Analysis of the discourse of Authoritarian nationalism in history textbooks (1304-1320 AH)

Nationalism has been one of the influential concepts in the contemporary history of Iran. This concept, which was introduced to the writings of some thinkers from the middle of the Qajar period, became one of the intellectual pillars in the form of the discourse of liberal nationalism. In the unsettled social and political situation in Iran during and after World War I, the discourse of liberal nationalism faced a crisis of meaning. Hence, the need arose for an alternative discourse that tends to solve the existing problems and produce new meanings. In this situation, the theory of the formation of a powerful central government was proposed and the discourse of authoritarian nationalism was elaborated to solve the solutions.  This study, based on Laclau and Mouffe's theory of discourse analysis, seeks to answer the question of what was the articulation, concepts, and process of identifying the discourse of authoritarian nationalism in the history textbooks during the Reza Shah period. This study, by examining the textbooks of this period, shows that the ruling power, by articulating the concepts and components of authoritarian nationalist discourse attempted to strengthen the foundations of the Pahlavi government.