Kazem Alamdari, Why the Middle East Lagged Behind 

About the Book:  

Capitalism was the engine of modern development in the West. The land  tenure system in the Middle East, in contrast to the West, was an obstacle to the development of capitalism. In the West, the feudalism resulted in a capitalist mode of production, and the feudal system was driven by private ownership of land. In Iran, these fundamentals were absent. Middle Eastern societies failed to produce secular law. After Islam, Shari'a based law ruled these societies as their history was rooted in patrimonial order. 

Understanding this, some Western developmentalists, in an attempt to remove this obstacle, rationalized a project of "modernization" that involved imposing capitalism from the top down. Under this project, developing countries under the influence of the West were advised to launch land reform programs to modify the obsolete traditional land systems. The first part of this study explores the roots of this issue in Iran. The second part of the book examines the period of time from 1961, when the land reform program began, to 1981, when Iran saw the beginning of the Islamic system.  

How to Order: 

ISBN 0-7618-2868-0 

Publisher: University Press of America (UPA) 

(800) 462-6420 > Pp. 345, price $40

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Last modified: July 11, 2004