Seyed Morteza Avini’s Post-Development Thought

After the emergence of a modern industrial order in the West, the importance of pursuing development in Iran led to the increased debate on how Iran should address the phenomenon of economic development. In Iran’s contemporary history, Western-oriented elites believed that Iran’s backwardness was due to not following the methods that the West passed to achieve development. Hence, especially during the Pahlavi era, development planning was implemented with a Western-oriented approach to overcome these backwardness issues. Undoubtedly, the realization of the Islamic Revolution can be considered as a confrontation with this modernization style, followed by serious criticisms from some intellectuals. Seyed Morteza Avini, whose ideas on economic development are examined in the present paper, is among these intellectuals. This study is aimed at investigating what components Avini’s thoughts on developmentalism encompass. According to the research findings, while aligning with some post-development negative thoughts, Avini critically analyzed Western development. However, he surpasses post-development thinkers and, under the influence of Islamic Revolution ideas based on Islamic and indigenous components and values such as religious identity and Islamic justice, presents an alternative version of development(Progress with spirituality), thus addressing the most crucial concern regarding progress affirmatively. The present paper employs grounded theory methodology, and the data will be collected by library method.

Keywords:

Post-development , Morteza Avini , development alternatives , Developing Countries , Identity , Social Justice , Progress with spirituality