Article contents
Oriental Despotism: The Case of Qajar Iran*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 January 2009
Extract
As R. H. Tawney once remarked, ‘the past reveals to the presenr what the present is capable of seeing’. Present political scientists who are interested in comparing past power structures have been the first observers to reveral methodically the fundaqmental differences between feudalism and oriental despotism. They have shown how the feudal monarchies of Europe, in their ideal form, were restricted by hereditary and independent aristocrats, by institutions representing the estates of the real, and with civil societies with corporate rights, immunities, and inalienable privileges. And they have shown how despots in the East, in their ideal form, ruled through patrimonial bureaucracies, did not contend with estate institutions, could withdraw concessions granted previously, and were unhampered by independent intermediaries between themselves and their subjects.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974
References
page 3 note 1 Tawney, R. H., Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (New York, 1926), p. 3.Google Scholar
page 3 note 2 For the best examples of modern comparisons between the political systems of feudalism and of oriental despotism, see Bendix, R., Nation-Building and Citizenship (New York, 1969);Google ScholarBendix, R., Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait (New York, 1961);Google ScholarAndreski, S., The Uses of Comparative Sociology (Berkeley, 1969);Google ScholarFallers, L., ‘Equality, Modernity, and Democracy in New States’, in Old Societies and New States (ed. Geertz, C.) (New York, 1963);Google Scholar and Mardin, S., ‘Power, Civil Society and Culture in the Ottoman Empire’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 11, no. 3 (06 1969), pp. 258–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
page 4 note 1 Machiavelli, N., The Prince (New York, 1959), p. 43.Google Scholar
page 4 note 2 Hume, D., ‘That Politics May Be Reduced to a Science’, in Political Essays (New York, 1953), pp. 17–18.Google Scholar
page 4 note 3 Montesquieu, C., The Spirit of the Laws (New York, 1965), p. 27.Google Scholar
page 4 note 4 Hegel, G., The Philosophy of History (New York, 1944), p. 105.Google Scholar
page 4 note 5 Engels, F., ‘Speech at the Graveside of Karl Marx’, Selected Works, vol. 2 (Moscow, 1958), p. 167.Google Scholar
page 5 note 1 Engels, to Marx, , 6 06 1853, Werke (Berlin, 1963), vol. 28, pp. 260–1.Google Scholar
page 5 note 2 Ibid. He wrote that if it were not for the Arabic script one could learn Persian grammar within forty-eight hours.
page 5 note 4 Marx, , ‘Preface to a Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy’, Selected Works, vol. 1, p. 363.Google Scholar
page 5 note 5 Marx, , Capital, vol. 3 (Moscow, 1962), P. 771.Google Scholar
page 5 note 6 Engel, to Marx, , 6 06 1853, Werke, vol. 27, p. 259.Google Scholar
page 6 note 1 Marx, to Engels, , 14 06 1853, The Correspondence of Marx and Engels, ed. Torr, D. (New York, 1942), p. 70.Google Scholar Lenin noted on this letter: ‘Asiatic villages are self-contained, self-sufficient [natural economy], constitute the basis of Asiatic customs + public works of the central government.’ Cited by Varga, Y., Politico-Economic Problems of Capitalism (Mowcow, 1968), p. 335.Google Scholar
page 6 note 2 Engel, to Marx, , 6 06 1853, Werke, vol. 28, p. 259.Google Scholar
page 6 note 3 Engel, to Marx, , ‘British Rule in India’ Selected Works, vol. 1, p. 347.Google Scholar
page 7 note 1 Engels, , Anti-Duhring (New York, 1966), pp. 198–9.Google Scholar
page 7 note 2 The following quotations have been taken from Marx, K., Pre-Capitalist Economic Formations, ed. Hobsbawm, E. (London, 1964), pp. 69–71, 142–3;Google ScholarMarx to Engels, 14 June 1853, op. cit.;Google ScholarMarx, ‘British Rule in India’, loc. cit.;Google ScholarMarx, , Capital, vol. 1 (Moscow, 1965), pp. 350–9,Google Scholar and Marx, , ‘The Duchess of Sutherland’, New York Herald Tribune, 9 02 1853.Google Scholar
