Modern State in the snare of Founder's Trap: Examining The Experience of Development in First Pahlavi Government

The main concern of this research is the issue of development in Iran. The paper seeks to prove that the first modern state in Iran (the First Pahlavi) during the cycle of its life had been ceased in the third phase (rapid growth) and hence failed to mature. Barrowing the term from Ichak Adizes, we call the cessation in this phase of transition as the "Founder's Trap". Using the analytical framework of the life cycle of the organization, the goal is to describe the first Pahlavi’s organizational life cycle, explain the captivity of this regime in the snare of founder's trap, and analyze the failure of the national development policies of Reza Shah according to this framework. The conclusion of the paper is that Founder's Trap has transmitted to next governments in Iran and has caused the political system to remain “path-dependent” and never mature. Hence, while the necessary conditions have been provided sometimes, the sufficient condition (successful transition from the Founder's Trap and political system’s attainment of stability and evolution) hasn’t been provided and consequently, national development hasn’t realized. So instead of developmental state, The predatory state instituted in Iran. It should be noted that the holistic analytical approach is dominant in this article. In addition, the historical-comparative method and the narrative-historical interpretation technique have been used for causal explanation of events.