This book (in progress) examines the internationalization of the Iranian economy under Reza Shah (1921–1941). Relatedly, it examines Iran’s deviation from the democratizing trajectory that preceded his coronation. It argues that while Reza Shah’s recruitment of foreign expertise and investment established Iran as a minor node in the world economy, his developmental project institutionalized practices of corruption and patterns of wealth concentration that limited its progress from the outset. In so doing, it asks how Reza Shah’s unequal, impositional model of state-directed development was adapted by the governments of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Shah (1941–1979) and the Islamic Republic of Iran (1979–present).