U.S. Foreign Policy and the Client State: Implications for Domestic Politics and Long-Term U.S.

Interests in Iran

Ph. D. Dissertation

Mark J. Gasiorowski Department of Political Science University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. N. C.

July 10, 19M

Mark

1984 J. Gasiorowski ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

MARK J. GASIOROWSKI. U.S. Foreign Policy and the Client State: Implications for Domestic Politics and Long-T~rm U.S. Interests in Iran. (Under the direction of Enrique A. Baloyra.)

This study examines the impact of a particular tional relationship the client known as cliency on the is a

kind of internaof

domestic politics

country. Cliency

security-oriented greatly

relationship

between two countries which differ and military cliency and political are

in their size, Wealth, of a aid,

power. The flows of

most visible aspects military and economic

relationship

formal or informal security agreements, ventions by the patron on behalf of

and overt or covert interthe client government. The

main thesis of the client contributing democracy

this study is that cliency vis-a-vis

can greatly strengthen groups, thus prospects for

government to

domestic political and reducing the

authoritarianism

in the client country.

This argument postwar U.S.-Iran domestic

is

evaluated cliency This

through a detailed and can

analysis

of the

relationship relationship

its effect be

on Iran's August

politics.

dated from

1953, when Iranian Prime Minist~r Mohammad Mossadeq in a CIA-supported coup. The United States played subsequent in consolidation military

was overthrown a crucial role of power by the aid was

in this coup, and in the shah. Over

one billion dollars

and economic

given to Iran under the cliency relationship ing the coup. for Iran's The United States also and for

in the decade followextensive training SAVAK

provided

armed forces

the secret

police force

under this relationship.

These

instruments

of

U.S. The

policy had Mossadeq

profound

impact

on with

Iran's domestic politics.

government

overthrown

U.S. help was the last Iranian acter. U.S. military

government

with a democratic

char-

and economic aid, particularly

U.S. assist-

ance to

SAVAK,

was instrumental Hence, inasmuch

in helping as

the

shah consolidate enabled the shah

his dictatorship. to establish had a profound The long-term for U.S. study.

U.S. policy

a dictatorship, and important implications

the U.S.-Iran impact on

cliency

relationship politics. and

Iran's

domestic

of this policy discussed

for Iranian

politics

interests

are briefly

in the conclusion

of this

CONTENTS

Introduction Chapter 1 - The Cliency Relationship and its Role in Postwar U.S. Foreign Policy . 1) Definitions of Cliency and the Client State The Cliencv Relationship and its Motivations Cliency Instruments . The Client State . 2) Cliency and Other International Relationships Dependency . The Satellite Relationship ...... Colonialism and Imperialism .......... 3) A Brief Overvlew of Postwar U.S. Cliencv Relationships Postwar U.S. Clients . U.S. Motives in Establishing Cliency Relationships Footnotes to Chapter 1 Chapter 2 - The Client State 1) The State and Society .. . .... Definitions of State, Government, and Regime Contending Views of State-Society Relations 1'1echan isms of Group Lnf Luanc a . Summary . 2) The Political Economv of State-Society Relations 3) The Politics of the Client State . The Relationship Between Cliency and Authoritarianism Cliency and Relative Autonomy The Client State . Consequences for the Client Society Footnotes to Chapter 2 . . . . Chapter 3 - Prologue: Domestic Politics and Foreign Influence in Iran Before 1951 . 1) The Great Powers in Iran, 1800-1941 . 2) The Politics of Iran, 1900-1941 . The Social Structure of Iran Under the Qajars The Constitutional Revolution and its Aftermath, 1906-1925 The Regime of Re2a Shah Pahlevi, 1925-1941 The Social and Political Structure of Iran under Reza Shah 3) World War II and the Postwar Period, 1941-1951 Iranian Politics During World War II and its Aftermath The Postwar Struggle for Power in Iran The Emergence of the National Front Footnotes to Chapter 3 ..... Chapter 4 - U.S. Interests in Iran 1) Oil and U.S. Policy Toward Iran Middle East Oil During World War II Oil 1n Postwar U.S. Foreign Policy .. The Role of the State in U.S. Oil Policy .... 2) The Evolution of the U.S. Containment Strategy in Iran U.S. Policy During the 1946 Crisis ...... The Truman Doctrine and its Aftermath ..... Th~ Reorientation of U.S. Policy Toward Iran: 1950 Footnotes to Chapter 4 . Chapter 5 - The Establishment
1951-1954
1)

1 4 44 7

10 12 13 14 16

17
IS

22 25 27 27 27
29

34 39 40 44
45 49

50

52
56 59 60 64 65
67

69 72 75 75 80
&3

85 88 90 90 92
94

"

95 96 101 104 107 111 113

of a U.S. Client State,

.

