Dependent development and a critical analysis of transportation planning and development records for rail and road transportation in the Five-Year Development Plans of Pahlavi II (1948-1977 CE)

Parnian, Zohreh; Seraj, Mohsen; Sadat Bedgoli, Seyed Mahmud; Basirat Manesh, Hamid

doi:10.30465/ehs.2025.50867.2026

Dependent development and a critical analysis of transportation planning and development records for rail and road transportation in the Five-Year Development Plans of Pahlavi II (1948-1977 CE)

Document Type : .

Authors

zohreh parnian ¹

mohsen seraj ²

Seyed Mahmud Sadat Bedgoli ³

hamid basirat manesh ³

¹ : PhD Candidate of the History of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini and Islamic Revolution Research

² Assistant Professor, History Department, Imam Khomeini and Islamic Revolution Research Institute

³ : Assistant Professor, History Department, Imam Khomeini and Islamic Revolution Research Institute

10.30465/ehs.2025.50867.2026

Abstract

accordance with the country's developmental needs through planning and implementation. The main issue of this research is to examine the performance and outcomes of these plans in the development of the country's road and rail infrastructure. This analysis is based on the concept of dependent development, applying dependency theory, and uses documentary and statistical methods aligned with the key factors of the referenced theoretical framework.

The findings show how, in the context of an economy dependent on global industrial capital centers, even the developmental and infrastructural plans of a peripheral country have become counterproductive, leading to greater economic dependency and increased capital outflow to global system centers. The research demonstrates that the development of transportation infrastructure during the Pahlavi II era, rather than ensuring national benefits and fostering economic development, had adverse effects on the national economy, deepening underdevelopment, expanding unequal trade, and worsening the country's trade balance by facilitating capital export to industrial countries engaged in trade with Iran.

۱۵:۱۹

Keywords

Development planning

Pahlavi II

rail and road transportation

dependent development

unequal trade

Subjects