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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iran
Index
Prior to the Revolution of 1979, the political elite of the
towns consisted of the shah and his family and court in Tehran and
the representatives of the monarchy in the provincial towns. These
representatives included provincial governors and city mayors, all
of whom were appointed by Tehran; high-level government officials;
high- ranking military officers; the wealthiest industrialists and
financiers; the most prominent merchants; and the best known
professionals in law, medicine, and education. The highest ranks of
the Shia clergy--the clerics who had obtained the status of
ayatollah--were no longer considered part of the national elite by
the mid-1970s, although this social group had been very important
in the elite from the seventeenth to the mid- twentieth century.
The Revolution of 1979 swept aside this old elite. Although the
old political elite was not physically removed, albeit many of its
members voluntarily or involuntarily went into exile, it was
stripped of its political power. The new elite consisted first and
foremost of the higher ranks of the Shia clergy. The most important
administrative, military, and security positions were filled by lay
politicians who supported the rule of the clergy. The majority of
the lay political elite had their origins in the prerevolutionary
middle class, especially the bazaar families
(see Political Dynamics
, ch. 4).
Data as of December 1987
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