نشریه سیاست پژوهی اسلامی ایرانی
سال چهارم شماره 1 (پیاپی 13، بهار 1404)

The political ideas of Mirza Fathali Akhundzadeh regarding forms of government is one of the lesser-explored topics in legal studies. A staunch critic of despotism and the influence of religious institutions in politics, he references two forms of government—constitutional monarchy and republicanism—in his works. This study, with a descriptive approach, aims to examine his views on these two forms of government from a legal perspective. Akhundzadeh considers monarchy as equivalent to sovereignty, emphasizing both its internal and external dimensions. He believes that external independence is paramount, to the extent that internal despotism is preferred over foreign domination. Domestically, he advocates for centralization of power in the monarchy and the elimination of clerical influence. While discussing constitutionalism, he acknowledges the need to limit the monarchy’s power through law and parliament, but addresses this issue only briefly. He also highlights the consequences of power limitation in the realm of public affairs, focusing particularly on governmental corruption, especially financial corruption, as a result of unchecked power concentration. Regarding republicanism, he emphasizes public participation in governance but limits his argument to the view that Sharia law is unable to restrict power. This research indicates that although Akhundzadeh’s discussions on these topics are limited and cursory, studying them is essential for understanding the evolution of legal concepts in Iran and the role of rule of law.

The present study seeks to show the prior ideas that the constitutional scholars in this movement, by keeping them in mind, paid attention to the fundamental concepts of their time and understood them. Together, these ideas had created a semantic system through which concepts such as law were understood. The present study, by keeping in mind a fundamental principle, which is the “compatibility of religion and the modern world” in the thought of the constitutional scholars and taking it as a given, seeks to answer the question of what the semantic system derived from this fundamental principle is and what propositions it is based on? Accordingly, the findings of the present study show that this semantic system was formed based on the connection of the propositions of "law as an obligatory preamble", "requirements of the time", "permissions", "limits of custom and law", and "expansion of the scope of law", and these, in order and together, constitute the semantic system of constitutional scholars, and understanding the concept of law in their thought goes through understanding this semantic system.

Social inequalities, lack of people's access to equal economic, cultural, educational, health situations and opportunities. and societies suffering from socio-economic inequality are always facing various threats and damages in political, social and even security dimensions. Social inequalities due to the effect of economic, social, demographic and political forces. It is affected by changes in government policies in every round and has a direct effect on the upward or downward mobility of social classes. In this research, the effects of social inequalities during the presidency of Mr. Ahmadinejad and Mr. Rouhani have been discussed.The results of the research indicate that as a result of the performance of these governments in the social-political spheres, we have witnessed the intensification of social inequalities and the impact on the mobility and displacement of the social classes of the society. Due to lack of access to equal opportunities and social positions, many of the lower social classes have suffered a decline in their class status and absolute poverty has increased in the society. On the other hand, the middle class has declined due to political and social reasons.

In this article, analyzing the impact of political development and cultural development on the formation of civil institutions in Iran and comparing the position of political development and cultural development in the governments of Hashemi, Khatami, Ahmadinejad and Rouhani is one of the most important goals of the research. Their analysis has been done. In terms of methodology, this research is an explanatory-analytical type of research, and the stages of systematic data collection and logical analysis have been used to achieve the goals.The main question is what is the relationship between political development and cultural development and what effect did this relationship have on the formation of civil institutions focusing on political parties in Iran between 1368 and 1400?The results of the research show that the relationship between political development and cultural development is a necessary and necessary relationship, and cultural issues precede developmental issues, especially political development, and this relationship is effective on the formation of civil institutions, especially political parties. And the formation of civil institutions and political parties in Iran between 1368 and 1400 was incomplete

The Qajar period marks a turning point in the introduction of modernity into Iranian life. During this era, the establishment of new schools, newspapers, and factories brought significant transformations to the collective mentality of Iranian society. These changes, especially through the influence of groups such as writers, intellectuals, clerics, and political agents, led to a redefinition of the relationship between the state and society. This study, focusing on the concept of the "social imaginary," seeks to answer the question: What role has the social imaginary played in shaping state-society relations? The findings of the research indicate that at the beginning of the Qajar period, the prevailing imaginary of the state had a divine essence, and the relationship between the state and society was unilateral. With the advent of modern elements in Iran, concepts such as parliament, law, and liberty entered the political imagination of society. Intellectuals played a key role in disseminating this imagination and succeeded in aligning some clerics with this new imaginary. While intellectuals aimed to establish a modern state, the clerics sought, based on Islamic teachings, to form a legitimate state. Ultimately, the fusion of these two imaginaries led to the Constitutional Revolution. Thus, the social imaginary of the state in the Qajar period evolved from an absolutist state to a constitutional state.