The Western reaction to the Islamic Revolution has been a curious admixture of hysteria and complacency. Yet analysts have tended to dismiss one crucial element in the importance of the revolution: its context. The ideology that the revolution promoted was consequential, but that Tehran could operationalise the revolution so effectively was a direct consequence of the political and historical frame of reference from which the revolution emerged. The Islamic Revolution of 1979 took place in a non-Arab country with a rich historical heritage, universalist pretentions and a political economy that both empowered and enabled it. In short, the revolution married sacred fury with the political economy of the state of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
