From 1953 to 1975, Iran underwent a dramatic trans- formation. Muhammad Reza Shah pursued an aggressive Western-oriented socioeconomic modernization pro- gram, known as the White Revolution (1963-1977), and an aggressive expansion of the state.15 During this time, the shah carried out much of the work that his father— Reza Shah Pahlavi—had abandoned when he was forced to leave power in 1941, including an intense push to ex- pand three crucial sectors of the state: the military, the bureaucracy, and the court patronage system. In many ways, Muhammad Reza Shah set up an even more cen- tralized state than his father had by taking major steps to advance the country’s military, infrastructure, industry, and external trade, while advocating for land reforms and state-sponsored scholarships to Iranian students.
The shah alienated many people with these reforms. Landlords lost substantial power and influence due to land reforms, while peasants did not necessarily benefit from the increasing oil revenues and institutional reforms. Likewise, the Bazaaris (merchants of the central market in Tehran) were put off by national-level industrializa- tion, which often developed at their expense. Moreover, the shah demonized the clergy and instituted liberal dress codes and social norms, resulting in a widespread gulf be- tween his secularized supporters and the more conserva- tive elements of society.16
Although the shah had initially enjoyed the support of the ulama (the educated class of Muslim legal scholars), friction grew as he extended state influence over poli- cy areas previously dominated by the ulama, including education, law, religious endowments, and land admin- istration.17 In response to the shah’s overreach, Ayatol-
lah Ruhollah Khomeini began to argue against the shah, absolutism, and foreign interference in Iranian affairs. In 1963, Khomeini’s uncompromising position fueled a series of ulama-led popular demonstrations and dis- turbances in Qum and other major cities, which were brutally suppressed by the shah.
Following the uprising in Qum, Khomeini was exiled from Iran in 1964 for his criticism of the shah. While in exile, Khomeini traveled from Turkey to Iraq, and ul- timately to Paris where he persisted in preaching his re- ligious message aimed at weakening the shah’s hold on power. Khomeini’s exile afforded him the opportunity to refine his attacks against the shah, and he was able to gain stature within Iran despite living abroad. Thus, by the 1970s, he had emerged as Mohammad Reza Shah’s most potent enemy.18
Khomeini and a rising, vocal minority of ulama openly opposed the shah’s modernization policies, most notably land reform and women’s suffrage. In addition, Khomeini despised Iran’s close relationship with the United States, Israel, and multinational companies, which he viewed as a threat to national independence, Muslim life, and Is- lam. From his pulpit, first in Qum and later from abroad, Khomeini incited and galvanized people against foreign influence. He condemned the United States as “an enemy of Islam in all its policies, this hostility being particularly apparent in its support for Israel and the nature of its in- fluence in Iran.”19 Yet despite these clear and longstanding commitments to the transformation of the political and social order, the Iranian revolution unfolded in stages.20
During the mid-1970s, the shah’s regime believed that the