Historical Background

Abstract

This chapter provides a historical review of agrarian relations and rural change in prerevolutionary Iran. The discussion covers two distinct periods. During the first period – from the middle of the nineteenth century to the Shah’s White Revolution (1962) – changes took place as a result either of the influence of the West and the demands of world capitalism, or of overall state policy within the modernisation framework. During the second period – from 1962 to the Islamic Revolution – rural development programmes took place alongside land reforms.