the short-term society a comparative study in problems of long-term political and economic development in iran

The theory presented in this paper serves to explain the roots of iranian history, past and present, and may well be relevant to other countries of the middle east and north africa as well. iran was a short-term society in contrast to europe’s long-term society. it was a society in which change - even important and fundamental change - tended to be a short-term phenomenon. this was precisely due to the absence of an established and inviolable legal framework which would guarantee long term continuity. lack of long-term continuity, by definition, resulted in significant change from one short period to the next, such that history became a series of connected short runs. in this sense, therefore, change was more frequent - usually also more drastic - and as noted, social mobility across various classes considerably higher than in traditional european societies.