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THE STATE AND SOCIETY IN THE PAHLAVI ERA (In Honor of Ahmad Ashraf’s Contributions to the Field of Iranian Studies)

The Pahlavi era (1925-1979) witnessed significant economic, social, and cultural reforms in Iran, transforming the country from a traditional agro-tribal society with a weak central government to a modern state with an expanding industrial economy, modern bureaucratic structure, a powerful military, and a prominent role in the regional politics of the Persian Gulf and beyond. These changes took place in the course of a decisive century in the country’s history—one in which it experienced three major wars, two foreign invasions, two revolutions and two coup d'états.
In the various accounts of the rise and fall of the Pahlavi period, there has also been a tendency to explain both the achievements and the failures of the state almost exclusively in terms of the overriding and autocratic powers of the Pahlavi monarchs, thus ignoring the role of key state officials, technical experts, major entrepreneurs, civil society groups, intellectuals, artists and others involved, not only in the development and execution of state policies, but also in shaping the economic, social, and cultural life of the country as a whole. Equally, what has been overlooked largely in these accounts is the societal reactions to the government-initiated reforms, i.e., whether the affected segments or the society as a whole welcomed, accommodated to, or resisted such reforms.
The papers presented in this panel seek to provide a more objective, multi-faceted, and assessment of the political, economic, social, history of the Pahlavi era. The passage of nearly four decades since the fall of the Pahlavi state makes it possible to examine this critical era of Iran’s modern history with greater detachment, objectivity, and, whenever appropriate, taking advantage of all newly available oral and written sources and employing fresh historiographic and social-science perspectives and methods.

Presentations

The Shah’s oppositions, 1962- 1979
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The Shah’s White Revolution of 1962 is appraised as a turning point in Iran’s long twentieth century. The speedy socio-economic transformation of the society brought a radical change in the modus operandi of governance and re-emergence of autocracy. These developments intensified the animosity of modern and also pre-modern classes and strata to the Shah’s autocracy whose rallying cry was: Down with the Shah.

An attempt is made to shed light on an array of political forces participating in the 1979 Revolution, a manifestation of, in the words of Ahmad Ashraf ,’’the under-development of Iranian Capitalism”.

From Social History, to History of Ideas, to National Identity: Ahmad Ashraf’s Contributions to Iranian Studies
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As an introduction to a panel in honor of Ahmad Ashraf’s contributions to the field of Iranian studies, this paper provides a brief overview of his distinguished career over the past six decades as a pioneer sociologist, social policy expert, and social historian. It will examine the major foci of his extraordinarily diverse scholarly contributions, including Iran’s social history from the Qajar period to the present, changes and continuities in rural and urban social stratification systems, aspects of religion and politics, and conceptions of Iranian national identity.

Seyyed Hasan Taqizadeh: A Seasoned Intellectual-Statesman
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Taqizadeh’s life captures the tumultuous politics of 20th century Iran better than any other intellectual-statesman. A protagonist of the Constitutional Revolution, he went on to serve as Majles deputy, foreign minister, governor, ambassador, and senator. This paper will assess the political evolution of Taqizadeh by examining his ideas for cooperating first with Reza Shah’s and then with Mohammad-Reza Shah’s state. It will be argued that as a tenacious defender of modernity and progress, Taqizadeh’s ideas informed his political praxis. The research is based on eighteen volumes of his writings recently published in Iran.

Oil, Labour and Developmental State: Iran, 1962-1977
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The international landscape in the post-WW II era was a period of new political realignments and economic and social reconstruction, chiefly through the agency of developmental states. The paradigm of “developmental states” has been the subject of much controversy. Some critics have argued that the developmental state, by fetishizing or mystifying the role of state, have downplayed and marginalised the contribution of classes in general and labour in particular. By focusing on the economic development in Iran during the period of 1962-1977, this paper will critically assess the extent and validity of the critiques of the developmental state in Iran.

Women and Gender in the Pahlavi Era, 1925-1979
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As part of the roundtable on the State and Society in the Pahlavi Era, this contribution will focus on the status and activism of women and gender-related policies during the Pahlavi era. Basic facts on women’s achievements demonstrate that the modernizing reforms under the first and second Pahlavi monarchs, though carried out in an authoritarian, top-down, and uneven manner, were in line with the historically positive and progressive developments in favor of women’s rights in Iran. It will be explained why, compared with Turkey and some other countries in the MENA, Iran’s gender-related progress was slower and more painful.

Developmentalism in the Periphery; the Case of Gilan 1962-1978
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The 1960s and 1970s were the period in which Iran, like some other countries in the Global South, enjoyed an unprecedented level of development thanks to the establishment of a central developmental state. However, new literature of development in Iran has shown that there were manifest differences with regard to the application of state’s development policies and societies’ reaction to them between center and periphery of the country.
This paper, in line with the new approaches to the history of development, will explore the complexities and particularities of the process of development in the region of Gilan from a local perspective. Thanks to its geographical position, its soil fertility, and its huge rural population, Gilan experienced a distinct rural development process. It was also the case for development in other sectors such as infrastructures, water reservoirs and factory constructions etc.
This paper aims to adopt a multilayered and comparative local and national approach, and its analysis deal with the role of a variety of development actors, ranging from local elites and population to national institutions and their development policies such as land reform.
The paper’s subject and its periodization is in line with the panel’s focus as it assesses the role of both state and society as promoters of development in the second Pahlavi era in Iran.