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Iranian Revolution: Four Paradigmatic Views

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Abstract

Any explanation of the Iranian revolution is based on a worldview. The premise of this book is that any worldview can be associated with one of the four broad paradigms: functionalist, interpretive, radical humanist, and radical structuralist. This chapter takes the case of the Iranian revolution and discusses it from the four different viewpoints. It emphasizes that the four views expressed are equally scientific and informative; they look at the phenomenon from their certain paradigmatic viewpoint; and together they provide a more balanced and a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon under consideration. In this chapter, Sect. 1, 2, 3, and 4 present the four perspectives, and Sect. 5 concludes the presentation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For this literature see Amuzegar (1977), Ashraf and Banuazizi (1985), Chehabi (1990), Gasiorowski (1991), Goldstone (1986), Graham (1979), Hooglund (1982), Kazemi (1980, 1995), Looney (1982), Moran (1978-1979), Parsa (1989), Ramazani (1980), Reich (1980), and Walton (1980). This section is based on Looney (1982).

  2. 2.

    For this literature see Akhavi (1980), Alam (1991), Algar (1972), Arjomand (1985, 1988), Behnam (1986), Bill (1982, 1988), Burns (1996), Cottam (1988), Fisher (1980), Foran (1993a), Katouzian (1981), Keddie (1972, 1981, 1995, 2003), Taheri (1986), Yousefi (1984), Zabih (1982), and Zonis (1983, 1991). This section is based on Behnam (1986).

  3. 3.

    For this literature see Ahmad (1979), Algar (2001), Dabashi (2006), Foran (1993b), Hoogvelt (1997), Keddie (1983), Moaddel (1993), and Zabih (1979). This section is based on Moaddel (1993).

  4. 4.

    For this literature see Abrahamian (1979, 1980), Azad (1980), Clawson (1977), Halliday (1979), Jazani (1980), Keddie (1979), and Petras and Morley (1981). This section is based on Petras and Morley (1981).

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Ardalan, K. (2020). Iranian Revolution: Four Paradigmatic Views. In: Understanding Revolution. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47591-8_5

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