Historical Studies

Historical Studies

The Issue of Economic Eorruption and Facing it in the Second Pahlavi Government According to Brokers

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Mehdi Ghanavati 1
Hamid Basiratmanesh 2
Mohammadsalar Kasraie 3
Seyed Mahmood Sadatbidgoli 4
1 PhD in History of Islamic Revolution, Research Institute of Imam Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Revolution, Research Institute of Imam Khomeini and Islamic Revolution, Tehran, Iran
3 Associate Professor, Research Group of Social Issues of Iran, Faculty of Social Studies, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran
4 Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Revolution, Research Institiute of Imam Khomeini and Islamic Revolution, Tehran, Iran
10.30465/hcs.2024.47762.2893
Abstract
Abstract
Almost one of the common points of the researches that have been conducted on the causes of the fall of the Pahlavi regime is the discussion of the issue of corruption, especially economic corruption and its role in the public dissatisfaction of the last years of the Pahlavi regime. The problem of the current research is what the agents of the second Pahlavi government understood about the issue of economic corruption. Therefore, their writings and interviews were referred to and their opinions about the category of economic corruption were analyzed with the help of thematic analysis method.
The main question of the research is whether the government officials were aware of the existence of economic corruption and its destructive effect on the public opinion of the Iranian people. After examining the data, it was found that until the last months before the Islamic Revolution, despite being aware of economic corruption at various levels, they considered this phenomenon as a problem that could cause distrust of public opinion and disturb the stability of the government. and according to this attitude, they did not put serious anti-corruption measures on their agenda so that the society would understand that the government is taking steps in the direction of reforming corruption and anti-corruption.
Keywords: Agents of Pahlavi Government, Royal Family, Economic Corruption, Oral History, Issue, Themev Analysis.
 
Introduction
Some researchers, while discussing the weaknesses and shortcomings of the Pahlavi government, which ultimately led to the fall of the government in 1357, have devoted part of their material to the issue of economic corruption and have talked about its negative effect on the public opinion of the Iranian people. . The primary data of these researches is the result of external studies by researchers such as Niki Kadi, Abrahamian, Foran, etc.
But in this research, the purpose of this study is to examine this issue from the perspective of agents who were responsible within the system, especially in the last two decades, in the court, country, and military departments. Their narratives and experiences of economic corruption can provide evidence from within the system to improve the issue.
Economically, the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah can be divided into two periods. The first part is from the beginning of the reign of 1320 to the beginning of the 40s, and the second part includes the 40s to the end of the Pahlavi rule. In the first part, the financial situation of the government was not favorable.
In the second period of the reign, however, government revenues, which were mainly oil, gradually increased. In 1342, the oil income was 555 million dollars, which reached 5 billion dollars in 1353, and after quadrupling the price of oil in the world markets, it increased to about 20 billion dollars. In total, in the period from 1343 to 1353, the total oil income reached 13 billion dollars, and in the period from 1353 to 1356, the total figure reached 38 billion dollars.
In both of the aforementioned periods, there was a context for economic corruption. In the 20s and 30s, although the government had financial problems, it was possible to accumulate wealth in different ways. But in the second part, there is potentially more opportunity for rent, embezzlement, exploitation and wealth accumulation; Because the financial ability of the government increased more than before and more investments were made with the aim of achieving a great civilization (Shah's slogan).
 
Materials and Methods
Thematic analysis method was used to organize the data of this research. Thematic analysis is a method to recognize, analyze and report the patterns in qualitative data. The theme contains information about the research questions (Abdi, 1390: 159). These themes can be visible in the obvious content of the text, or obtained through the analytical examination of the text. The main technique in this method is the "categorization" technique, and in the first step, important themes or topics are extracted from the text and named and categorized under a series of general categories. In the next step, the categories that can be grouped together and overlap are placed under one category.
To carry out the present research, the memoirs and interviews of Pahlavi government agents and some document books were examined and those parts that were related to the main research question were extracted to provide primary data. 116 basic themes were extracted from the mentioned data. (Table No. 1) and then these 116 basic themes were arranged in the form of 30 organizing themes and finally 6 comprehensive and general themes (Tables No. 2 to 7) were obtained around the Pahlavi government's confrontation with the issue of economic corruption, which is the basis of the final analysis of this They are research.
 
Discussion and Results
The findings of this research can be discussed in six overarching themes. First, the Pahlavi government was fully aware of the economic corruption in the governance system. Different levels of government, from the royal family to the army, SAVAK, etc., were involved in the issue of economic corruption. In the meantime, most of the existing narratives refer to the economic corruption of the royal family, and some even believe that their corruption caused other levels of government to be involved in corruption. During the 37 years of Mohammad Reza Shah's rule, some efforts were made to deal with corruption, but these efforts were few and only superficial, and the issue of economic corruption was never addressed in a fundamental way. The main reason for these small and formal efforts was the unwillingness of the Shah to deal with this issue seriously and decisively, and for this reason, even the reports of SAVAK were ignored and the same small actions were more of a propaganda aspect. Therefore, it can be said that anti-corruption There was no second Pahlavi in ​​Chekomat. In order to seriously deal with economic corruption, the destructive effect of this should be properly understood in the public opinion, and the government should be aware that this practice affects the political stability of the system, and after understanding these important issues, it should be seriously addressed at the highest level of the government. He was fighting corruption.
 
Conclusion
In this research, an attempt was made to answer the question, what was the understanding of government officials about economic corruption and its negative effect on the public opinion of the society? Examining the interviews of some officials of the second Pahlavi government with two oral history projects of Harvard and the Iran Studies Foundation, as well as the published works of some others, with the method of thematic analysis, showed that the officials of the Pahlavi government in various institutions were against the existence of economic corruption and abuse of political power by the authorities for They were aware of the acquisition of wealth and believed that without serious treatment of it, other changes will not be effective and even the basis of the political system may be in danger. The Shah himself was not only aware of the existence of economic corruption, but in some cases he gave permits that were effective in the financial abuses of high-ranking officials, especially the royal family. Also, the findings of the research show that anti-corruption is not a repeated word in the literature of the Pahlavi government, and the few measures that have been taken under this title have been very superficial, non-inhibitory and demonstrative. A significant part of the research data shows that at the top of the government pyramid, the Shah himself did not have a serious desire and will to deal with economic corruption and showed negative reactions to reports related to this issue.
Keywords
Agents of Pahlavi Government
Royal Family
Economic Corruption
Oral History
Issue
Themev Analysis

Subjects

Bibliography
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Historical Studies
Volume 15, Issue 2 - Serial Number 30
Autumn and Winter 2024-2025
October 2024
Pages 1-35

  • Receive Date 20 December 2023
  • Revise Date 21 July 2024
  • Accept Date 01 August 2024