Constitutional State and Mechanical Governmentality

Technology of power in political arena changed after Constitutional Revolution. Before this event, governmentality was operating according to despotic system in reality and writing mirror of king in thought for controlling traditional absolute power. Iran in Qajar dynasty experience was under the old method for policy making and ultimately this process resulted in decline. Authoritarian political culture in state and among nation caused failure and thereafter defeat from Russia, losing lands, and increasing protestations of people. At the same time with criticizing traditional political thought, new technology of power became possible. In this paper, I try to analyse method of political thinkers in Iran who drawing world-viewing power mechanisms for transition and reforming authoritarian system. For this aim, I choosed two important and influential pioneer in constitution revolution: Mohammad Ali Foroughi Zoka-ol-Molk and Mirza Mohammad Hussein Na`ini that could design new shape of governmentality in contemporary political history of Iran. For content analysis that are indicators of mechanism of technology power and element of constitutional gornmentality, I refer to the case study text book Constitutional Etiquette Foroughi and Tanbyh-ol-omah va Tanzyh-ol-melah Naini. Method and theory: Methodology of this research for qualitative analysis of propositions of these two texts is phenomenology. This qualitative method has helped me to close to my subject and focus interpretive understanding toward two thinkers from the comparative perspective old and new power technology. The theoretical framework is governmentality. Governmentality means that thinking about power or technology of power that state applies to subjection and controls citizen. In every age and all state we can see different governmentality. Three types include: authoritarian traditional, mechanic modern and information postmodern. In the traditional governmentality court of king was important resource for policy and politics is personal affair. Epistemological knowledge is abstract to advice characteristic leadership. There is huge gap between objective and subjective or between means and goals of politics. The result of this process is isolation and failure political thought. In the modern and mechanic governmentality, we see the relation between subject and object of politics. Consequence of this event founded bureaucratic state for regular resource, currents and processes of politics. All forms of governmentality used production, distribution and increases power for applying and limiting the art of government. In this theory, politic is art, act and technic for regularization, formulation, institutionalization human behavior. for proving the hypothesis of the transition from authoritarian state to mechanistic one, I refer to two main and influential political text from Foroughi and Naini. Form and structure of state in Iran affected the type of constitutional governmentality in the end of Qajar dynasty. Foroughi with technical, exact and detail writing about law and policymaking in state constitution introduced modern formula of state into Iranians and familiarized mind of elite Iranians with mechanical state. Naini, writing about coexistent mutualism between mechanistic state and new narrative of Islam politic, tried to stimulate big clergy Shiite to think of new mechanical state.