page 8 note 1 Wittfogel, K., Oriental Despotism (New Haven, 1957).Google Scholar
page 8 note 2 Lichtheim, G., ‘Marx and the “Asiatic Mode of Production”‘, The Concept of Ideology (New York, 1967), pp. 62–93.Google Scholar
page 8 note 3 Mandel, E., Formation of the Economic Thought of Karl Marx (New York, 1971).Google Scholar For other Marxist discussions that stress the bureaucratic explanation see La Pensée, nos. 114 (01–02 1964), 121 (July–Aug. 1965), and 129 (Sept.–Oct. 1966).Google ScholarHobsbawm's, E. introduction to the Pre-Capitalist Economic Formations, pp. 33–4, is a rare example stressing the theory of social fragmentation.Google Scholar
page 9 note 1 For views differing from this paper and stressing the bureaucratic aspect of Qajar rule see: Ashraf, A., ‘Historical Obstacles to the Development of a Bourgeoisie in Iran’, in Cook, M. A. (ed.), Studies in the Economic History of the Middle East (London, 1970);Google ScholarAshraf, A., ‘Economic Development and Historical Specificity’, Iranian Studies, vol. 2, no. 4 (Autumn 1969), pp. 189–92;Google ScholarAshraf, A., Nizam-i Feudal-i ya Nizam-i Asya-i [Feudalism or Asiatic Society] (Tehran, 1968);Google ScholarMeredith, C., ‘The Administrative Structures of Early Qajar Iran’, R. Sheikholeslami, ‘Sale of Offices in Qajar Iran, 1858–96’, and J. Lorentz, ‘Iran's Great Reformer: Amir Kabir’, all three to be published in a special issue of Iranian Studies on Qajar Administration in Spring 1972.Google Scholar For another view stressing the importance of class structure in Qajar Iran see Bill, J., The Politics of Iran (Ohio, 1972).Google Scholar
page 10 note 1 Malcolm, J., the history of Persia vol. 2 (London, 1829), p. 303.Google Scholar
page 10 note 2 Malcolm, J., the history of Persia vol. 2 (London, 1829), p. 303.Google ScholarIbid. p. 435.
page 11 note 1 Curzon, G., Persia and the Persian Question, vol. 1 (London, 1892), pp. 433, 401, 391.Google Scholar
page 11 note 2 Malcolm, op. Cit. vol. II, p. 356.Google Scholar
page 11 note 3 al-Dawlah, M. 'A. Amin, Khatirat-i Siyasi [Political Memoirs] (Tehran, 1962), p. 77.Google Scholar
page 11 note 4 Curzon, op. cit. vol. 1, p. 396.Google Scholar
page 11 note 5 For their hereditary nature see ‘A. Mustawfi, Sharah-i Zindigani-'i Man ya Tarikh-i Ijtima'i-ya va Idar-yi dawrah-i Qajariyyah [My Life, or The Social and Administrative History of the Qajar Era] (Tehran, 1945), vol. 1.Google Scholar
page 11 note 6 Jones, H. (Brydges), An Account of the Transactions of His Majesty's Mission to the Court of Persia (London, 1834), p. 404.Google Scholar
page 11 note 7 Curzon, op. cit. vol. 1, p. 436.Google Scholar
page 11 note 8 Malcolm, op. cit. vol. II, p. 412.Google Scholar
page 11 note 9 Morier reported that the Turkmans gave no more than a few horses annually to the court and that the Shah invariably gave them more in return in order not to give them ‘cause for disgust’. Op. Cit. p. 377.Google Scholar
page 12 note 1 Curzon, op. cit. vol. I, p. 436.Google Scholar
page 12 note 2 Malcolm, op. cit. vol. II, pp. 324–5.Google Scholar
page 12 note 3 Tunukabuni, M., Qisas al- ‘Uluma’ [A History of the Clergy] (Tebran, 1887), p. 93.Google Scholar Cited in Algar, H., Religion and State in Iran, 1785–1906 (Berkeley, 1969), p. 57.Google Scholar
page 12 note 4 al-Saltanah, M. I 'timad, Al-Ma'thir va-l-Athar (Tehran, 1889), p. 107.Google Scholar
page 13 note 1 Eastwick, E., Journal of a Diplomat's Three Years Residence in Persia, vol. 1 (London, 1864), pp. 287–91.Google Scholar
page 13 note 2 Qudasi, H., Kitab-i Khatirat-i Man ya Rushshan shudan-i Tarikh-i Sad Salah [The History of My Life or An Account of One Hundred Years], vol. 1 (Tehran, 1963), p. 30.Google Scholar
