عدالت و نابرابری فضایی در الگوی مدیریت اقتصاد سیاسی باز توزیع در دهه اول انقلاب اسلامی

This study examines spatial justice and spatial inequality within the framework of the political economy of redistributive governance during the first decade of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. A qualitative approach and directed content analysis within a political economy–spatial framework are employed. The data set includes the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the national budget law, and the statutes of the Jihad of Construction and the Housing Foundation of the Islamic Revolution, selected through purposive sampling. Data were analyzed through semantic unit extraction and coding of key concepts such as justice, redistribution, land, housing, and development, and then organized into broader analytical categories. Comparative and intertextual document analysis led to the derivation of a spatially oriented redistributive governance model. Findings show that during the first decade of the Revolution, the state implemented a coherent model of redistribution and spatial intervention through legal, financial, and institutional mechanisms. The Constitution, the budget system, and revolutionary institutions provided the institutional infrastructure for expanding access to land, housing, infrastructure, and public services in marginalized regions. Redistributive policies were grounded in centralized political and economic structures and shaped through constitutionally supported budgeting and institutional arrangements. Through land allocation, housing provision, infrastructure development, and targeted resource distribution, these policies directly influenced the spatial distribution of development opportunities. Overall, the governing model is characterized as spatially oriented redistributive governance, in which the state simultaneously functioned as regulator of the economy and producer of space.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
The review of legal, budgetary, and institutional documents of the 1980s shows that the state, in this period, actively shaped spatial development through mechanisms such as centralized allocation of resources, control of the land market, expansion of rural infrastructure, provision of public services, and the establishment of institutions such as the Construction Jihad and the Housing Foundation. The Constitution also provided the legal basis for these interventions by emphasizing social rights, the provision of basic needs, and the equitable distribution of facilities across regions. In addition, a centralized budget structure, state and central bank control over credits, and the participation of revolutionary institutions in resource allocation formed a governance model in which both social and spatial justice were formally defined as policy goals. However, decision-making centralization, dependence on oil revenues, and the weakness of local institutions raise questions about the capacity of these policies to achieve balanced spatial development. Accordingly, this study seeks to explain the relationship between the state’s institutional structure, mechanisms of resource redistribution, and their spatial consequences in the first decade after the Islamic Revolution. It assumes that although redistributive policies in this period expanded public services and reduced some regional and social deprivation, they could not establish a balanced model of spatial development due to institutional centralization, fiscal dependence on the central government, and the absence of sustainable regional development mechanisms. Based on this issue, the study addresses the following questions:

On what institutional, political, and economic foundations were the state’s redistributive policies in the first decade of the Islamic Revolution based?
Through what mechanisms did these policies affect the spatial distribution of resources, services, and development opportunities across different regions of the country?

 
Methodology
This study adopts a qualitative approach within a political economy–spatial framework and aims to analyze the institutional logic and redistributive mechanisms of justice in the first decade following the Islamic Revolution in Iran. The data were collected through the examination of legal and policy documents and analyzed based on a systematic reading of legal and institutional texts. The study’s corpus includes the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1980 and its 1989 revision), the 1981 national budget law, and the institutional documents of the Construction Jihad and the Housing Foundation of the Islamic Revolution. These documents were purposefully selected, as each represents a distinct dimension of governance—legal, financial, and institutional—thereby enabling a multi-layered analysis of redistributive policies. Data analysis was conducted using a directed qualitative content analysis approach. First, semantic units related to concepts such as social justice, resource redistribution, spatial distribution, land, housing, financial credits, and regional policies were extracted. These concepts were then organized into analytical codes and further grouped into broader categories, including financial redistribution instruments, land and housing policies, state spatial intervention, credit control mechanisms, and multi-level governance structures. Finally, the relationships among these categories were interpreted through comparative and intertextual analysis of the documents in order to identify dominant patterns of governance and redistribution in the first decade after the Revolution and to articulate them within a political economy–spatial framework.
 
Results and Discussion
The findings of the study indicate that the redistributive policies of the first decade of the Islamic Revolution were grounded in a coherent institutional, political, and economic foundation. At the institutional level, the Constitution, with its emphasis on social justice, the right to housing, social security, and the equitable distribution of resources, provided the legal framework for state intervention. At the political level, the linkage between the state, revolutionary institutions, and popular forces generated a hybrid structure of legitimacy, while at the economic level, the concentration of financial resources and the central role of the public budget enabled active state intervention in development. The findings further show that these policies affected spatial organization through instruments such as land redistribution, regulation of the land market, expansion of housing for low-income groups, implementation of rural infrastructure projects, reconstruction of war-affected regions, and targeted allocation of public credits. Institutions such as the Construction Jihad and the Housing Foundation served as intermediaries between the state and local levels. Ultimately, the dominant model can be described as spatially oriented redistributive governance, in which the state functions both as a distributor of resources and as an organizer of space and regional access to development.
 
Conclusion
The findings of the study indicate that the redistributive policies of the first decade of the Islamic Revolution were grounded in a coherent institutional, political, and economic foundation. At the institutional level, the Constitution, with its emphasis on social justice, the right to housing, social security, and the equitable distribution of resources, provided the legal framework for state intervention. At the political level, the linkage between the state, revolutionary institutions, and popular forces created a hybrid structure of legitimacy, while at the economic level, the concentration of financial resources and the central role of the public budget enabled active state intervention in development processes. The findings further show that these policies shaped spatial organization through instruments such as land redistribution, land market regulation, expansion of housing for low-income groups, implementation of rural infrastructure projects, reconstruction of war-affected areas, and targeted allocation of public credits. Institutions such as the Construction Jihad and the Housing Foundation acted as intermediaries between the state and local levels. Ultimately, the dominant model can be described as spatially oriented redistributive governance, in which the state functions both as a distributor of resources and as an organizer of space and regional access to development.
 
Funding
There is no funding support.
 
Authors’ Contribution
All of the authors approved thecontent of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work.
 
Conflict of Interest
Authors declared no conflict of interest.
 
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.