Problems with Iran

Problems with Iran

Iran is a country located in the Middle East. The main

source of income for the country is oil, the one object that had

greatly influenced its history. Iran's present government is run

as an Islamic Republic. A president, cabinet, judicial branch,

and Majilesor or legislative branch, makes up the governmental

positions. A revolution that overthrew the monarch, which was

set in 1930, lasted over 15 years. Crane Brinton's book, An

Anatomy of a Revolution, explains set of four steps a country

experiences when a revolution occurs. Symptoms, rising fever,

crisis, and convalescence are the steps that occur. The Iranian

Revolution followed the four steps in Crane Brinton's theory,

symptoms, rising fever, crisis, and convalescence occurred.

Numerous symptoms led to the crumbling downfall of Reza Shah

Pahlavi, ruler of Iran until 1978. One of these symptoms is

rising expectations which can be seen during the 1960's and 70's.

The rich Shah cleared the way for the land reform law, enacted in

1962. The land minority had to give up its land to the

government, and among those stripped of land, were the Shi'ah

Muslims. Iran's power structure was radically changed in a

program termed the "White Revolution". On January 26, 1963, the

White Revolution was endorsed by the nation. By 1971, when land

distribution ended, about 2,500,000 families of the farm

population benefited from the reforms. From 1960-72 the

percentage of owner occupied farmland in Iran rose from 26 to 78

percent. Per capita income rose from $176 in 1960 to $2,500 in

1978. From 1970-77 the gross national product was reported to

increase to an annual rate of 7.8% ("Iran" 896). As a result of

this thriving economy, the income gap rapidly widened. Exclusive

homes, extravagant restaurants, and night clubs and streets

loaded with expensive automobiles served as daily reminders of a

growing income spread. This created a perfect environment for

many conflicts to arise between the classes.

Iran's elite class consisted of wealthy land owners,

intelligencia, military leaders, politicians, and diplomats. The

Elite continued to support the monarchy and the Shah. The

peasants were victim of unfulfilled political expectations,

surveillance by the secret police, and the severe social and

economic problems that resulted from modernization. The middle

class favored socialism over capitalism, because capitalism in

their view supported the elite, and does not benefit the lower

classes. The middle class was the most changeable element in the

group, because they enjoyed some of the privileges of the elite,

which they would like to protect. At the same time, they

believed that they had been cheated by the elite out of their

share of the industrialization wealth (Orwin 43).