The Impact of Western Development Paradigms on Development Policies in Iran

The undeveloped Iran and its remedies form the basis of most development studies and researches in the country. Mean while, the contemporary social movements in Iran, especially the Islamic Revolution have occurred for the sake of development. In the aftermath of Iranian's intellectual growth towards the end of 19th century and as a result of the introduction of modernism in the country, various development policies and programs have been recommended and executed. Also, different approaches (cultural, political, economic, political economy, etc) and tactics have been presented. This article, next to the explanation of those approaches, gives a fresh outlook about the Iranian undevelopment and its main cause. The author believes that all the modern Iranian development policies and measures taken in this regard have failed due to cultural, political, and economic reasons intended by the above approaches. A main cause for this failure could be the western models that dominated both the ex-Shah's regime and are still persisting in the Islamic Republic. The prevailing discourse of western development worldwide has been in accordance with the Iranian policies and has been practiced uncritically without any consideration of historical, social and cultural conditions of this country.