A Conceptual Critique of Oil, State, and Industrialization in Iran: An Unsuccessful Narrative of Industrial Policy-making in Iran

The reasons for non-development in Iranian society is one of the important concepts which Iranian thinkers have dealt with in the last hundred years. It is examined from different perspectives. The policy-making for industrial development which was pursued since Reza Shah’s government in order to reconstruct the substructures of Iran, is one of the most important phenomena for the study of non-development. Although the study and examination of reasons of Industrial development is very crucial in this regard, few works have dealt with the reasons for industrial non-development. The book “Oil, state, and industrialization in Iran” by Massoud Karshenas (Professor at SOAS University of London) is one of few works which deal with the reasons for inefficient industrial policy-making in Iran. Karshenas tries to study the effect of oil on industrial policy-making in Pahlavi era with a structural approach. This article provides a critique of his approach toward the effect of oil on industrial industrialization and its implications.