The Socioeconomic Effects of The Land Reform in Iran (1961-1981)
Alamdari, Kazem
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Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/70990
Description
Title
The Socioeconomic Effects of The Land Reform in Iran (1961-1981)
Author(s)
Alamdari, Kazem
Issue Date
1982
Department of Study
Sociology
Discipline
Sociology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Sociology, General
Abstract
This study examines the nature of the land reform program in Iran. Following the 1953 coup d'etat in Iran and preceding an economic crisis in the late 1950s, the U.S. government launched a land reform program in Iran. The land reform mainly had two aims--one political, one economic; the economic had priority. At the time of ratification of the land reform bill, the two leading countries, i.e., England and the United States, had constituted the main political and economic influence in Iran. England as the traditional supporter of the Iranian landlords, opposed the plan, because execution of such a program meant strengthening the capitalist faction of the regime that was mainly pro-American and weakening the landlord faction that was the British base in Iran. The contradiction between the U.S. and England had rooted in the period of nationalization of the oil industry in Iran in 1951. Rivalry between the two powers (U.S. and England) finally ended in favor of the U.S. and its land reform program.
The program was carried out in three related stages, each stage monitored by a new Minister of Agriculture. It aimed to abolish the out-dated socioeconomic system of muzara'eh. The project was successful in this regard. The results of the reform have shown that it transformed the old tenure system into a capitalist one, connecting landlords to urban business. The traditional markets were opened up to manufactured and consumer goods. In addition, the launching of the land reform program released more than five million rural workers from the bondage of land and forced them to migrate to urban areas. A new land tenure brought new and different agricultural enterprises, such as agro-industrial companies and joint-stock agricultural companies. With regard to the political aim, the program succeeded in neutralizing the centers of potential peasant revolt in rural areas, but it transferred these centers into the cities. The land reform program did not improve either the peasants' living conditions or the country's agriculture. The Shah's regime was overthrown while the agrarian question remains unsatisfied. Three years after the Shah's downfall, it still remains unresolved.
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