It examines the pre-revolutionary development plans and the post–Islamic Revolution economic, social, and cultural development plans. Using a comparative approach, the study analyzes their overarching objectives, implementation mechanisms, degree of goal attainment, and structural challenges. Furthermore, to explain the relative underdevelopment and the partial failure of certain plans, managerial, economic, and social factors influencing the planning and implementation processes were evaluated.



The findings indicate that pre-revolutionary plans primarily focused on economic growth, industrialization, and infrastructure development. Although these plans improved certain economic indicators, they faced limitations in ensuring social justice and the equitable distribution of resources and facilities. In contrast, post-revolutionary plans were formulated with greater emphasis on social justice, human development, and the expansion of public services. However, the achievement of their objectives was affected by factors such as dependence on oil revenues, weak executive management, institutional incoherence, the gap between planning and implementation, and the inefficiency of monitoring and evaluation systems.



The results suggest that the relative failure of some development plans in Iran stems less from deficiencies in goal formulation than from structural problems within the implementation system, weak institutional coordination, and the lack of efficient managerial infrastructure. Therefore, improving the quality of governance, strengthening merit-based management, reforming monitoring and evaluation systems, and establishing an effective link between planning and implementation can play an important role in enhancing the efficiency of development plans and achieving the country’s major economic and social objectives.