Iran's Constitutional Revolution: Popular Politics, Cultural Transformations And Transnational Connections (international Library Of Iranian Studies)

Born out of a fundamental tension between the old-fashioned and inadequate Qajar monarchy of Mozaffar al-Din Sah and Mohammad Ali Shah, and new reformist democratic ideals, the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906 represents a pivotal moment in the formation of modern Iran. The collapse of the state through financial indigence and foreign pressure - which in the end also consumed the new regime - created a vacuum, which became the subject of many different visions. These included the anti-constitutionalist arguments of Fazlollah Nuri; the moderate Shi'i vision of Tabatabai'I; the more gradualist secular approach of bureaucrats such as Sani-e Dowleh and Nasser Al-Molk; the various radical visions of Taqizadeh and Sattar Khan, as well as the Bakhtiaris. What were the reformists' various aims and how much did they accomplish in the years before Reza Shah seized power? How do events in Iran compare with similar uprisings in other parts of the world? And what role does the Constitutional Revolution continue to play in defining Iranian self-identity? This important and authoritative new book explores all the many different facets of the Revolution, drawing on newly available sources as well as cutting edge research from around the globe to present a definitive account. Acknowledgements - H. E. Chehabi and Vanessa Martin -- Table of Contents -- Contributors -- A Note on Transliteration and Dates -- Glossary of Persian and Arabic Terms -- Introduction - Vanessa Martin -- I - HISTORIOGRAPHY -- 1. Whose Revolution? Stakeholders and Stories of the 'Constitutional Movement' in Iran, 1905-1911 - Joanna de Groot -- 2. The Iranian Constitutional Revolution as lieu(x) de mémoire: Sattar Khan - Anja Pistor-Hatam -- 3. Introducing Georgian Sources for the Historiography of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911) - Iago Gocheleishvili -- II - STATE-BUILDING -- 4. Constitutional Rights and the Development of Civil Law in Iran, 1907-1941 - Ali Gheissari -- 5. The Constitutional Revolution, Popular Politics and State-Building in Iran - Stephanie Cronin -- 6. Municipalities and Constitutionalism in Iran - Reza Mokhtari Esfahani -- III - CLASS, TRIBE, MYSTICS AND MINORITIES: IDEOLOGY AND BELIEF -- 7. Merchants, Class Identification Process and Constitutionalism - Soheila Torabi Farsani -- 8. Tribes of the Homeland: The Bakhtiyari in the Revolutionary Press - Arash Khazeni -- 9. Revolution and a High Ranking Sufi: Zahir al-Dowleh's Contribution to the Constitutional Movement - Lloyd Ridgeon -- 10. The Legal Status of Religious Minorities: Imami Shiite Law and Iran's Constitutional Revolution - Daniel Tsadik -- IV - INTELLECTUAL AND ARTISTIC INITIATIVES: PUBLIC AWAKENING -- 11. The Rowshanfekr in the Constitutional Period: an Overview - Mangol Bayat -- 12. Crafting Constitutionalism: An Iranian Secular Modernist Project - Nahid Mozaffari -- 13. Readership, the Press and the Public Sphere in the First Constitutional Era - Negin Nabavi -- 14. Writing in Tehran: The First Freedom of Press Law - Pardis Minuchehr -- 15. Constitutional Revolution and Persian Dramatic Works: An Observation on Social Relations Criticism in the Plays of the Constitutional Era (1906-1911) - Ali Miransari -- 16. National Identity and Photographs of the Constitutional Revolution - Reza Sheikh -- V - TRANSNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES -- 17. Mashrutiyat, Mesrutiyet, and Beyond: Intellectuals and the Constitutional Revolutions of 1905-12 - Charles Kurzman -- 18. Crafting Constitutional Narratives: Iranian and Young Turk Solidarity 1907-1909 - Farzin Vejdani -- 19. Constitutionalists Sans Frontières: Iranian Constitutionalism and its Asian Connections - Touraj Atabaki -- 20. Mashruteh and al-Nahda: The Iranian Constitutional Revolution in the Iranian Diaspora Press of Egypt and in Arab Reformist Periodicals - Kamran Rastegar -- 21. The Iranian Constitutional Revolution as Reported in the Chinese Press - Yidan Wang -- 22. Japan and the Iranian Constitutional Revolution - Michael Penn -- Epilogue The Poetry of the Constitutional Revolution - Homa Katouzian -- Index Born out of a fundamental tension between the old-fashioned and inadequate Qajar monarchy of Mozaffar al-Din Sah and Mohammad Ali Shah, and new reformist democratic ideals, the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906 represents a pivotal moment in the formation of modern Iran. The collapse of the state through financial indigence and foreign pressure -- which in the end also consumed the new regime -- created a vacuum, which became the subject of many different visions. These included the anti-constitutionalist arguments of Fazlollah Nuri; the moderate Shi'i vision of Tabatabai'I; the more gradualist secular approach of bureaucrats such as Sani-e Dowleh and Nasser Al-Molk; the various radical visions of Taqizadeh and Sattar Khan, as well as the Bakhtiaris. What were the reformists' various aims and how much did they accomplish in the years before Reza Shah seized power? How do events in Iran compare with similar uprisings in other parts of the world? And what role does the Constitutional Revolution continue to play in defining Iranian self-identity?This important and authoritative new book explores all the many different facets of the Revolution, drawing on newly available sources as well as cutting edge research from around the globe to present a definitive account. Iran's Constitutional Revolutionseeks to develop and advance the many existing debates on the Revolution, as well as to open up new avenues of interpretation. It offers a uniquely comprehensive and insightful analysis of the subject and is essential reading for a full understanding of contemporary Iran "Since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey has seen a complete re-imagining of its political, cultural and social landscape. Burce A elik argues that technology has been integral to this transformative process, showing how take-up of modern technologies, such as the cell or mobile phone, has been embraced particularly by those who most easily absorbed new ideals about Turkey and modern Turkishness. While many studies on the cultural significance of mobile technology focus on its rational uses and incentives, A elik draws on cultural theory, psychoanalysis and the philosophy of technology to explore the bonds, desires and dependencies that Turkish citizens have in relation to the cell phone. She ultimately links a collective post-empire melancholia with a desire to re-imagine a new, ideal Turkish national identity through technology."--Bloomsbury publishing This important and authoritative book explores all the many different facets of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, drawing on newly available sources as well as cutting edge research from around the globe to present a definitive account