Revolutions not only affect domestic, social, political, economic, and cultural conditions and sometimes fundamentally change society, but also, they affect the regional and international environment and in some cases the structure of international relations, the world system, and the power relations at the international level as well as the global developments. The Islamic Revolution of Iran has astonishingly influenced the contemporary world and various aspects such as political theories, the strategy of the great powers, the world system, liberation movements, the face of Islamic societies, international organizations, liberation theology in Latin America and so on. This research introduces the regional and global effects of the Islamic Revolution.
A) The Reflection of the Islamic Revolution on Political Theories
The emergence and victory of the Islamic Revolution influenced political theories in several ways:
1) Before this phenomenon, the prevailing scientific view of the revolution was that achieving a development, which is one of the goals of contemporary revolutions, is associated with the two concepts of “cultural secularization” and “structural differentiation.” As stated by Hannah Arendt in her book “On Revolution” one of the common and existing characteristics of revolutions is their material tendencies.
Thus, the occurrence of the Islamic Revolution with a religious nature called the validity of such theories into question. This Revolution introduced a new revolutionary ideology that included all the positive points of other revolutionary ideologies of the time — the concepts of independence, freedom and social justice — within the framework of religious government in the contemporary material world surprising the theorists of the phenomenon of the revolution, the governments, and the political elites who had not imagined that a revolution would take place with this nature and ideology in a world accustomed to witnessing Marxist or liberal revolutions.
2) The event of the Islamic Revolution in several aspects acknowledged the criticisms levelled at modernist ideas, and the thinkers of postmodernism considered it as a reason for going beyond modernism. In fact, this Revolution posed a challenge to the above ideas.
3) The revolutions of the late 20th century namely the two revolutions that occurred in Iran and Nicaragua, especially the first one, due to their special nature — the role of religion and other unique features — led to the emergence of a new generation of the theories of the revolution.
B) The Reflection of the Islamic Revolution on the Strategic Issues of the Great Powers
The Islamic Revolution took place when the communist Eastern Bloc, led by the Soviet Union, and the West Bloc, led by the United States were engaging in the Cold War. At that time, many global issues and government strategies were generally considered and pursued based on this fact. In line with the strategy of the containment of the Soviet Union, the Western Bloc created a number of deals and agreements, including NATO, CENTO and SEATO which covered the geographic areas around the Soviet Union from Europe to Southeast Asia. Iran was a member of the middle circle of these treaties namely SEATO and the Eastern Bloc also created the Warsaw Pact to prevent the West from influencing or attacking any Communist member of this Pact.
In addition, after the defeat of the United States in Vietnam (1975), the United States was no longer able to begin a military intervention against revolutionary movements due to the objections of its public opinion, and Nixon, the President of the United States, in a new strategy known as the Two-Pillar Strategy — the military pillar of Iran and the financial pillar of Saudi Arabia — gave the Shah of Iran the role of its gendarme in the region and soon signed the arms deal with Iran which worth billions of dollars because of Iran’s special strategic position and its potential power, Mohammad-Reza Shah’s personal characteristics and the fact that Iran was not an Arab country and was far from the Arab-Israeli conflict. In this regard, on behalf of the United States, Iran suppressed the Dhofar communist rebellion in Oman and prevented the spread of this pro-Moscow communist movement in the Arabian Peninsula.
The emergence of the Iranian Revolution first changed the regional strategies of the two superpowers and then led to the changing of their global strategies:
In relation to the Western Bloc, the Islamic Revolution took place in a country that served as the United States gendarmerie in the region — a country that must stand up to anti-Western movements. Thus, an obvious vacuum of power immediately emerged in the region. Meanwhile, Iran soon withdrew from the CENTO Treaty and caused its collapse and thus a gap was created between the NATO and SEATO treaties.
The Revolution, which had been taken place alongside the region’s oil wells and gained much importance, was soon influenced the countries of the region — the centre of Muslims, especially Shi’ahs, in the world — and raised concerns for the West and the countries of the region regarding the occurrence of similar developments.
In this context, the West, and especially the United States, has taken advantage of various strategies and methods to prevent the spread of revolutionary movements to other countries and to protect its international interests.
