Iran in the Post-Shah Era: Internal Challenges and Political Reforms - An Analytical Study

Abstract

The reasons behind the Iranian Islamic Revolution against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi were numerous, ultimately leading to the overthrow of his regime and the beginning of a new era. This new ruling authority, represented by the Iranian Revolution and its leader Khomeini, followed by Khamenei, faced various internal challenges, primarily economic and social in nature. These challenges were accompanied by many difficulties due to external pressures, ranging from the onset of war with Iraq to Western pressures on the nascent state. However, on the other hand, the ruling authority in the post-Shah era worked to reform conditions according to political visions that reflected its Islamic Iranian character. Yet, these political reforms emerged only out of a genuine necessity to improve conditions and elevate the new Islamic Republic of Iran. The research concluded with the following results:

1.The emergence of a new era was the result of many accumulated mistakes by the Shah towards the Iranian people, who rejected their deteriorating reality and sought to establish a new one based on new principles embodied in the governing authority of the Guardianship of the Jurist.

2.The Islamic Republic of Iran managed to confront numerous significant and serious challenges it faced, both domestically and externally, albeit not completely.

3.The Islamic Republic of Iran succeeded in enduring and transforming into an effective and influential regional power.

4.The Islamic Republic of Iran established a distinctive political system that affirmed its Islamic identity as a valid religious and ideological method for establishing a governing political system.

5.The young Islamic Republic of Iran successfully reconciled between national and religious constants and the credibility of the slogans it raised on one hand, and the political and economic interests imposed by reality that cannot be neglected in light of regional and international facts and dynamics on the other.