page 13 note 3 Scheikh-ol-Islami, , Iran's First Experience of Military Coup d'Etat (Heidelberg, 1965), p. 76.Google Scholar
page 13 note 4 Algar, op. Cit. p. 5.Google Scholar
page 14 note 1 There are no accurate statistics for the nineteenth-century population. Malcolm, in the first half of the century, estimated it at about six million (op. cit. vol. II, p. 372). Curzon, at the end of the century, ‘hazarded’ a figure of nine million (op. cit. vol. ii, p. 494).Google ScholarWatson, R., in mid-century, placed it anywhere between five and ten million (A History of Persia (London, 1866), p. 2). The figure of five million for the 1850s was kindly made available to me by Robert Hill, a demographer at Princeton University. Projecting back the first national census of 1956 and taking into account bad harvests and epidemics, he arrived at the following estimates: 1812, 5 million; 1838, 6 million; 188, 5 million; 1868, 5 million; 1894, 7.5 million; 1910, 8 million; 1939, 15 million; 1956, 18.9 million.Google Scholar
page 14 note 2 The census of 1956 estimated that there were over 49,000 villages in the country. Ministry of Interior, Amar-i 'Umumi [National Census], vol. 2 (Tehran, 1956).Google Scholar
page 14 note 3 Calculated from the 1956, census by Khamsi, F., ‘The Development of Capitalism in Rural Iran’ (Unpublished M.A. thesis, Columbia University, 1968).Google Scholar
page 14 note 4 Jamalzadah, M.,‘An Outline of the Social and Economic Structure of Iran’, International Labour Review, vol. 63, no. 1, (01, 1951), p. 24.Google Scholar
page 14 note 5 Khamsi, op. cit. pp. 43–7.Google Scholar
page 15 note 1 Jones, op cit. p. 176.Google Scholar
page 15 note 2 Malcolm, J., Sketches of Persia (London, 1845), p. 278.Google Scholar
page 15 note 3 De Bode, , Travels in Luristan and Arabistan, vol. 2 (London, 1845), p. 321.Google Scholar
page 15 note 4 Ibid. p. 138. and Abrahamian, E., ‘The Crowd in the Persian Revolution’, Iranian Studies, vol. 2, no. 4 (Autumn 1969), pp. 228–50.Google Scholar
page 16 note 2 Malcolm narrates how one tribal chief, after diligently listening to an account of prosperity in England, exclaimed:Google Scholar‘What a number of plunderers you must have there!’ On being told that the wealth was not booty, he asked in astonishment ‘What then can be the occupation of so numerous a population.’ History of Persia, vol. 2, p. 436.Google Scholar
page 17 note 1 A.Lambton, , Islamic Society in Persia (London, 1954), p. 16.Google Scholar
page 17 note 2 Gobineau, J., The Inequality of the Human Races (London, 1915), p. 29.Google Scholar
page 17 note 3 Browne, E., A Year Amongst the Persians (London, 1893), p. 95.Google Scholar
page 18 note 1 Malcolm, , History of Persia, vol. 2, p. 180.Google Scholar
page 19 note 1 Naficy, S., Tarikh-i Ijtim'i-Yiva Siyas-i Iran dar dawrah-i Ma'asar [The Social and Political History of Iran in Our Contemporary Era], vol. 1 (Tehran, 1956), pp. 72–4.Google Scholar
page 19 note 2 Jones, op. Cit. p. 74.Google Scholar
page 19 note 3 Fraser, J., Narrative of a Journey into Khorasan (London, 1825), p. 197.Google Scholar
page 19 note 4 Morier, op. cit. p. 285.Google Scholar
page 19 note 5 Mustawfi, op. cit. vol. II, pp. 18–21.Google Scholar But even as late as 1907 the Qajar Shah, at times of anger, would burst into Turkish abuse. Shamim, A., Iran dar dawrah-i Saltanatah-i Qajar [Iran during the Qajar Dynasty] (Tebran, 1963), p. 9.Google Scholar
page 19 note 6 Spooner, B., ‘Kuch u Baluch and Ichtyophagi’, Iran, vol. 2 (1964), p. 66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
page 20 note 1 Morier, J., A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor (London, 1812), p. 27.Google Scholar
page 20 note 2 The figures have been taken from Malcolm, , History of Persia, vol. 2, pp. 355–61,Google Scholar and Curzon, op. cit. vol. I, pp. 571–612.Google Scholar
page 20 note 3 Malcolm, , History of Persia, vol. 2, p. 357.Google Scholar
page 20 note 4 Ibid. 355–6.