At the end of 1979, during the presidency of Jimmy Carter, the United States declared that it would form a “Ready Reaction Force” to protect its interests, which meant returning to the strategy of engaging in direct military intervention. Then, it began exerting great pressure and sanctions on Iran; the economic blockade, the failed military operation in Tabas, designing the Nojeh coup plot, inciting Iraq to start a war and supporting this country during its war on Iran, and finally pursuing the “containment policy regarding Iran.” This policy was designed by the Israeli lobby — Israel Public Affairs Committee — in the first five months of President Bill Clinton’s administration of the Democratic Party.
The United States also called for the establishment of a Gulf Cooperation Council in 1981 and tried to provide the members especially Saudi Arabia with military supports to fill the existing vacuum. Moreover, among other reasons for the establishment of the Council was the Russian military intervention in Afghanistan and fears of the southern Gulf states of being besieged by Communists or Soviet-affiliated countries because of the presence of the Russians in South Yemen, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, etc.
With Mikhail Gorbachev gaining power in the Soviet Union in 1985 and the announcement of two policies of Perestroika (economic reconstruction) and Glasnost (open political space) and the subsequent collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union, the United States, assuming that the collapse of its rival means the strength and legitimacy of the Western Bloc, put efforts to turn the world into a monopoly or hierarchical world system under its leadership; But over time, two issues have hindered the United States’ global strategic goals; the resistance of other world powers such as the European Union, the Russian Federation, China, etc., and their efforts to establish a multipolar system, and the continuation and increase of the liberation movements in the oil-rich Middle East and the Persian Gulf as well as the growing threats posed against the Israeli regime by the Palestinians, especially since the beginning of the martyrdom operations, and the states and nations of the Middle East; Threats and movements in the creation of which one clearly can find the reflections of the Islamic Revolution.
Under these circumstances, the attacks of September 11, 2001 — regardless of their goals and sources — on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in the United States took place thereby giving the United States President George W. Bush a good excuse to attack his enemy countries by planning and implementing a “pre-emptive strike” strategy and using the power of technology, especially the Air Force, to advance his strategic goals.
The author’s view is that the “pre-emptive strike” strategy of the United States is based on the achievement of several goals so that it ultimately would result in the hegemony and global domination of the United States.
1) Creating security for the Zionist regime by entering the region and controlling anti-Israeli groups in the Arab world, especially Palestine and Lebanon, and creating a gap between Syria and Iran.
2) Fighting Iran’s Islamic Revolution and its regional and global reflections.
3) Gaining the benefits of Iraqi oil and controlling the world oil market.
4) Changing the political geography of the region to achieve its strategic goals.
5) Increasingly expanding its presence in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and South Asia, and creating a gap between powers such as the Russian Federation, China, India and Iran, to prevent the formation of any possible alliance which may hinder the United States from achieving its global goals thereby preventing the creation of the “Asian Age” and even working for the collapse of big countries such as Russia and China, which pose great and potential dangers to the United States’ global goals.
C) The Islamic Revolution and the Revolutionary Uprisings and Movements in the Islamic World
Comparing the current socio-political situation of Islamic countries with their situation on the eve of the victory of the Islamic Revolution indicates the occurrence of a clear change in most of them. The importance of this phenomenon in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf is doubled due to its important geographical location, the existence of rich sources of energy resources and the importance of the issue of Palestine.
Following the emergence and victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, an expanding atmosphere of Islamic fundamentalism spread throughout the Islamic world; A number of Islamic movements emerged and those who had already existed but were passive became active and revolutionary.
Addressing the issue of the reflection of the Islamic Revolution on the revolutionary movements in the Arab countries one of the sources has stated:
1) In Lebanon, which is affected by the Islamic Revolution more than any other country, the Shi’ah movements of “Amal,” “Islamic Amal” and “Hezbollah” and the Sunni group of “Islamic Unity Movement” were either emerged or became active because of the direct influence of the Islamic Revolution.
2) In Iraq, the activities of the Islamic Da’wah Party, which had the support of Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad-Baqir al-Sadr, were increased because of the Islamic Revolution. In addition, in 1982, the “Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq” was formed with the aim of fighting Saddam Hussein’s government, and the role of the Islamic Revolution in this phenomenon was obvious.
