Abstract
With the Ottoman Empire's downfall in 1919 and the 1991 first Gulf War, the 1979 Iranian revolution is widely considered as a landmark in Middle East's history. Its impact over the political dynamics of the region, especially Islamic ones, was notable and has led some to conclude that such an influence takes its roots in the Islamic origins of the revolution. However such thought gives little account to the socioeconomic factors as well as "Third Worldist" forces which have undeniably played a central role in the unfolding of the revolt against the Pahlavi's regime. Besides it seems patent that the Iranian revolution has had an impact on the political framework of the Muslim world, and notably on the resurgence of political Islam, namely the outbreak of Islamic religion into the secular political sphere.
In this essay one may therefore attempt to highlight the nature of the actual factors and forces which brought about this revolution and gave it its catalyst's role in the resurgence of Islam as a political ideology in Muslim minds. Moreover one may evaluate the reflection of such factors and forces in the politics of contemporary Iran. First, one will assess the historic role of Shi'ism in the Iranian society as well as the Marxist interpretation of the socioeconomic factors which led to the revolution, regarding to the unique despotic and western character of the Shah's regime in the Middle East.
