Analyzing the Economic-Political Roots of the Coup on Mordad 28, 1332 (August 19, 1953) in the Context of Relations with Global Powers

Document Type : Research

Authors

1 M. A. of Development Economics and Planning, Faculty of Economics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

2 Associate Proffesor of Economics, Faculty of Economics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The august 19, 1953 coup was one of the most important turning points in Iran’s contemporary history, in which researchers considered its economic and political roots mainly separately. The historical nature of this event has prevented a thorough analysis of the interaction between the economic and political causes of the coup. To compensate for this shortcoming, this article tries to investigate the economic and political causes of the coup in the context of the relation between this phenomenon and the influence of to global powers such as Britain, United States, and Soviet Union. This article uses the theory of patron-client and neo-colonial dependency theory to explain the external economic and political roots of the 19 August 1953 coup in Iran. It begins with assessing the importance of Iran’s oil for Britain’s economy, then focuses on the political motivations of Britain and the United States governments for conducting the coup. The major motivation of Britain was to hinder the downfall of the empire while the United states’ paramount concern was to fetter the Soviet Union’s influence on the Persian Gulf region that the economic importance of Iran’s oil was negligible for the Britain’s economy thus it could not be the sole reason for the coup. In addition, the paper showed that the political motivations of Britain and the United States were based on the economic importance of oil as a strategic good. The innovation of this study is that it discriminates between the political-economic importance of Iran’s oil and the resources of other oil-rich Middle Eastern countries.

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References

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International Political Economy Studies
Volume 5, Issue 2
December 2022
Pages 597-626

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History

  • Receive Date: 03 April 2022
  • Revise Date: 17 September 2022
  • Accept Date: 26 September 2022

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