3) In Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Revolution motivated the Muslim Brotherhood to attack the Saudi regime. Under the leadership of Juhayman al-Utaybi, they occupied Masjid al-Haram a few months after the victory of the Iranian Revolution. “The Organization for the Islamic Revolution in the Arabian Peninsula,” a Shi’ah group that led the 1979 Ashura uprising in Qatif province in Saudi Arabia, also grew under the influence of the Islamic Revolution.
4 and 5) Also in Bahrain, one may point to the “Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain,” which, according to the Bahraini government, carried out a failed coup in 1981, and then in Kuwait, an Islamic movement emerged, including the Hezbollah group of Kuwait.
6 and 7) In two other countries, namely Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, the movements were not organized, yet they emerged as social protests.
8) In Egypt, the use of coercive methods of struggle expanded, an example of which is the assassination of Anwar Sadat in October 1981 by the al-Jihad Organization. The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood movement also defended Iran’s Islamic Revolution during the Sadat period. The impact of the Iranian Revolution on the unrest that occurred in the country’s universities as well as in the cities of Cairo, al-Suyut and al-Fayum have also been confirmed.
9) In Algeria, the “Islamic Salvation Front” emerged and took advantage of the issue of political freedoms which Shazli ibn Jadid supported (due to the situation of that time).
10) In Tunisia, an Islamic movement emerged under the direct influence of the Iranian Revolution, the most important embodiment of which was the Movement of Islamic Tendency, which was later named the “Ennahda Movement.”
11) Also in Morocco, after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Islamic movements grew.
12 and 13) Finally, in Syria and among the Palestinians, we may find the influence of the Islamic Revolution. In Syria, the Muslim Brotherhood expanded its activities under the influence of the Islamic Revolution, although it later criticized Iran for expanding its relations with Syria. Among the Palestinians, there are currently two main groups, namely the Islamic Jihad and the Islamic Resistance Organization, or Hamas, both of which declared their existence in the 1980s after the victory of the Islamic Revolution. Meanwhile, the Islamic Jihad is openly defending the Islamic Revolution calling for the Palestinians to follow the example of the movement of the Iranian people.
Except for Arab countries, the Islamic Revolution has been reflected in other regions and countries, including South Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Turkey:
In Afghanistan, due to the cultural and linguistic commonality, the influence of the Islamic Revolution appeared even before the victory of the Revolution and was reflected in the resistance of the people against the pro-Soviet communist coup. After the victory of the Iranian Revolution and the occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet Red Army, Shi’ah (eight) and Sunni (seven) groups, most of which carried the name of Islam, that is to say, the Afghan Mujahidin were inspired by the Islamic Revolution and undoubtedly it was because of the influence of the Revolution that they focused on Islam.
In Pakistan, the triumph of the Iranian Revolution expanded the intellectual and political vision of the young Shi’ah generation and the emergence of the “Movement for the Implementation of the Ja’fari Jurisprudence, which has a similar horizon to the Islamic Revolution. Most Pakistani Sunnis also respect Iran’s Islamic Revolution and have not been caught in the clutches of sects such as the Sipah-e-Sahaba Organization. At the same time, the issue of sectarianism in Pakistan has been a factor in preventing the Islamic Revolution from gaining more influence in the country.
In Kashmir, which has been called “Little Iran” for historical and cultural reasons, the mottos of the Islamic Revolution can be seen in the unrest. The people of Kashmir, in particular, are very much in favour of the Islamic Revolution.
In Central Asia, including Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, etc., movements have emerged under the influence of the Islamic Revolution, although Wahhabi guerrillas have also been active there because of the influence of the Taliban’s movement.
In the Caucasus, whether the one under Russian rule — the Muslim republics of this country such as Chechnya, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, and North Ossetia which have a long history of fighting the Russians — or the South Caucasus — the Republic of Azerbaijan — one may see the reflection of the Islamic Revolution. This movement was recently manifested in the Islamic Party of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Finally, with secular victories of the Islamist — albeit moderate — parties in the parliamentary elections, secular Turkey will likely undergo a political transformation if these developments can control and limit the military forces.
D) The Reflection of the Islamic Revolution on Other Issues
Apart from the three main points mentioned above, the effects of Iran’s Islamic Revolution on several other issues have been obvious. They are as follows:
1) Governments and political elites in the Islamic world
2) The international organizations
3) Liberation theology in Latin America
4) The public face of Islamic societies
5) Conferences and research centres
Archive of The Thought of the Islamic Revolution
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