Arguably the union of the old provincial soldier and the young cosmopolitan intellectuals was the best thing which happened to Iran in its entire post Islamic history. They accomplished the impossible.
In a span of sixteen years, out of the rubble of an old decaying oriental empire, they built a modern state. They built a strong army, an effective bureaucracy, a secular and clean judiciary, schools, universities, railroads, hospitals, dams, factories, hotels.

They did that without a cent of foreign debt, minimal oil revenues, a largely illiterate and scattered populace and a skeleton staff of college graduates. They did not attempt utopian social engineering. There was no mass genocide of the ancient regime. There were no periodic Stalinist purges. There was no foreign adventurism.There was no ethnic or religious stereotyping and cleansing.
They gave Iran the self respect and national pride that it had lost for hundreds of years.

A disciplinarian model of development had its costs. Bringing a nation out of the abyss did require sacrifice. Some of these young men ended up in jail, exile or internal disgrace. Democratic institutions never sprang up. Reza Shah did confiscate some of his adversaries private property.
The benefits however were far greater than the costs and Iran definitely gained.

Like his father Mohamad Reza Shah was never an oriental Sultan, unlike his father he was never a pure soldier. More than anything Mohamad Reza Shah was a technocrat whose sole aim in life was to finish the job that Davar and Foroughi had started.

The popularity of Reza Pahlavi is more than anything a result of Iran's changing demographics.
In 1978 40% of Iran's population were city dewelers and 50% of them had emigrated to the cities in the last 5 years before the revolution. As a result over 80% of Iran's population had a traditional village mentality.

They did not understand modern values because they did not have modern needs. The Mollas were their traditional leaders. The aim of the revolution was therefore not freedom or development but the reinstatement of traditional values such as the veil.

It was not therefore surprising that Iran's educated modern middle class regardless of their political persuasions had to leave Iran or became pariahs at home once Mohamad Reza Shah left.

Today 70% of Iran's population are city dewelers. In the years since the revolution the absence of Modernity has brought them unemployment, lack of civic services, absence of a real judiciary etc.

As a result, the modernization paradigm which 80 years ago only belonged to the educated elite has now become the common man's objective except they want to achieve "Davar's Dream" within a democratic framework.

The other important change is the age of the Iranian population. Fifty percent of all Iranians have been born after the revolution and have absolutely no idea of the revolutionary era. They want social and political freedoms, jobs. The Islamic Republic has failed to deliver and they are looking for an alternative.

The reason that Reza Pahlavi has emerged as the leader of the new modern middle-class movement in Iran is not because educated Iranians have suddenly become fond of Oriental Sultans fully equipped with seraglios, eunuchs, concubines and henchmen.
Reza Pahlavi is a symbol of an alternative vision for Iran, the continuation of a political dynasty which successfully delivered the economic development side of the equation and never lied to Iranians.
The question that many ask is whether Reza Pahlavi can deliver "Davar's Dream" within a democratic framework.

The structuring of a democratic framework depends on the method that power is transferred. If the power is transferred through non violent means such as a campaign of civil disobedience and ultimately a UN sponsored referendum, the means of a coercive takeover of the state will simply not exist for any group, monarchist, republican or otherwise.
The argument that Reza Pahlavi by virtue of his pedigree and name recognition cannot lead a democratic movement thus becomes baseless.

The fact that you have the political families of Bush, Gore, Kennedy or Roosevelt in the United States or the Francois Poncets in France or the Churchills in England or the Buttos in Pakistan or the Gandis in India just to name a few has not been an obstacle to democracy in their respective countries.
This article has been written by an annonymous writer and has appeared on many different Iran related websites. Our efforts to identify the writer have not been successful.

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