Constitutionalism Unbound

Constitutional Dynamics and Political Transformation in the Ottoman and Qajar Lands in the Long Nineteenth Century
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-90-04-73465-4
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 135, 420 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm

Reihe: Social, Economic and Political Studies of the Middle East and Asia

Is democracy a foreign concept to the political culture of the Near East? This perennially debated question often overlooks a crucial historical factor: the rise of Ottoman and Qajar constitutionalism during the long nineteenth century. This volume is the first study to emphasize constitutionalism as a transformative force across Ottoman and Iranian lands. It investigates how new political ideas and social dynamics across the century shaped constitutionalism into a multifaceted and potent movement, culminating in the revolutions of 1906 and 1908. It traces how constitutionalism durably altered conceptions of state and society, leaving a significant legacy in both Iranian and (post-)Ottoman contexts.

Contributors are Houri Berberian, Yasar Tolga Cora, Anne-Laure Dupont, Fujinami Nobuyoshi, Zaur Gasimov, Peter Hill, Denis Hermann, Erdal Kaynar, Varak Ketsemanian, Mira Xenia Schwerda, Alisa Schablovskaia, Nader Sohrabi and Baris Zeren.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Weitere Mitwirkende

Hermann, Denis

Kaynar, Erdal

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Islam & Islamische Studien Islam & Islamische Studien
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents

Acknowledgements

List of Figures

Introduction: Constitutionalism in the Ottoman Empire and Qajar Iran: Histories and Perspectives Denis Hermann and Erdal Kaynar

Part 1: Conceptualizing Constitutionalism: (Re-)Imagining Politics

1 Who Can Participate in the Shura? Non-Muslims in the First Parliaments of Tunisia, the Ottoman Empire and Iran, 1861–1911 Anne-Laure Dupont

2 Khayr al-Din al-Tunisi and Arabic Constitutionalism Peter Hill

3 The Nation Against the Sultan: Constitutionalist Thought in the Writings of the Young Turk Leader Ahmed Riza Erdal Kaynar

4 Democracy by Petition: the Popular Committees and What Made the Iranian Constitutionalism Unique Nader Sohrabi

Part 2: Constructing Constitutionalism: Ideas, Actors, and Networks

5 Armenian Constitutionalism in the Late Ottoman Empire: the View from a Province Varak Ketsemanian

6 The Iranian Constitution in the Mirror of the Russian Azerbaijani Press Zaur Gasimov

7 Progressive Conservatives? The Young Turk Lectures on Constitutional Law Nobuyoshi Fujinami

8 Constitutionalism and the Political Ethos of the Last Qajars Alisa Shablovskaia

9 Constitutional Authority and Shi'i Political Culture: the Mobilisation of Messianic Logic by the Ulama during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution Denis Hermann

Part 3: Enacting Constitutionalism: the Challenge of Constitutional Rule

10 From Trusting to Cunning: Shifting Relations between Armenian Political Figures and Hasan Taqizadeh during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1905–1911) Houri Berberian

11 Crafting the Image of Constitutionalism: the Phenomenon of Bast in Turn-of-the-Century Iran and the Visualization of Protest Mira Xenia Schwerda

12 Coal Heavers’ Strike of 1910 in the Ottoman Capital: Labor Activism and Socialist Politics in the Second Constitutional Era Yasar Tolga Cora

13 A Shift in Law-Making: Ottoman Constitutionalism Facing the Local in Rumelia Baris Zeren

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Denis Hermann, Ph.D. (2007), is a historian and researcher at the CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research). Specializing in the history of Modern Iran and Shi’ism, his publications include Le shaykhisme à la période qajare: Histoire doctrinale et sociale d’une École chiite (Brepols, 2017).

Erdal Kaynar, Ph.D. (2012), is associate professor in modern history at the University of Strasbourg. He works on the intellectual and political history of the late Ottoman Empire. His publications include L’héroïsme de la vie moderne. Ahmed Riza en son temps (Peeters, 2021).