ROOTS OF CONTEMPORARY IRANIAN POLITICS: AN INTERPRETATION

At the outset of 1978, Iran was still a case study of a stable modernizing autocracy. By November of the same year, however, the Shah's apology to the nation, on the public radio, for the oppression and corruption that had been inflicted on the Iranians, indicated that the end had come. In February, 1979, the regime collapsed. The quick surrender of the regime in the face of seemingIy sustained economic growth, powerful military structure, and growing international posture questions the validity of many theories of revalutian as well as our understanding of Iran. Considering that guerrilla activities had been reduced to few isolated cases and in fact by 1977,guerrilla organizations had become infiltrated, the fall of the monarch to the Revolution is even more enigmatic.