Abdol Majid Majidi

Abdol Majid Majidi
Minister of State
In office
1973–1977
MonarchMohammad Reza Pahlavi
Prime MinisterAmir Abbas Hoveyda
Minister of Labor and Social Affairs
In office
1968–1973
MonarchMohammad Reza Pahlavi
Prime MinisterAmir Abbas Hoveyda
Minister of Agricultural Products and Consumer Affairs
In office
1967–1968
MonarchMohammad Reza Pahlavi
Prime MinisterAmir Abbas Hoveyda
Personal details
Born11 January 1929
Tehran, Imperial State of Persia
Died23 February 2014(2014-02-23) (aged 85)
San Francisco, USA
Resting placePère Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France
Political partyRastakhiz Party
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1951; died 1983)​
Children2
Alma mater

Abdol Majid Majidi (Persian: عبدالمجید مجیدی,‎ 1929–2014) was an Iranian politician who held several cabinet and public posts during the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He went into exile following the regime change in Iran in 1979 and settled in Paris.

Early life and education

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Majidi was born in Tehran on 11 January 1929.[1] His father was a lawyer, and Majidi was the second of his family's seven children.[2]

Majidi was a graduate of the University of Tehran where he received a law degree in 1950.[2] He obtained his PhD in law from the University of Paris[3] and also, attended economy program of the Harvard University's graduate school.[1][4]

Career

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Majidi was a member of the Rastakhiz Party.[4] He held the following posts: deputy prime minister,[4] minister of agricultural products and consumer affairs in the period between 1967 and 1968 and minister of labor and social affairs from 1968 to 1973.[5] He was appointed minister of state and director of the Plan and Budget Organization on 12 January 1973.[6] He replaced Khodadad Mirza Farman Farmaian as director of the Plan and Budget Organization.[7] Majidi remained in both posts until 1977.[5][8] His successor as director of the Plan and Budget Organization was Mohammad Yeganeh.[7] Majidi served in these posts during the premiership of Amir Abbas Hoveyda.[4]

As the Shah of Iran established a one-party state, Majidi assumed leadership of the Rastakhiz Party's progressive faction. Recognizing the untapped potential of Iran's constitution, he proposed a reform plan to enhance the effectiveness of its three branches: the executive, legislative, and judiciary. Majidi argued that a truly representative assembly, rather than an appointed one, was essential for the nation to express its will, countering the Shah's assertion that the constitution was a joint mandate of himself and the nation. [9]

Majidi was also the secretary general of the Iranian Red Cross and director of Queen Farah Foundation between 1977 and 1979.[3][10]

Later years, personal life and death

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Majidi was arrested by the martial authorities in January 1979.[2] On 11 February 1979 when the Iranian army announced its neutrality towards the Islamic forces, many prisoners, including Majidi, escaped from the jail.[2] On 26 May 1979 he left Iran after hiding in his relatives' houses and settled in Paris, France, where his wife, Monir Vakili, had been living.[2] They married in 1951, and Monir Vakili was an opera singer and TV personality in Pahlavi Iran.[2] Vakili died in a traffic collision in Belgium on 28 February 1983.[2] They had two daughters, Scheherzade and Djamileh.[1][11]

Majidi died in San Francisco, USA, on 23 February 2014.[11] He was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris next to his wife on 28 March 2014.[1][11]

Work

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Majidi published various books, including his memoirs dated 1998.[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Deaths Majidi". The New York Times. 25 March 2014. p. 25. ProQuest 1509542578. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Abbas Milani (2008). Eminent Persians: The Men and Women Who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979. Vol. 1–2. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. pp. 213–214, 219. ISBN 978-0-8156-0907-0.
  3. ^ a b Mehrzad Boroujerdi (2020). "Rethinking the Legacy of Intellectual-Statesmen in Iran". In Ramin Jahanbegloo (ed.). Mapping the Role of Intellectuals in Iranian Modern and Contemporary History. London: Lexington Books. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-7936-0007-3.
  4. ^ a b c d "Abdol Majid Majidi" (PDF). Paris: Foundation for Iranian Studies. October 1982. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  5. ^ a b Cyrus Schayegh (2018). "Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi's Autocracy: Governmental Constraints, 1960s–1970s". Iranian Studies. 51 (6): 897. doi:10.1080/00210862.2018.1522949. S2CID 165753208.
  6. ^ "Chronology November 16, 1971-February 15, 1972". The Middle East Journal. 26 (2): 162–179. Spring 1972. JSTOR 4324910.
  7. ^ a b Ehsanee Ian Sadr (2013). To whisper in the king's ear: Economists in Pahlavi and Islamic Iran (PhD thesis). University of Maryland, College Park. pp. 239–240. ISBN 978-1-303-30703-4. ProQuest 1432765052.
  8. ^ Marouf Cabi (2019). The impact of the modernisation of Iran on Kurdish society: Modernity, modernisation and social change (1920-1979) (PhD thesis). University of St Andrews. p. 135. doi:10.17630/10023-17817.
  9. ^ "Interview with Majidi, Abdol-Majid, Part 15". Foundation for Iranian Studies.
  10. ^ "Oral History Interview. Majidi, Abdol Majidi". Foundation for Iranian Studies. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  11. ^ a b c "Dr. Abdol Majid Majidi Obituary". Legacy. Retrieved 9 June 2022. Citing a news report published in The New York Times on 25 March 2014
  12. ^ "Majīdī, ʻAbd al-Majīd 1929-2014". WorldCat. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
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