp. 61-70. [In Persian]
Mozaffari, A. (2008). Relations between the clerics and state in contemporary Iran. Qom: Ma’aref Publishing Office. First edition. [In Persian]
Nasr, V. (2000). Politics within the Late-Pahlavi State: The Ministry of Economy and Industrial Policy, 1963-69. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 32(1), 97-122.
North, D. C. (1981). Structure and change in economic history. Norton.
North, D. C. (2012). Understanding the process of economic change. In Worlds of Capitalism (pp. 107-120). Routledge.
North, D. C., Wallis, J. J., & Weingast, B. R. (2006). A conceptual framework for interpreting recorded human history (No. w12795). National Bureau of Economic Research.
North, D. C., Wallis, J. J., & Weingast, B. R. (2009). Violence and social orders: A conceptual framework for interpreting recorded human history. Cambridge University Press.
North, D. C., Wallis, J. J., Webb, S. B., & Weingast, B. R. (Eds.). (2013). Under the shadow of violence: Politics, economics, and the problems of development. Cambridge University Press.
Sar darnia, Kh. A. (2007), Economic Corruption in Iran during the Second Pahlavi: a Structural, Political-Economic ExplanationResearch Letter of political ScienceVolume 2, Number 1 (6), 33-58.
 
Volume 3, Issue 1
2022
Pages 31-60
  • Receive Date: 08 October 2021
  • Revise Date: 31 March 2022
  • Accept Date: 09 May 2022
  • First Publish Date: 09 May 2022
  • Publish Date: 01 June 2022