The Iranian Revolution - Research Paper Example

By then Khomeini had had resisted Shah for extended periods, and as a result, exiled. Khomeini depicted himself as pursuing the footsteps of Ali, A Shia Imam, who had resisted the rule of a tyrant. As a result of his growing popularity, majority of the clergy, at home, sought to galvanize the crowds by presenting Islamic causes. At the heart of this opposition, was his pro-CIA stance, his earlier alliance in Operation Ajax, his pro-Israel stance, and the perceived move towards westernization, which was demonized.

There are objective and subjective factors that contributed to the manifestation of the Iranian revolution and establishment of an ideology representing an amalgam of religious imagery, nationalism, and socialism, which can be widely described as a mode of third-world populism. The controversy detailed that the struggle against imperialism dictated by political discourse within the two decades preceding the revolution. It was apparent that two strategic mistakes were undertaken: namely, abandonment of the question of democracy, and underestimation of the influence wielded by the Islamic clergy.

The paper explores some of the Shah's policies that may have played a part in driving the revolutionaries’ agenda forward during the Islamic revolution. . In antagonizing a core constituent, that is the Shia religious leadership, Shah was unknowingly creating a rich ground for rebellion. A revolution is mainly explained through failure of state dwelling on either objective or subjective factors. With regard to structural factors, the government denigrates or alienates its social bases of support (either via reform or repression) while perception relates to a sense that state repression has loosened, hence an opportunity for action arises.

While some historians (with 20-20 hindsight) asserted that the Islamic Revolution presented a reasonable product of Iran’s political evolution, an analysis of the past happenings is not satisfactory that the origin of the revolution has been explored fully. The Iranian revolution was distinct based on the surprise that it generated around the world. The revolution lacked numerous customary causes of revolution such as disgruntled military, peasant rebellion, defeat at war, and financial crisis; it generated immense changes at a fast speed, was immensely popular among the masses; and, substituted a modernizing autocratic monarchy with a theocracy grounded in the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists (Amuzegar 9).

Even at the height of street protests and demonstrations, neither Iranians nor its key allies such as the U.S officials perceived the possibility that Iran’s armed troops, which was highly modernized and the largest, would be incapable of dealing with the revolutionaries (Coughlin 4). A number of structural weaknesses are frequently cited as comprising a structure of political opportunities favourable to revolution. 1) The monarch’s social support was weakened by the reforms, whereby the