Theories of arbitrary rule and the short-term society

This article contains a brief description and analysis of the theories of arbitrary rule and the short-term society, which the author has developed since fifty-six years ago. The full account of these theories can be found in the following books: The Persians, Ancient, Medieval and Modern Iran; Iranian History and Politics, The Dialectic of State and Society; State and Society in Iran, the Eclipse of the Qajar and the Emergence of the Pahlavis; The Short-Term Society; Nine Essays in the Historical Sociology of Iran, Oil and Economic Development; Musaddiq and the Struggle for Power in Iran; The Political Economy of Modern Iran, Despotism and Pseudo-Modernism.