Word: westernism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Until recently, the Shah was believed by practically all Western observers to have a base of support that included the peasantry, the middle classes who were supposed to benefit from the Shah's heady campaign of modernization, and the armed forces. Exactly what happened to that support will be debated for a long time. Without doubt the answer is more complex than the pat view of some American journalists who today try to argue that the Shah never enjoyed much support at home and was largely an invention...
...early '70s with the rise of a "frightening secret police apparatus." Writes Bill in the current issue of Foreign Affairs: "A period of un-Persian rule by repression set in and a group of hard-liners in the intelligence organization took charge." Though Iran was hardly ready for Western-style democracy, the Shah introduced a period of liberalization two years ago, but Iran remained an autocratic state. Iranian dissidents took heart from the election of Jimmy Carter and his strong human rights policy. But when Carter visited Tehran a year ago, he scarcely mentioned human rights and instead heaped...
...Islamic fundamentalism, which has profoundly affected other countries in the Middle East, also swept through Iran, where the Shi'ite mullahs have traditionally served as the conscience of the people. The mullahs were scandalized by growing corruption that clearly involved the royal family, by the jet-setting Western ways of Iran's new rich, by the Shah's apparent contempt for the faith to which most of his people belonged. Beyond that, the mullahs were infuriated early last year when the then Premier, Jamshid Amuzegar, canceled the $80 million annual subsidy that they had formerly received from...
...been his biggest mistake, the Shah answered sadly: "Being born." On another occasion, he wondered aloud how many of his people would go into the streets to cheer and support him as a million Frenchmen once did for Charles de Gaulle during his hour of need. Says a Western diplomat in Tehran: "I doubt that a thousand Iranians would be willing to go into the streets for the Shah today...
...conditions that make for instability along the arc vary greatly from country to country, and it would be imprudent to apply the cold war domino theory to the area. "There may be a bunch of dominoes," says a Western diplomat, "but they're not leaning against each other, end on end." Nonetheless, it is also apparent that what happens next in Iran could have an important effect on the whole region. The international rivalry that Rudyard Kipling once described as "the great game" for control of the warm-weather ports and lucrative trade routes between Suez...