The Shiite clergy in Iran played a fundamental role in resisting the Western-oriented modernization policies of the Pahlavi era. The Pahlavi regime, inspired by Western models of development, sought to reconstruct Iran’s cultural, legal, educational, and social foundations in a secular and Westernized framework. In response, the clergy, relying on their religious legitimacy, deep-rooted social ties, and discursive capabilities, emerged as a significant force of resistance. This study, using a descriptive-analytical method and based on a wide range of reliable sources, explores the strategies, functions, and outcomes of clerical resistance to Pahlavi reforms. The findings indicate that the clergy initially responded through theoretical and jurisprudential critique, followed by the mobilization of traditional religious tools such as sermons, fatwas, mosques, and seminaries, and eventually advanced to active political leadership through figures like Ayatollah Kashani, Ayatollah Boroujerdi, and Imam Khomeini. This resistance gradually evolved from a religious discourse to a revolutionary one, eventually undermining the legitimacy of the Pahlavi state and laying the foundations for the Islamic Revolution. The clergy’s role in this process is analyzed not merely as traditionalist opposition, but as a dynamic and constructive alternative to authoritarian modernity.

The Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979 not only transformed the country’s internal political structure but also emerged as a radical, religious, and anti-hegemonic discourse that significantly impacted the domestic politics of Middle Eastern states. This article, employing a historical-analytical method and drawing on authoritative sources, investigates the direct and indirect reverberations of the Islamic Revolution in five Arab countries: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt. The findings indicate that the intensity and nature of these impacts were contingent upon variables such as religious demography, type of governance, degree of dependence on the West, and sectarian-ethnic configurations. In countries with active Shi’a populations, the Revolution functioned as a model for political and identity-based resistance against prevailing regimes, leading to the empowerment or emergence of Islamic opposition forces. Conversely, centralized secular or monarchic governments adopted ideological and security-oriented strategies to suppress or neutralize the revolutionary discourse. The Islamic Republic’s official strategy of exporting the revolution also played a central role in shaping regional responses and was pursued through media, cultural institutions, and ideological diplomacy. Ultimately, the study concludes that the Iranian Revolution acted in some cases as a catalyst for internal transformation, and in others as a pretext for repression and the reinforcement of political authority. Future studies are recommended to explore the evolving dynamics of the revolutionary discourse in the digital era and in the aftermath of the Arab uprisings.

The 1960s (1340s SH) marked a critical turning point in the cultural policymaking of the Second Pahlavi regime in Iran. During this decade, the state, bolstered by oil revenues, a centralized bureaucratic structure, and inspiration from Western modernization models, sought to implement a new cultural order aligned with modern civilizational values. This study, utilizing a descriptive-analytical method and based on extensive library research, examines the cultural policies of the Second Pahlavi state across various domains, including education, media, arts, literature, higher education, language policy, and its relationship with tradition and religion. Findings indicate that while many of these policies demonstrated structural characteristics of classical modernization, at the discursive and value levels they often reflected a deep disconnection from indigenous cultural foundations and an uncritical imitation of Western cultural patterns. Critics such as Jalal Al-e Ahmad, Daryoush Shayegan, and Ehsan Naraqhi characterized this condition as “Westoxification.” Furthermore, the gap between official and popular culture, the exclusion of public participation, and the lack of cultural grounding in policymaking led to widespread intellectual, religious, and social resistance. Ultimately, the study concludes that although the Second Pahlavi regime achieved structural development in the cultural sphere, its policies generated identity fragmentation rather than cohesion, intensifying cultural dissonance within Iranian society.

This article explores the role of tribes and nomads in the power dynamics of the Qajar era, offering a historical-analytical investigation into how major tribal confederations such as the Bakhtiari, Qashqai, Shahsevan, and Turkmen influenced Iran’s political structure during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The central question of this study is how the Qajar state interacted with these tribal groups and how such interactions shaped the balance of power between the central government and peripheral forces. Drawing on historical documents, political reports, travelogues, and scholarly sources, the study applies theories of traditional power and the center-periphery model to analyze these relations. The findings reveal that the Qajar state oscillated between repression and alliance when dealing with tribes. In certain cases, it employed co-optation strategies through the granting of positions, land, and titles, while in others, it resorted to disempowerment, exile, or military confrontation. Tribal involvement in political crises—especially during the Constitutional Revolution—demonstrates that these groups were not merely marginal traditional forces, but influential political actors with national reach. Case studies of specific tribes confirm that their presence often played a decisive role in either reinforcing or weakening state authority, particularly in frontier regions and times of upheaval. Ultimately, the article suggests that a comprehensive understanding of Iranian political history must re-center the analysis of tribal structures and their agency.

