From 1941 to 1979 Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, commonly known as Mohammad Reza, or simply the Shah, led Iran as the successor to his father, Reza Shah Pahlavi. Muhammad often went against his vows of constitutional monarchy by using Iran's secret police, SAVAK, to suppress his political opponents. Mohammad Reza's domestic policy focused on a series of reform policies to modernize the country. His foreign policy focused on the effort to abolish Sovietism and become an ally of the Western powers and the United States. Shah's rule is characterized as dictatorial, a period of major internal and constitutional reforms, as well as a period in which Iran established itself as a major regional power. Mohammad Reza attempted to free the region from foreign influence, primarily that of the Soviets and Communism, in an effort to increase the country's individual power. As a means to achieve this goal, Mohammad Reza instituted reforms to modernize the country. However, as stated on Farah Pahlavi's official website, his government did not follow the emerging ideas of democracy and aroused opposition from many traditionalists and nationalists with different priorities. Overall, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's domestic reforms were largely ineffective in achieving his goals, while his foreign goals were largely achieved. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi replaced his father as ruler of Iran in 1941, when his father was forced into exile by the Soviet Union and Great Britain. due to its friendly relations with Germany. His father, Reza Shah Pahlavi, made Iran a "new state of considerable apparent strength... capable of asserting its power... throughout the country and over the entire population." Reza Shah implements and enforces the nationalists' agenda without the help of the tribe...... middle of the document......June 4, 2014.Maxson, Pamela. "Reza Shah Pahlevi." Nova online. C. T. Evans and P. Maxson, May 1999. Web. May 20, 2014."Mohammad Reza Pahlavi." Official website of Empress Farah Pahlavi. Np, nd Web. June 3, 2014. “Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 16 May. 2014.Sadri, Houman A. “Pahlavi Dynasty.” Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. Ed. Karen Christensen and David Levinson. vol. 4. New York: Sons of Charles Scribner, 2002. 407-410. World history in context. Network. May 19, 2014.Samii, Abbas William. "The Shah's Lebanese Policy: The Role of SAVAK". Middle Eastern Studies 33.1 (1997): 66+. World history in context. Network. May 19, 2014. Wright, Edwin M. “Review: Riza Shah Pahlavi: The Resurrection and Reconstruction of Iran 1878-1944.” Middle East Newspaper 30.2 (1976): JSTOR. Network. May 19 2014.