One of the most important factors in the success of the government in implementing environmental policies is the active and effective public participation. Therefore, in this study, by analyzing the Iranian government's environmental policies, especially environmental legislation, and with a glance at the quintet pre-revolutionary development plans of 1978, the government's contribution and the influence of its policies on reducing public participation and the lack of a participatory culture in environmental protection are addressed. According to this research hypothesis, due to efforts for using its expanding judicial, legislative and administrative system, Pahlavi government sought to carry out all activities related to environmental protection, thus preventing the public from being involved in environmental protection. Therefore, in response to the question of what role the Pahlavi government has played in the lack of active public participation in environmental protection, we will show that in Iran, due to the domination of authoritarian and totalitarian government, the dominance of the institutionalized model of policy making and the imperative approach to development planning using legislation relying on disciplinary strategies, the arena for the active participation of the public in environmental protection was narrowing day by day, and these factors prevented environmental issues from becoming a social issue as it happened in the West.