Iran on the Eve of Nationalization The Oil Issue . The Iranian Political Scene in 1951 . 2) The Anglo-Iranian Oil Crisis, 1951-1952

113
115 120

The Anglo-Iranian Oil Negotiations . British Int~rv~ntion in Iranian Politics . The U.S. Role in the Anglo-Iranian Oil Negotiations 3) The Downfall of the Mossadeq Government The Coup of August 19. 1953 . The Post-Coup Consolidation of Power 4) Implications for Iran's Domestic Politics Footnotes to Chapter 5 . Chapter 6 - The Consolidation of a Client State 1) The U.S.-Iran Cliency Relationship. 1953-1963 Military and Economic Aid . Security Assistance . The Evolution of U.S.-Iranian Relations 2) The Foundations of Dictatorship The Security Forces ..... Mechanisms of Cooptation 3) The Shah and the Opposition The National Front and the Tudeh Party The Military . The Landowning Aristocracy and the Clergy 4) Cliency and Dictatorship in Iran Footnotes to Chapter 6 . Conclusion - The Long-Term Implications 1) Implications for Iranian Politics 2) Implications for U.S. Interests Footnotes to the Conclusion of Cliency

121

126
134 143 143 153 155 160 169 169

170
174 178 182 182 189 193 194 196 198 199 206 211 212 216 220

INTRODUCTION

This study was It was originally anti-Am~ricanism the hostage most Iranians

first

conceived

during

the to

Iranian understand

revolution. the fierce

motivated ~xpr~ss~d

by a desire during th~

r~volution evident

and later during time that an imporbeen a to

crisis. viewed

It quickly the United

became States

at this played

as having

tant role major power U.S.

in nurturing client. The

the shah's Un~ted

dictatorship.

Iran had

States

had restored economic

the shah

in 1953

and supported forces

him with

aid and assistance if true, democracy flew and

for his armed

and secret

police.

This view,

in the face of the professed human rights

U.S. goal of promoting Furthermore,

in the third world.

if the United if

States

had ha Lp'e d contributed clearly gain~d ominous

the shah establ ish hi s to the Iranian

d i c t e t o rah i p , and

thi shad error had

revolution,

Then a s~rious Regardless with

been made by U.S. policymakers. in twenty-five consequences becoming y~ars of

of the benefits the shah, the

association

of the Iranian apparent

revolution

for U.S.

interests

were already

by this time.

Moreover,

while

there was a reluctant

willingness

by the Carter

Administration ty in building dominant

and by many Americans up

to accept

some U.S. complicia precedent in the frame-

the shah, there was neither political consciousness

American

nor a theoretical

work for understanding maintained Vietnam U.S. was with

how a cliency

relationship

such as the one politics. of

Iran could affect guide.

the client's To focus

domestic

not a useful in

on the

consequences domestic

involvement

Vietnam

for that country's points.

politics

seemed

to miss the most was regarded

important

In any case, as

the Vietnam aber-

experience

by most Americans

a nightmarish

PAGE 2 ration.

Nor did U.s. world in which

policy

in Latin Am~rica. states

th~ r~gion

of the third

the United

has traditionally insights. Although

been most deepthe U.S. impact

ly involved,

seem to offer many politics

on Latin Am~rican different

has been blatant. in Latin

it has been of a very have been primaripenetration of

form. U.S. rather

interests

America

ly commercial Latin America,

t ur e ,

than strategic.
50

U.S. economic in the

studied of

insightfully

dependency than

litera-

has

been

greater

consequence

state-to-state

relations.

Its impact has also the historical

be~n Very diff~rent. evolution The direct

u.s.

economic socie-

ties have shaped

of Latin American impact

ties and hence their politics. ties on the political process

of U.S. economic importance.

itself has been of less

Despite

the

absence

of a body

of literature Iranians

on had

this subject, suffered by the for

the phenomenon twenty-fiv~ States. world seemed appeared

seemed worth under a

studying. dictatorship Persian Most

years

supported Gulf

United th~

u.s.
to to

interests

ln the damaged.

and throughout

had been seriously occur

importantly, Korea and

the phenomenon the Philippines situation allies in in

elsewhere.

south

be similar also have

cases waiting useful insights

to erupt. for other

The

Iran might Central

u.s.

America,

the Middle

East, and Southeast

Asia.

Thre~ main policy what actually were the

questions promote

have guided dictatorship goals

this study. in Iran? led to

First,

did U.S.

If so. how? Second. such an vital the outcome? to

U.S. policy that these were

that

Third, assuming national followed producing

goals were there

considered to

u.s.

security, which

alternatives U.S. for Iran?

policies without

would

have safeguarded consequences

interests

such disastrous

Most of

this study

is concerned

with

answering

the

first

of

PAGE 3
these purpose questions. The theoretical framework developed for this

is laid out mainly in Ircln in thQ

in chapter

2. Chapters

5 and 6 examine

U.S. policy political dealt with the context

19505

and Qarlv 19605 and its domestic

question 1 and more pursued here is in

consequences. in general of Iran

The second major terms in chapter

specifically

in parts

of chapters

4-6. The third

is consid-

ered, but all too briefly,

in the conclusion

of this study.