Ideology and the Iranian Revolution

Abstract

Some theories deny the role of ideology in the making of revolutions, while others grant it an indispensable role. I investigate the role of ideology in the Iranian Revolution by contrasting the two periods of the Pahlavi regime that witnessed popular uprising: the early 1960s and the late 1970s. While the former uprising fizzled, the latter led to the Iranian Revolution. Applying the comparative method over time, I show that structural and non-agency process factors underwent the same changes in both periods and hence fail to explain the variation in outcomes. I propose instead that the change in the opposition's ideology accounts for this variation. I show that Khomeini's doctrine of the Islamic state provided a new alternative to the status quo that changed the Islamic opposition's goal from reforming the existing state to creating a new Islamic state.

Keywords: Ideology, Revolutions, Islamic Ideology, Islamic State, Guardianship of the Jurist, Khomeini, Iranian Revolution, Islamic Revolution