Society, Politics and Economics in Māzandarān, Iran, 1848-1914


Book Description

This is the first major study of provincial history in the Qajar period. It examines in detail the transformation of the Mazandaran traditional provincial community and economy in the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries.




Society, Politics and Economics in Mazandaran, Iran 1848-1914


Book Description

This book is the first major study of provincial history in the Qajar period. Drawing extensively on unpublished Iranian and British documents, it explores the history of Mazandaran, a province in the Caspian region, during 1848-1914, when the province as a part of Iran was exposed to the policies of rival great powers, particularly Tzarist Russia. While showing socio-economic characteristics of Mazandaran and its potential for development, the book examines in detail the transformation of the traditional provincial community and economy in the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries.




Making and Remaking Empire in Early Qajar Iran


Book Description

Uses political practices and a socially-oriented approach to explain imperial formation under the Qajars in early nineteenth-century Iran.




Kirman and the Qajar Empire


Book Description

Despite its apparently peripheral location in the Qajar Empire, Kirman was frequently found at the centre of developments reshaping Iran in the 19th century. Over the Qajar period the region saw significant changes, as competition between Kirmani families rapidly developed commercial cotton and opium production and a world renowned carpet weaving industry, as well as giving strength to radical modernist and nationalist agitation in the years leading up to the 1906 Constitutional Revolution. Kirman and the Qajar Empire explores how these Kirmani local elites mediated political, economic, and social change in their community during the significant transitional period in Iran’s history, from the rise of the Qajar Empire through to World War I. It departs from the prevailing centre-periphery models of economic integration and Qajar provincial history, engaging with key questions over how Iranians participated in reshaping their communities in the context of imperialism and growing transnational connections. With rarely utilized local historical and geographical writings, as well as a range of narrative and archival sources, this book provides new insight into the impact of household factionalism and estate building over four generations in the Kirman region. As well as offering the first academic monograph on modern Kirman, it is also an important case study in local dimensions of modernity. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Iranian studies and Iranian History, as well as general Middle Eastern studies.




Tribal Politics in Iran


Book Description

Placing Iran's 'tribal problem' in its historical context, Tribal Politics in Iran provides an overall assessment on the impact of this crucial period on the character of tribe-state relations in Iran to the end of Pahlavi rule and in the Islamic Republic. It analyzes the political and socio-economic factors undermining tribal politics under the regime of Reza Shah, and examines the division which took place regarding the 'tribal problem'. The author argues that on the one hand, it lead to modern ethnic nationalism and on the other, detribalization and absorption into wider class or ideology-based organizations happened. Looking particularly at the land reform of the early 1960s, and the revolution of 1979, Cronin also discusses the final disappearance of the khans as a political force and the rise of a new tribal leadership loyal to and dependent upon the regime. This innovative and important work challenges conventional political and scholarly approaches to tribal politics.




Town and Country in the Middle East


Book Description

"In this book, Mohammad A. Chaichian examines the process of dependent urbanization in Iran and Egypt relating to each country's unique colonial history and dependence on a constantly changing global economy since the early nineteenth century. Using historical data, Chaichian argues that the development of dependent economies has led to displacement of the rural population and migration to major urban centers such as Tehran in Iran and Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt. The findings of this study also indicate that by the mid-1970s Iran and Egypt were fully incorporated into the global economy, but in various degrees have since resisted the systemic demands of the new phase of globalization that requires open and fluid borders for utilization of labor, capital investment, and transfer of information."--BOOK JACKET.




Asiatic Russia


Book Description

Although the Russian Empire has traditionally been viewed as a European borderland, most of its territory was actually situated in Asia. Imperial power was huge but often suffered from a lack of enough information and resources to rule its culturally diverse subjects, and asymmetric relations between state and society combined with flexible strategies of local actors sometimes produced unexpected results. In Asiatic Russia, an international team of scholars explores the interactions between power and people in Central Asia, Siberia, the Volga-Urals, and the Caucasus from the 18th to the early 20th centuries, drawing on a wealth of Russian archival materials and Turkic, Persian, and Tibetan sources. The variety of topics discussed in the book includes the Russian idea of a "civilizing mission," the system of governor-generalships, imperial geography and demography, roles of Muslim and Buddhist networks in imperial rule and foreign policy, social change in the Russian Protectorate of Bukhara, Muslim reformist and national movements. The book is essential reading for students and scholars of Russian, Central Eurasian, and comparative imperial history, as well as imperial and colonial studies and nationalism studies. It may also provide some hints for understanding today’s world, where "empire" has again become a key word in international and domestic power relations.




Islamic Law and Society in Iran


Book Description

The relationship between Islamic law and society is an important issue in Iran under the Islamic Republic. Although Islamic law was a pivotal element in the traditional Iranian society, no comprehensive research has been made until today. This is because modern reformers emphasized the lack of rule of law in nineteenth-century Iran. However, a legal system did exist, and Islamic law was a substantial part of it. This is the first book on the relationship between Islamic law and the Iranian society during the nineteenth century. The author explores the legal aspects of urban society in Iran and provides the social context in which political process occurred and examines how authorities applied law in society, how people utilized the law, and how the law regulated society. Based on rich archival sources including court records and private deeds from Qajar Tehran, this book explores how Islamic law functioned in Iranian society. The judicial system, sharia court, and religious endowments (vaqf) are fully discussed, and the role of ‘ulama as legal experts is highlighted throughout the book. It challenges nationalist and modernist views on nineteenth-century Iran and provides a unique model in terms of the relationship between Islamic law and society, which is rather different from the Ottoman case. Providing an understanding of this legal system in Iran and its role in society, this book offers a basis for assessing the motives and results of modern reforms as well as the modernist discourse. This book will be of interest to students of Middle Eastern and Iranian Studies.




Ottoman Notables and Participatory Politics


Book Description

Focussing on events in the Anatolian town of Tokat during the final two decades of the great Ottoman legal and administrative reforms known as the Tanzimat (1839-76), this book applies elements of social networking theory to analyze and assess the establishment of local governments across the Middle East. The author’s key finding is that the state’s efforts to centralize authority succeeded only when and where locals acted as the primary agents of change. Independent notables, such as the military a‘yân, demanded wealth and state offices in exchange for meting out reform measures according to local idioms of power. Newly created administrative bodies also offered greater social mobility to a growing multiconfessional middle-class in small towns like Tokat. The state was desparate to reform, but opportunistic provincials were eager to have it only on their own terms. Challenging false assumptions about the limited scope of participatory politics in the Middle East during the nineteenth century, Ottoman Notables and Participatory Politics will be of interest to students and scholars of Political Economy, History and Middle East Studies.




The Qajar Pact


Book Description

The Qajar Pact explores new perspectives on the nineteenth-century Iranian state and society, and is the first broad study of lower social groups in this period. Vanessa Martin argues that Qajar government was certainly despotic, but was also founded on a consensus based on the Islamic principles of consultation and negotiation. The author focuses on the role of the non-elite groups in urban society up to the years before the Constitutional Revolution.