Considering the importance of public participation and the active presence of people in the success of measures related to environmental protection, this article, using the historical research method, tries to analyze the environmental policies of the Iranian government, especially in connection with authoritarian modernization, institutional model of policy-making and a punitive approach in environmental laws will address the contribution of the Pahlavi government and the impact of its policies on the reduction of public participation in environmental protection and, in a sense, the alienation of people from the environment. The findings of the research show that in Iran, due to the dominance of the authoritarian government, the dominance of the institutional model of policy-making and the imperative approach of development planning and because of using legislations relying on Punitive solutions, the arena for people's active participation in environmental protection was shrinking. these factors prevented environmental issues from becoming social issues.