Antagonistic Opposition between Oppressive Government and Web-like Civil Society of Iran under Reza Shah

Before the establishment of the Pahlavi Dynasty, the Iranian society relied on communities and institutions that enjoyed independence at a considerable level. In this regard, the Shiite scholars had the opportunity to criticize the governmental actions due to their financial independence and having the mosque tribunes under their control as well as having the exclusive right to interpret Sharia. Therefore Reza Shah who was aware of the power of the Shiite scholars in Iran and even under the pressure of the scholars in Qum had given up establishing a republic regime, gradually started to show a negative reaction to the scholar oppositions against his suppressive and secular policies, and instead of reinforcing a legal authority, he tried to suppress the social movements through threatening, dual game, assassination, conspirator actions as well as using the militaristic power. As representatives of Iranian civil society and network structure of Iran, some religious leaders, local elites and critics of Iranian society resisted against governmental policies and tried to reduce governmental power through weakening the role of state. By explanative post-event method, this article studies the political actions of Sayyed Hassan Modarres, a member of parliament and one of great religious leaders who resisted the wills of Reza Shah and tried to weaken the suppressive government and reduce his power. Migdal’s theory of web-like societies and Eisenstadt’s civil society theory are used to explain the web-like society and its antagonistic opposition with the suppressive government in the Pahlavi era.