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Iran
The Provisional Government
The government under the monarchy had been highly centralized.
Although in theory the shah was a constitutional monarch, in practice
he wielded extraordinary power as head of state, chief executive,
and commander in chief of the armed forces. The shah was actively
involved in day-to-day decision making and played a pivotal role
as the most important formulator of national goals and priorities.
During the Revolution, the authority that had been concentrated
in the shah and exercised through the bureaucracy based in Tehran
was severely eroded; many governmental functions were usurped
by several hundred komitehs that sprang up in urban neighborhoods,
towns, and villages throughout the country. By the time the provisional
government of Bazargan had acceded to power, these komitehs,
usually attached to local mosques, were reluctant to surrender
to the central government any of the wide-ranging powers they
had assumed. Their determination to retain substantial power was
supported by most members of the Revolutionary Council, a body
formed by Khomeini in January 1979 to supervise the transition
from monarchy to republic. The Revolutionary Council remained
independent of the provisional government and undertook actions,
or sanctioned those actions carried out by the revolutionary committees,
that were in conflict with the policies pursued by the Bazargan
cabinet. Inevitably, the provisional government, which wanted
to reestablish the authority of the central government, would
come into conflict with the komitehs and the proliferation
of revolutionary organizations.
Bazargan's lack of essential backing from the Revolutionary Council,
and ultimately from Khomeini, made it virtually impossible for
his government to exercise effective control over arrests, trials,
the appointment of officials, military-civilian relations, and
property confiscations. Consequently, the various revolutionary
organizations and the komitehs persistently challenged
the authority of the provisional government throughout its brief
tenure. Bazargan's apparent powerlessness even extended to the
realm of foreign policy. When a group of college students overran
the United States embassy in downtown Tehran, Bazargan and his
cabinet were unable to prevent American personnel from being held
as hostages. Acknowledging the impotence of his administration,
Bazargan resigned after only nine months in office.
The issue of central versus local control that had plagued the
Bazargan government continued to be a matter of political contention
in 1987. Although the extreme diffusion of power that characterized
the Bazargan government no longer prevailed in 1987, in comparison
with the pre- revolutionary situation, political power in Iran
was relatively decentralized. This arrangement represented a balance
between two vocal factions within the political elite. A procentralization
faction has argued that the goals of an Islamic republic can best
be achieved and maintained only if the institutions of government
are strong. In contrast, a decentralization faction has insisted
that bureaucratization is inherently destructive of long-term
objectives and that the future of the Revolution can only be ensured
through extensive popular participation in numerous revolutionary
organizations.
Data as of December 1987
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