What drove an educated and intelligent Iranian population to accept a theocracy in the first place?

[NNN0LHI]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution#Shah_and_the_United_States

<snip>The first major demonstrations against the Shah began in January 1978. Between August and December 1978 strikes and demonstrations paralyzed the country. The shah left Iran for exile in mid-January 1979, and two weeks later Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran to a greeting by several million Iranians. The royal regime collapsed shortly after on February 11 when guerrillas and rebel troops overwhelmed troops loyal to the Shah in armed street fighting. Iran voted by national referendum to become an Islamic Republic on April 1, 1979, and to approve a new theocratic constitution whereby Khomeini became Supreme Leader of the country, in December 1979. snip

Causes

The revolution was populist, nationalist and later Shi'a Islamic. It was in part a conservative backlash against the Westernizing and secularizing efforts of the Western-backed Shah, and not-so-conservative reaction to social injustice and other shortcomings of the ancient regime. The Shah was perceived by many as beholden to — if not a puppet of — a non-Muslim Western power, (the United States), whose culture was contaminating that of Iran. The Shah's regime was also seen as oppressive, brutal, corrupt, and extravagant. The regime also suffered from basic functional failures — an overly-ambitious economic program that brought economic bottlenecks, shortages and inflation. Security forces were unable to deal with protest and demonstrations; Iran was an overly centralized royal power structure. The extraordinarily large size of the anti-shah movement meant that there "were literally too many protesters to arrest", and that the security forces were overwhelmed.

That the revolution replaced monarchy and Shah Pahlavi with Islamism and Khomeini rather than another leader and ideology is credited in part on the spread of the Shia version of the Islamic revival that opposed Westernization, saw Ayatollah Khomeini as following in the footsteps of the beloved Shi'a Imam Husayn ibn Ali, and the Shah in those of Husayn's foe, the hated tyrant Yazid I. Also thought responsible was the underestimation of Khomeini's Islamist movement by both the Shah's regime — who considered them a minor threat compared to the Marxists and Islamic socialists — and by the anti-Shah secularists — who thought the Khomeinists could be sidelined.

[DJ13]

1. The far Right throughout history have fomented a crisis to obtain power

[Warpy]

2. They were opportunists in this case

and "Reading Lolita in Tehran" is a book describing the whole process in chilling detail.

http://books.google.com/books?id=Qb7Rp2wb74cC&dq=reading+lolita+in+tehran&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=vFI5SpvWM4LAsQOs1-TSBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4

[DJ13]

3. Thanks, looks interesting!

[Terran]

5. You're saying the Shia "fomented" a crisis in Iran...?

Because I think it's pretty clear that the Shah and his family *were* the crisis, on a scale not much seen since the French Revolution. Khomeini and his followers exploited the situation, certainly, but they merely managed to appeal most effectively to the feelings running rampant in Iran at the time.

[EFerrari]

4. It's wild, isn't it? And especially the women. They are 63% of university students.

And they're only 12% of the job holders. They, imho, suffer disproportionate repression under their government.

[NeedleCast]

8. That seems like a pretty common thing under a theocracy

My sister went to a Baptist college (Baylor) and while it ended up not being the case with her, she said a lot of the women were there to find a husband, not get a degree. I've known a few other people who went to private, religious universities and that seems to be a common theme.

[EFerrari]

9. When you think about it, there is nothing wrong with

positioning your daughter (or yourself) to find a successful life partner in those years when that's likely to happen. That's just good planning.

But, once that woman is at the university, her world changes. It's inevitable. Even the most dedicated husband shopper is going to be somewhat influenced by her time at college. :)

[NeedleCast]

11. If my sister's stories from Baylor are any indication

you're exactly right. I don't think Jebus would have approved of some of the things I saw on the occasions I went to visit her at school.

[EFerrari]

12. LOL! I taught at Cal during my grad years and some of my favorite memories

are of the young women who thought they were there to find a match and who occasionally got sidetracked into their coursework. :evilgrin:

[Bucky]

6. How did the Bolsheviks overwhelm the more popular Mensheviks in 1917?

How did the Enlightenment-based French Revolution turn into a Reign of Terror? Most revolutions get highjacked by extremists. It's human nature.

[seafan]

7. Great info in this link:

here


It really opened my eyes.

[MadHound]

10. Because it was the most powerful vehicle available to the population who,

More than anything, wanted to get rid of the Shah, and more importantly, American influence.

The Iranian Revolution of the late seventies was all about blowback. If gay Catholic monks had offered a more powerful vehicle for removing the Shah and US influence, then that's probably the route the Iranian people would have taken instead.

This is why it is critical that Obama and the US are not seen as interfering in this current crisis, it would automatically make the opposition forces illegitimate in the eyes of the Iranian people.

[NNN0LHI]

13. Plus with the US backed Shah in power the only place Iranians could legally gather was in mosques

I am sure that helped.

Don

[librechik]

14. They were the only ones strong enough to overthrow the Peacock Throne

and its torture regime, funded and aided by the CIA.

After that they were stuck.

[AntiFascist]

15. Never forget what put the Shah in power in the first place...

the CIA orchestrated the overthrow of a democratically elected leader. THIS is what allowed the Religious Right in Iran to rise to power in response.

On edit: Here's the wiki entry for Operation AJAX:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax

On further edit - from the above link:

...

"The overthrow of Iran's elected government in 1953 ensured Western control of Iran's petroleum resources and prevented the Soviet Union from competing for Iranian oil.<17><18><19><20> Some Iranian clerics cooperated with the western spy agencies because they were dissatisfied with Mossadegh's secular government.<15>"