The campaign against the Anglo‐Iranian agreement of 1919

The Anglo‐Iranian agreement of 1919 was a major turning point both in the modern history of Iran and in her relations with Britain. It was the brainchild of Lord Curzon and the Foreign Office in which the other British government departments eventually acquiesced with reluctance, although the government of India retained its opposition to it. It failed because of the fears it created for the loss of Iran's independence, mainly as a result of the secrecy with which it had been negotiated, and the rigidity with which it was upheld. A vigorous campaign was conducted against it by Iranians as well as the United States, France and Russia. Yet it might not have failed had India, the India office, the Treasury and the War Office provided the requisite instruments for its success. Its failure resulted in the 1921 coup, the rise of Reza Khan and the Pahlavi state, and a new chapter in Anglo‐Iranian relations.     

Miracles at the Saqqa-khanih: Power Struggles,Baha'i Pogrom and Murder of the American Envoy in Tehran

In June 1924 Tehran woke up to the news that a famous saqqa-khanih had performed miracles. The most widespread story was that a Babi / Baha'i girl had tried to poison the saqqa-khanih's water and had suddenly gone blind. This happened against the background of an acute power struggle between Reza Khan and the opposition which had recently ended with the failure of his campaign to turn Iran into a republic. The news of the miracles led to anti-Babi demonstrations as well as a rush by the sick and the disabled to seek cure from the saqqa-khanih. And when the American vice-consul Robert Imbrie and his friend went to take photos of the scenes they were murdered by a mob, probably helped by police and soldiers. The government and the opposition both blamed each other for the incident, but the likeliest explanation is that the demonstrations had been fomented by the royal court and a few conservative clerics close to them, though the murder of Imbrie had been totally unplanned.     

Land reform in Iran a case study in the political economy of social engineering

This paper is a study of the Persian land reform between 1962 and 1972. It examines the genesis of the reform, its implementation and its effects, with reference to the specific features of the historical development of the Iranian society. It shows that land reform has not improved the socio‐economic status of the peasantry as a whole, while it has affected a large proportion of the peasants adversely. It offers theoretico‐empirical evidence that instead of creating an independent peasantry and a more autonomous urban bourgeoisie, the reform has led to the further consolidation of the traditional socio‐economic power of the state over all social classes.     

Oil versus agriculture a case of dual resource depletion in Iran

This paper discusses the performance and prospects of the rural sector in the ‘agricultural’ oil economies in general, and in Iran, in particular. It proposes an analytical framework within which the damaging effects of the oil revenues for the political economy — its structure and its relation — and their specific impact on agriculture and the rural society may be studied. It produces empirical evidence for the rapid destruction of Iranian agriculture in the past fifteen years and it demonstrates that the plight of the Iranian peasantry is a direct consequence of the increase in the oil revenues, and the adoption of public expenditure strategies which they have encouraged. It concludes that unless a radical change in public policy is effected, the Iranians will experience a depletion of both their oil and their agricultural resources within the foreseeable future.??