Objective: This article seeks to trace the roots of the legitimacy crisis in the Second Pahlavi monarchy. Its main goal is to analyze the fundamental contradiction through which the regime’s authoritarian modernization and cultural engineering, designed ostensibly to consolidate power, actually led to the systematic undermining and erosion of its own legitimacy.
Method: The study employs a qualitative approach based on descriptive-analytical methodology and historical institutionalism. The analysis uses Weberian concepts of legitimacy as a benchmark and applies the notion of strategic culture to interpret the monarchy’s identity policies.
Result: The research reveals a structural and irresolvable tension between the two main pillars of the Pahlavi project. On one hand, authoritarian modernization, marked by the personalization of power and the emptying of modern institutions of democratic substance, prevented the emergence of rational-legal legitimacy. On the other hand, cultural engineering, driven by the promotion of a "Strategic Culture" rooted in neo‑ancientism and militant secularism, eroded the traditional bases of legitimacy and deepened the alienation between state and society.
Conclusion: Ultimately, the Pahlavi regime collapsed into a vacuum of legitimacy due to these contradictory policies, becoming a brittle and vulnerable political structure. This crisis was not a random occurrence but the logical outcome of the intrinsic paradox within its state‑building project, one that prioritized economic growth over participation and identity construction over consent, paving the way to its eventual downfall.