"regular absolute monarchy" is the main idea to overcome the traditional governance model in Iran before the Pre-constitutionalism

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

History Researcher

Abstract

In traditional Iran, the elites perceived effective governance based on the ancient pattern of governance in Iran, and the strategy for achieving effective governance was to establish a strong absolute monarchy. Linguistic covenants used to express the idea of a strong government during the establishment and consolidation of the Qajar dynasty were within the intellectual horizon of traditional Iranian civilization and aimed to explain and prove the idea of establishing a strong absolute monarchy. This research, based on historical research methods and analytical reasoning, seeks to find the answer to the question of how the idea of "Regulated Absolute Monarchy" as an alternative strategy for establishing a strong absolute monarchy for the model of efficient governance in pre-constitutional Iran emerged. The results of this research show that Iranians faced modern civilization with the fundamental issue that the ancient pattern of governance in Iran was unable to respond to the new challenges arising from the encounter with modern civilization, and the Qajar government, relying on the idea of a strong monarchy in its old sense, could not surpass these new challenges. The failure of the top-down reform idea while maintaining the irregular absolute monarchy created a space for using the alternative idea of "Regulated Absolute Monarchy", which was possible through top-down reforms. The reception of the idea of "Regulated Absolute Monarchy" from this received idea reflected a modern intellectual horizon and sought to express the concepts of a modern government in a way that was not in conflict with the intellectual and cultural frameworks of society and led to a transformation in the traditional governance system of Iran, as long as the Shah remained in power.

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