Featured Image

Why is it important?

This article examines secular changes in post-revolutionary rural Iran. Offering a review of major rural reforms, it contends that although in the first two decades after the revolution, rural communities were primarily affected by state policies, they have been chiefly influenced by macro developments since then, nationally or globally. Rural change has been associated with the integration of the rural structure into the modern structure rather than adhering to the statespecific rural reforms and/or its ideological imperatives. The article also argues that such developments have resulted in greater access to modern amenities and paved the way for rural communities to adopt modern changes that were not necessarily on the government’s ideological agenda. Nevertheless, the revolutionary objectives of combating rural poverty remain elusive.

Perspectives

I hope this article reveals an experience that do seldom politically and ideologically motivated policies/projects can achieve their objectives as once the short-term politico-ideological objectives areattained, most projects or reforms are easily abandoned, indicating that the people who made/helped a revolution are, now, the main losers. Moreover, contrary to the idea that the Islamic Revolution, consequently its reforms, is backwardness/traditionistic in nature, this paper argues that policy outcomes have been totally different: modernistic in nature.

Ali shakoori
University of Tehran

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Rural Development in Iran: A Survey of Policies and Outcomes, Journal of Developing Societies, September 2019, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0169796x19868316.
You can read the full text:

Read

Resources

Contributors

The following have contributed to this page