Structuralism and Islamic Revolution: A Critical Book Review of“The Review and Critique of Theories of the Iran’s Islamic Revolution: Theda Skocpol’s Theory”

Theda Skocpol’s theory about Iranian Islamic Revolution has been recognized as one of the suggested views about this case which was investigated in a book entitled "Review and Critique of Theories of the Islamic Revolution; Theda Skocpol’s Theory ". The author of this book prepared beneficial discussions for this theory helpful for the demonstration of Skocpol’s significance in these fields, mainly the methodology she offered in her theory about social revolutions. The leading problem with this book seems to exist in a critique of the theory of Skocpol. The author tried to categorize critiques around this theory. This classification which includes the critiques within the paradigm, outside the paradigm and internal textual criticisms, faces with two major objections. The first objection refers to the foundation of this categorization. The second objection maintains that these criticisms – particularly in the first and second group of critiques – have indirect and distant relationship with the analysis of Theda Skocpol of the causes of the revolution in Iran. In addition, the author in the critique of the theory of Theda Skocpol ignored two important points. The first point was the SKocpol's reliance to the Rentier State’s theory concerning with the nature of the government in Iran in the era of the Islamic Revolution. The other was the Skocpol’s shift in her theory about the causes of the rise of social revolutions as a result of the occurrence of Islamic Revolution in Iran. If the respected author understood these cases seriously and genuinely, he could be more successful in the criticism of the Skocpol theory as his accuracy in writing up this theory.