Soviet Conceptualizations of the Iranian Revolution

Abstract

In the five years that have passed since the fall of the shah and the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the hopes expressed in these early evaluations have been broadly disappointed. If on one hand the institutional framework built-up under the charismatic leadership of Ayatollah Ruhallah Khumayni and his Islamic Republican Party (IRP) has proven relatively stable, the nature of "Islamic" institutions has evolved in unexpected directions. The revolution has not created a significantly improved climate of relations between Iran and the USSR, and the vision of a revolutionary process pushing and with Western Europe. Soviet evaluations of the Iranian revolution have soured accordingly. 4 Setting the tone for the more critical perspective which now dominates Soviet one prestigious commentator has emphasized the reactionary forces within the Iranian leadership and the regime as an "Islamic despotism."