This article offers a comparative analysis of the press suppression and control policies during Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s reign, focusing specifically on the 1940s and 1960s. Employing a historical-analytical approach and drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Gramsci, Althusser, and Chomsky, the study explores the evolution of media control mechanisms and the ideological engineering of public opinion in these two key decades. Findings indicate that the 1940s witnessed a relatively open press environment due to the weakened central authority following Reza Shah’s abdication and the multiplicity of political actors, enabling the proliferation of partisan and independent newspapers. By contrast, the 1960s marked a period of rigid media control, as the monarchy consolidated power, SAVAK (the secret police) expanded its influence, and censorship was institutionalized under the guise of modernization, political stability, and anti-communism. The tools of control were not limited to security forces and legal restrictions but also included economic dependencies and discursive strategies to legitimize censorship. The study concludes that while these measures temporarily unified the official political discourse, they ultimately led to a crisis of legitimacy, growing public distrust, and the regime’s inability to implement internal reforms. The article argues that a free press is not only essential for transparency and political participation but also plays a crucial role in preserving the legitimacy of public institutions. The study further calls for re-evaluation of Iran’s history of media censorship through interdisciplinary and comparative research.

This article explores the impact of British imperialist policies on the formation of the constitutionalist discourse in late Qajar Iran. Adopting a historical-analytical approach and drawing on primary sources and archival documents, the study argues that Britain influenced not only Iran’s political and economic structure through direct interventions, but also shaped the country’s intellectual and discursive space via soft power mechanisms, including cultural diplomacy, the press, intellectual networks, and the transmission of modern political concepts. The constitutionalist discourse, as a novel political formation, emerged in the context of both resistance and engagement with imperial forces, reconstructing key concepts such as justice, law, nation, and parliament through a unique synthesis of tradition and modernity. Using historical discourse analysis and postcolonial critique, the article conceptualizes Britain not merely as an imperialist interloper, but as an active element in shaping a new political language in Iran. The findings highlight the pivotal role of the British Embassy, Persian-language press in British territories, diaspora associations, and intermediaries such as Mirza Malkom Khan in introducing and reshaping modern concepts. The emergent discourse left a long-term legacy on Iranian political culture, which still resonates in the contemporary aspirations for legality, justice, and political participation. The article concludes by suggesting that the role of imperial powers in shaping intellectual and political transformations in peripheral societies should be examined through the lens of discursive interaction rather than solely antagonistic frameworks.

This article aims to provide a historical reinterpretation of legitimacy crises across different periods of Iranian monarchy, using theoretical frameworks from Max Weber, Michel Foucault, Jürgen Habermas, and James Scott. It analyzes the dynamic transformation of political legitimacy discourses from ancient Iran to the collapse of the monarchy in 1979. Beginning with the cosmic and mythic notion of farr-e izadi in the Achaemenid and Sasanian periods, the study then explores the tension between Islamic caliphal legitimacy and Iranian royal traditions during the Islamic to Safavid eras. Under the Safavids, the fusion of Shi‘a jurisprudence and kingship created a theocratic-legal model of legitimacy, which later fractured due to the rupture between the Shah and the clerical establishment. During the Qajar period, the introduction of modern political ideas triggered a deep duality between traditional and legal–modern legitimacy, culminating in the Constitutional Revolution. The Pahlavi monarchy attempted to construct a modern nationalist legitimacy through secularization, centralization, and rapid development, but ultimately undermined its own credibility through authoritarianism and the exclusion of popular participation. The article argues that despite their historical differences, legitimacy crises in Iran consistently followed three core patterns: lack of public participation, the breakdown of mediating institutions of legitimacy, and the failure to generate persuasive legitimacy discourses during moments of sociopolitical upheaval. The conclusion offers a comparative synthesis and suggests new directions for future research on legitimacy in monarchic and post-monarchic systems.

Iranian diplomacy during the Constitutional Revolution represents a critical turning point in the country's transition from autocratic monarchy to constitutional governance. This article employs historical and analytical methods to examine how the structures, functions, and discourse of Iran's diplomatic institutions evolved between the late Qajar period and the establishment of the second National Assembly. The findings reveal that during the Qajar era, diplomacy was predominantly shaped by the personal networks of the royal court, lacking institutional clarity and strategic autonomy. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs played a largely ceremonial role, and Iranian embassies abroad primarily reflected royal interests rather than representing national priorities. With the advent of the Constitutional Revolution, significant changes emerged, including parliamentary oversight, diplomatic accountability, and the prioritization of national interests over royal decrees. The study explores the dual role of embassies in both reflecting internal political shifts and navigating the tensions between the monarchy and the newly empowered parliament. Ultimately, the article argues that Iranian diplomacy in this period occupied a transitional space between traditional and modern paradigms, gradually adapting to the demands of constitutional politics. Drawing on primary historical sources and theoretical frameworks such as elite theory and historical institutionalism, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the origins of modern diplomacy in Iran and proposes new avenues for future studies in the history of Iranian foreign policy.