AN ESSAY ON ECONOMICS AND IDEOLOGY: THE CASE OF IRAN

In 1979, twenty‐five hundred years of monarchy came to an abrupt end in Iran. Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, the new regime has weathered internal uprisings, a costly war with Iraq, and international sanctions. It is interesting to learn the extent to which economic adversities faced by Iran have been ideologically driven. In order to assess this phenomenon, this paper utilizes a framework of analysis laid out by the scholarship of Islamic economics. In section I, the paper discusses some economic forces which underlay the 1979 tumult. Subsequently, a discussion of the new economic and social order is given. An assessment is made in the final section.