ABSTRACT
Various scholars’ arid commentators have noted the applicability of certain theories of revolution to the Iranian case. The Islamic interpretation of the Iranian revolution stresses the role of culture and ideology, insisting on the religious roots of the revolution-that the shah was overthrown for failing to follow Islamic principles and that the uniqueness of the Iranian revolution lies in its ideological orientation. Against Stone's interpretation one finds a much larger group of Iran specialists stressing the political-economic origins of the revolution. The Liberation Movement of Iran was founded in 1961 by Mehdi Bazargan along with Sayyid Mahmud Taliqani and Yadullah Sahabi. Taliqani's works included praise for the Constitutional revolution, democracy, and socialism within a devout Islamic framework. The Carter human rights foreign policy did make the shah waver on the continued use of repression as part of domestic policy in 1977 and encouraged the letters and meetings of the intelligentsia that foreshadowed the revolutionary movement of the next year.
