The Link between Patron / Client and the Collapse of Pahlavi\'s Dynasty: Structure of the Balance of Power and Revolutionary Agent

For some historical reasons, the Pahlavi despotic political system could not rely on the legitimate bases of political power (religion, common law and law) in order to attain, protect and increase its power. In internal political environment, the political despotic regime relied on two foundations i.e., suppression and authoritarian possession of resources, in order to secure financial resources necessary for increasing government’s functions. In the international setting, the despotic rentier political system tried to attract the support of great powers in order to compensate the weakness it encountered in internal environment. The Nixon /Kissinger\'s doctrine in the foreign policy of the United States of America made it possible for the client actor to acquire its interests fully, in international environment, through dependence on a superpower. Stability in international structure, in such doctrine, emerged through regulating the mechanism of the balance of power. In such power equation, Iran, as a regional gendarme, helped to stabilize the international structure by decreasing the US security expenses. On the other hand, however, increasing the insecurity and internal suppression, it developed the revolutionary agent’s field of action. This article argues that the theoretical foundation of the structure of the balance of power, in the Nixon/Kissinger doctrine refers to the meta-theoretical paradox between the structure of balance of power and the revolutionary agent, based on which, the coming of the Islamic revolution in Iran and the broken bond between the General and the Gendarme can be studies.