Nationalism and Political Modernity in Iranian Constitutionalism

Despite its importance in the process of political modernity in Iran, ‘Iranian Constitutionalism’ has been scarcely studied from the viewpoint of nation-building/ nationalism ideologies. From the perspective of historical sociology, constitutionalism paved the way for the appearance of the multiple images of Iranian nationalism emerging from the 19th century. Iranian constitutionalism encountered, on one hand, the emergence of political nationalism based on the sovereignty of nation and the rule of law, and the reaction of cultural nationalism, on the other hand. Although the expedient, short-term convergence of these nationalistic tendencies at the beginning of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution was fruitful in some respects, the divergence of these tendencies and the escalating conflict between them throughout the process of constitutionalism reveal restrictive, substantial contrasts in the process of Iranian political nationalism. The multiplicity of Iranian nationalism due to the diversity of values and cultural resources and the divergent orientations of the nationalistic tendencies in the Iranian constitutionalism undermined the possibility of agreement on a comprehensive definition of nation and the establishment and institutionalization of the sovereignty of nation and the rule of law. Thus, from the Constitutional Revolution onward ‘the issue of nation’ and ‘the sovereignty of nation’ have remained the focus of attention of discussions as the most important issues in contemporary Iran.