Iranian revolution - Islamic revolution and catalyst for the resurgence of political Islam throughout the Middle East.

Résumé du document

With the Ottoman Empire's downfall in 1919 and the 1991 first Gulf War, the 1979 Iranian revolution is widely considered as a landmark in Middle East's history. Its impact over the political dynamics of the region, especially Islamic ones, was notable and has led some to conclude that such an influence takes its roots in the Islamic origins of the revolution. However such thought gives little account to the socioeconomic factors as well as "Third Worldist" forces which have undeniably played a central role in the unfolding of the revolt against the Pahlavi's regime. Besides it seems patent that the Iranian revolution has had an impact on the political framework of the Muslim world, and notably on the resurgence of political Islam, namely the outbreak of Islamic religion into the secular political sphere.

In this essay one may therefore attempt to highlight the nature of the actual factors and forces which brought about this revolution and gave it its catalyst's role in the resurgence of Islam as a political ideology in Muslim minds. Moreover one may evaluate the reflection of such factors and forces in the politics of contemporary Iran. First, one will assess the historic role of Shi'ism in the Iranian society as well as the Marxist interpretation of the socioeconomic factors which led to the revolution, regarding to the unique despotic and western character of the Shah's regime in the Middle East.

Extraits

[...] It is widely presumed that the Iranian revolution was an Islamic revolution and a catalyst for the resurgence of political Islam throughout the Middle East. To what extent is this a true reflection of the factors and forces which contributed to bringing about the revolution in Iran and how does this reflect in the politics of contemporary Iran? With the Ottoman Empire's downfall in 1919 and the 1991 first Gulf War, the 1979 Iranian revolution is widely considered as a landmark in Middle East's history. [...]

[...] However one may hardly deny that the Iranian revolution has not had a general impact on the resurgence of Islamic activism, notably on Middle Eastern masses who considered it as a genuine Islamic revolution. Indeed According to John L. Esposito, it appeared that neither Western liberal nationalism nor the Arab nationalism-socialism of Egypt's president Nasser had succeeded (2005: 162) and the Iranian Islamic revolution raised much hope within Arab masses as a seducing alternative. It logically led to a revival of political Islam, blended in rejection of the West; a quest for identity and authenticity, manifested in a nostalgia for the past golden age of Islam” (Esposito: 2005; 162). [...]

[...] The importance of the socioeconomic factor in the revolution is even more obvious when one looks at how Khomeini took the definitive lead of the anti-Shah movement. Behind his fundamentalist approach of Islam lied a very socioeconomic-oriented political discourse which led many observers to 4 accuse him of being a “populist”. Indeed, Abrahamian notes that Khomeini had been aware of tensions occurring in Iran while in exile in Iraq since 1964 and he deliberately adapted his fundamentalist vision of Islam to these changes. [...]

[...] It is widely assumed that Khomeini preaches' and Manichean outlook at the world has had a certain appeal in Arab masses, notably in regards to the resurgence of political Islam in the Middle East. Nonetheless one may put in perspective this approach by underlying some junctions between Khomeini's view and the rise of the concept of “Third Worldism” in the same time. Famously incarnated by Frantz Fanon's book The Wretched of the Earth in 1961, this approach states that there exists a dichotomy between Third World countries and Western ones; the former being culturally colonized and economically depleted by the latter (Keddie: 2005; 631). [...]

[...] Iran's economic situation in 1978 notably due to a minority's ownership of the society's essential means of production corresponds to this problematic. Modernization policy launched by the Pahlavis generated a new layer of “nouveaux riches” in the society which rapidly went into conflict with the Shah's regime. Following urban workers, students and subproletariat's criticism towards the central power; this middle and upper classes suffered as well from the lack of clear economic perspectives due to the Shah's overwhelming control over the economy. [...]