ERWAN FAGÈS
At the very beginning of the 20th century, Iran appeared to be on the path to political modernity: In 1906, it became the first Muslim country to adopt a constitution, partly inspired by the French Enlightenment. Yet, in 1979, it was also the first Muslim country to bring a theocratic dictatorship to power.
This paradoxical trajectory is the result of a century of political struggle between reformist movements and reactionary forces, making Iran a "laboratory of contemporary political experience," said Stéphanie Roza, research fellow at France's National Scientific Research Center, and Amirpasha Tavakkoli, lecturer at Sciences Po Reims, in their book Lumières et anti-Lumières en Iran ("Enlightenment and Anti-Enlightenment in Iran", 2026).
At the dawn of the 20th century, Iran was still a monarchy by divine right, ruled by the Qajar dynasty. In what context did the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1911 emerge?
Amirpasha Tavakkoli: During their travels in Europe in the 19th century, Iranian monarchs realized just how far behind their country was technologically compared to Western societies. While they were not, however, supportive of the progressive ideals that emerged from the French Revolution, these values nonetheless found their way into certain segments of the very Francophile Iranian elite, leading to a questioning of the country's despotic political system.