page 21 note 1 Malcolm, , History of Persia, vol. 2, p. 358.Google Scholar
page 21 note 2 Morier, Secosid Journey, p. 214.Google Scholar
page 21 note 3 Dawnbali, Ghuli Khah, The Dynasty of the Kajars (London, 1833), p. 341.Google Scholar
page 21 note 4 Hidayat, Riza Ghuli Khan, Tarikhkh-i Rawzat u-Safa-yi Nasir [History of Nasir's ‘Rawzati u-Safa’], vol. 9 (Tehran, 1960), p. 676.Google Scholar
page 21 note 5 Barth, F., The Nomads of South Persia (New York, 1959).Google Scholar
page 22 note 1 Barth, F., The Nomads of South Persia (New York, 1959).Google ScholarIbid. p. 81.
page 22 note 3 Barth, F., The Nomads of South Persia (New York, 1959).Google ScholarIbid. pp. 77, 80.
page 23 note 2 Lambton, A., Landlord and Peasant in Persia (London,1953) pp. 263–4.Google Scholar
page 24 note 1 For a description of the lutis see Mustawfi, op. cit. vol. I, pp. 408–14.Google Scholar
page 24 note 2 Isfahan, M. H. Tavildar–i, Jukhrafiya–yi Isfahan [The Geography of Isfahan] (Tehran, 1963).Google Scholar
page 24 note 3 Shamim, op.cit. p. 294.Google Scholar
page 25 note 1 Mustawfi, op. cit. vol. I, pp. 374–7.Google Scholar
page 25 note 2 Markham, C., History of Persia (London, 1874), p. 359.Google Scholar
page 25 note 3 Cited by Lambton, Landlord and Peasant, pp. 161–2.Google Scholar
page 26 note 1 Malcolm, Sketches of Persia, p. 156.Google Scholar
page 26 note 2 Malcolm, Sketches of Persia, p. 156.Ibid. p. 149.
page 26 note 4 Fraser, op. cit. p. 622.Google Scholar
page 27 note 1 Barth, op. cit. p. 80.Google Scholar
page 27 note 2 Malcolm, Sketches of Persia, p. 287.Google Scholar
page 27 note 3 De Bode, op. cit. vol. II, p. 87.Google Scholar
page 27 note 4 Lambton, A., ‘Persian Society under the Qajars’, Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society, vol. 48, no. 4 (07–10, 1961), p. 130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
page 27 note 5 Lambton, A., ‘Persian Society under the Qajars’, Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society, vol. 48, no. 4 (07–10, 1961), p. 130.CrossRefGoogle ScholarIbid. p. 130.
page 28 note 1 Malcolm, , History of Persia, vol. 2, p. 429.Google Scholar Also Shamim, op. cit. p. 297.Google Scholar
page 28 note 2 Kasravi, A., Tarikh-i Pansad Salah–i Khuzistan [Five Hundred Year History of Khuzistan] (Tehran, 1950), pp. 149–51, 240–1.Google Scholar
page 28 note 3 Kasravi, Tarikh-i Mashruta–yi Iran, pp. 130–6.Google Scholar
page 28 note 4 Mirza, Jahangir, Tarikh-i Naw [The New History] (Tehran, 1946), p. 272.Google Scholar
page 29 note 1 Morier, Second Journey, p. 350.Google Scholar
page 29 note 2 Qasimi, 'A., Khanuvadah-i Qavam al-Mulk [The Qavam al-Mulk Family] (Tehran, 1950), p. 5.Google Scholar
page 29 note 3 De Bode. op. cit. vol. I, p. 181.Google Scholar
page 29 note 4 For details of this conflict see al-Dawlah, Amin, op. cit.Google Scholar, and Bill, J. ‘Modernization and Reform From Above: The Case of Iran’, Journal of Politics, vol. 32 no. 1 (02 1970), pp. 20–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
page 30 note 1 Mustawfi, op. cit vol. II, p. 660.Google Scholar
page 30 note 2 Dawnbali, op. cit. p. 80.Google Scholar
page 30 note 3 Dawnbali, op. cit. p. 80.Ibid. pp. 89–90.
page 30 note 5 Curzon, op. cit. vol. II, p. 472.Ibid.
page 31 note 1 Curzon, op. cit. vol. II, p. 472.Google Scholar
- 48
- Cited by