Political Modernity in Iran

Is modernity a promised future that Iranians will eventually attain? Is political modernity a peak that, according to modernization theory prophets, is to be conquered in some unknown future? Is contemporary Iranian history merely a repetitive transcript of the destiny of ‘advanced’ nations? Or is Iran a unique land whose people’s fate differs from other nations? The author of this book attempts to find answers to these questions by re-examining the narrative of the Constitutional Revolution and the rise of the Pahlavi state. The critique of prevailing sociological approaches to contemporary Iranian history opens the way for searching alternative theories. By proposing a multi-level analytical framework of modernity, the author strives to analyze political modernity in Iran as both a local and global process. The creative problem-solving efforts of Iranians in facing political difficulties during the historic period under study constitute the main elements of a path that can be described as Iranian political modernity; a distinct path within the context of multiple global modernities.