The Iran Novin Party (Persian: حزب ایران نوین, romanized: Ḥezb-e Īrān-e Novīn, lit. 'New Iran Party') was a royalist political party in Iran and the country's ruling party for more than a decade, controlling both cabinet and the parliament from 1964 to 1975. The People's Party was regarded as its main opposition.[3]
The party was "indistinguishable from the state", i.e. a party of power, with no coherent ideology or agenda.[4] It was the main reason to deny opportunities to seek a popular following through nationalist or socialist appeals, although its pragmatism and opportunism were advantageous in recruiting.[5]
It comprised technocrats and former civil servants; supported the Court (probably having been initiated by it), identifying with the policies of the Shah[6] and self-proclaimed its role as "guardian" of the White Revolution (Pāsdār-e Enqelāb).[5] This party was active from 1963 to 1975. In 1975, the Shah ordered the dissolution of all parties. According to the order of Mohammad Reza Shah, all parties should be merged into a single party called Rastakhiz Party.[7][8] Some time after the 1979 revolution, Mohammad Reza Shah wrote in his book Answer to History that the dissolution of parties was a wrong move.[9]Hassan Ali Mansour and Amir-Abbas Hoveyda were two of the most famous leaders of this party.
^John H. Lorentz (2010). "Rastakhiz Party". The A to Z of Iran. The A to Z Guide Series. Vol. 209. Scarecrow Press. pp. 266–268. ISBN978-1461731917.
^Houchang E. Chehabi (1990). Iranian Politics and Religious Modernism: The Liberation Movement of Iran Under the Shah and Khomeini. I.B.Tauris. p. 39. ISBN978-1850431985.
^Yom, Sean (2015). From Resilience to Revolution: How Foreign Interventions Destabilize the Middle East. Columbia University Press. p. 138. ISBN9780231540278.
^ abMarvin G. Weinbaum (subscription required) (Autumn 1973). "Iran Finds a Party System: The Institutionalization of "Iran Novin"". Middle East Journal. 27 (4). Middle East Institute: 439–455. JSTOR4325140.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ abcNohlen, Dieter; Grotz, Florian; Hartmann, Christof (2001). "Iran". Elections in Asia: A Data Handbook. Vol. I. Oxford University Press. p. 74. ISBN0-19-924958-X.
^Dishon, Daniel (1973), Middle East Record, vol. 4, John Wiley & Sons, p. 484, ISBN9780470216118
^Dishon, Daniel, ed. (1977), Middle East Record: 1969–1970, vol. 5, Israel Oriental Society, Reuven Shiloah Research Center, pp. 682–684, ISBN9780470216118