Iran Essays (3928 words) - Iranian Revolution, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Iran Iran is a country located in the Middle East. The main source of income for the country is oil, the one object that had greatly influenced its history. Iran's present government is run as an Islamic Republic. A president, cabinet, judicial branch, and Majilesor or legislative branch, makes up the governmental positions. A revolution that overthrew the monarch, which was set in 1930, lasted over 15 years. Crane Brinton's book, An Anatomy of a Revolution, explains set of four steps a country experiences when a revolution occurs. Symptoms, rising fever, crisis, and convalescence are the steps that occur. The Iranian Revolution followed the four steps in Crane Brinton's theory, symptoms, rising fever, crisis, and convalescence occurred. Numerous symptoms led to the crumbling downfall of Reza Shah Pahlavi, ruler of Iran until 1978. One of these symptoms is rising expectations which can be seen during the 1960's and 70's. The rich Shah cleared the way for the land reform law, enacted in 1962. The land minority had to give up its land to the government, and among those stripped of land, were the Shi'ah Muslims. Iran's power structure was radically changed in a program termed the "White Revolution". On January 26, 1963, the White Revolution was endorsed by the nation. By 1971, when land distribution ended, about 2,500,000 families of the farm population benefited from the reforms. From 1960-72 the percentage of owner occupied farmland in Iran rose from 26 to 78 percent. Per capita income rose from $176 in 1960 to $2,500 in 1978. From 1970-77 the gross national product was reported to increase to an annual rate of 7.8% ("Iran" 896). As a result of this thriving economy, the income gap rapidly widened. Exclusive homes, extravagant restaurants, and night clubs and streets loaded with expensive automobiles served as daily reminders of a growing income spread. This created a perfect environment for many conflicts to arise between the classes. Iran's elite class consisted of wealthy land owners, intelligencia, military leaders, politicians, and diplomats. The Elite continued to support the monarchy and the Shah. The peasants were victim of unfulfilled political expectations, surveillance by the secret police, and the severe social and economic problems that resulted from modernization. The middle class favored socialism over capitalism, because capitalism in their view supported the elite, and does not benefit the lower classes. The middle class was the most changeable element in the group, because they enjoyed some of the privileges of the elite, which they would like to protect. At the same time, they believed that they had been cheated by the elite out of their share of the industrialization wealth (Orwin 43). About this time, the middle class, which included students, technocrats, and modernist professionals, became discontent with the economy. The key event should have further stabilized the royal dictatorship, but the increase in oil prices and oil income beginning in 1974 caused extreme inflation. This was due to the investment strategy followed by the Shah, which led to a spectacular 42% growth rate in 1974. (Cottam 14). And because of the Shah's support structure which enabled the new rich to benefit from inflation, the government effort to deal with inflation was aimless. Poor Iranians and Iranians with a fixed income suffered major losses in real income. Better standards of living were no longer visible. Thus, the majority of the Iranian people developed a revolutionary predisposition. As the middle class became discontent in Iran throughout the 1970's, the desertion of intellectuals could be found in great excess. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini represented much of the discontent of the religious sector of Iran. For speaking out against the Shah's autocratic rule, Khomeini was exiled to Turkey in 1963. In 1965, Khomeini moved to Iraq where he became the central spokesperson for expatriate opposition to the Shah. On October 6, 1978, Khomeini was expelled from Iraq and moved to Paris, where he was accessible to a larger body of opposition forces. He was also accessible to the Western Press. Khomeini preached that he would displace the Shah and expel the foreigners. He also said he would enforce religious and traditional values, and redirect Iran's wealth away from large industrialization schemes and toward reforms needed by the

Westernization vs. Latin America essays

Westernization vs. Latin America essays Ever since Columbus sailed the ocean blue, in the famous year of 1492, the New world encountered new teachings and beliefs that challenged their traditional ones. Spanish conquistadors undertook a colonization of the Americas which would determine the fate of the indigenous population for centuries to come. After razing the existing American society, the Spaniards colonized the Americas and constructed a new society: a society full of Westernizing influences. The majority of the indigenous population of the Americas had preestablished beliefs and practices, and, consequently, clashed with the influences of Westernization. This can be seen in much of the exported Latin American conquest and colonial literature, and, in particular, the writings of Carlos Maria Bustamante in the early 19th century, and Rigoberta Menchu in the late 20th century. Both Bustamantes Proclamation 1820- The Malinche of the Constitution and Menchus I, Rigoberta Menchu express the struggle which indigenous cultures are experiencing as they try to maintain their native values and practices. Two facets of society greatly affected by Westernization were religion and education. Under the Encomienda System, natives were required to adopt the Catholic beliefs of the colonists. Although not technically in effect in the 19th century, this aspect of the Encomienda System lingered on. Albeit not wholly enforced, the Constitution that was in effect in the 19th century outlawed any repression of ones religious beliefs. In an effort to maintain indigenous cultural values and practices, Bustamante directly communicates the Constitution to the native population, and tells them the rights constituted to them. Among these rights, Bustamante writes, is the ability to perform religious dances in public sanctuaries without being fined. The latter is illustrated in a quote from The Proclamation..., ...

Annotated Bibliograpgy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Annotated Bibliograpgy - Essay Example (2007)] 7. Healing Emotional and Psychological Trauma [Help Guide (2008)] 8. Strategies to prevent injury [Abernethy L. & Bleakley C. (2007)] 9. Future trends in treatment of sport injuries [Niams.nih (2009)] 10. Conclusion Annotated Bibliography 1. Smith, R.E., Smoll1, F.L. Ptacek1, J. T. (1989). Conjunctive Moderator Variables in Vulnerability and Resiliency Research: Life Stress, Social Support and Coping Skills, and Adolescent Sport Injuries. University of Washington. This source focuses on demonstrating the conjunctive impacts of two psychological factors; psychological coping skills and social support. The source gives a overview of the number of injuries that occur among athletes in the US. The injuries are mainly caused by biomechanical and physical factors and to some level by psychosocial factors. Referring to studies conducted in the past, the authors state that some moderator variables may affect the relationship that exists between vulnerability to injury and life events . The source advocates teaching athletes psychological coping skills and increasing social support with an aim of increasing their resiliency. 2. Birrer,  D.,  Horvath,  S., Meyer,  S.,  Moesch,  K.,  &  Seiler,  R. (2007). ... The source specifically seeks to establish if the stability of various psychological variables impacts rehabilitation. Some of the variables that are investigated include anxiety, social support, self control, internal locus of control and degree of adherence among others. This source is important in establishing the relationship that exists between various factors and how well rehabilitation of athletics who get injured in the course of playing respond to treatment. 3. Glazer,  D.  (2009). â€Å"Development and Preliminary Validation of the Injury-Psychological Readiness to Return to Sport (I-PRRS) Scale†.  Journal of Athletic Training,  44(2),  185-189.   This source focuses on the effects of injuries to sports people. The source states that apart from physical injuries, sports people undergo psychological distress in the event that they get hurt in the process of playing. Some of the predisposing factors to athletes’ injuries are psychosocial in nature ac cording to Glazer. The effects of returning to the field before sports people fully recover from psychological effects that result from injury include depression, lower performance, anxiety, fear, re-injury as well as possible injury of other body parts. The source emphasizes that there is need to measure athletes’ confidence levels before they are allowed to return to the playfield after sustaining injuries in order to avoid or mitigate the aforementioned effects. Glazer discusses the scales used to measure how ready or confident sports people are to engage in sporting activities after suffering injuries while playing. 4. Help Guide (2008) Healing Emotional and Psychological Trauma Symptoms, Treatment, and Recovery.