Constitutionalism (1905–1909)

For more than a century, foreign countries have been continuously blamed for conspiracy, without taking into account the role and position of national elements in the failure of the constitutional movement, impeding Iranian progress toward political modernity. The radical difference of the first Iranian parliament was that it gave the country a constitution almost entirely free from religious laws. The constitutional revolution opened a new page in Iran&s;s history. In light of the conflict between autonomy and heteronomy of the social order, we can reread the constitutional episode that then orients us toward unexplored perspectives. This presents important reappraisals, and questions those received ideas on which a good part of Iranian collective memory is based. Nevertheless, constitutionalism was not yet dead. If Tehran&s;s clergy discovered new monarchist leanings to "defend Islam", the Nadjaf olama supported the partisans who sought a return to constitutionalism.