Journal of history of Iran)

Document Type : review paper

Abstract

Despite the fact that the issue of Iranian constitutional movement has been variously studied by researchers from different perspectives, only few studies have ever explored this significant event in its relation to the historical context of Iran. Most studies carried out in the field have taken two major theorethical stances: the first one holds that constitutionalism is believed to be a foreign import, and thus lacks any contextual congruency or social relevance to the historical context of Iran. This can suggest that from the very beginning the constitutionalists’ attempts to establish such a political order were doomed to failure. The second stance ascribes the failure of the constitutional movement to external factors, foreigners’ interventions and poor leadership.

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