Patrimonialism and Political Despotism During the First Part of Qajar Dynasty

The Qajar kings managed to spread their political dominance, characterized by despotism, over Iranian society  through the expansion and development of burocracy prior to the constitutional revelution. In this regard the current study purports to investigate the relience of political despotism on burocracy during this period using Weber's model of patrimonialism. In the Qajar political structure, the king presiding over all issues of political authoriry, acted as a patrimonial ruler. The king appointed burocratic staff at will, based on  self-designated criteria, controlling them through strict surveillance, and removing them from burocratic circles when threatening his power. The burocrats in return acting as his devotees, focused their efforts on consalidating his  traditional dominance over society, knowing that their survival was directly dependent upon their performance in this respect. In Weberian traditional authority, despotism is a dimension of authoritarinism accomplished under special conditions, including the existence of a  dependent state burocracy which actes as the executive arm of the patrimonial ruler.