Reza Shah: Development without democracy IranSource by Shaul Bakhash
Farhad Besharati, 54, holds a bust of former Shah of Iran Reza Shah Pahlavi at his travel agency in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, United States July 14, 2015. Iran and six major world powers reached a nuclear deal on Tuesday, capping more than a decade of negotiations with an agreement that could transform the Middle East. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
Reza Shah, a middle-ranking officer in Iran’s Cossack Brigade, seized power in 1921 and, for the next twenty years, dominated and transformed Iran as commander of the army, prime minister, and finally king.
He relied on a number of highly qualified often Western-educated Individuals whom he appointed to ministerial and administrative posts and whose ideas for reform and modernization he espoused. These men knew that their country had fallen behind the times and they aspir