Globalization and Religion: Identity and Power
INAES (Institute for North American and European Studies), University of Tehran
15-16 November 2005
Abstract
Islam and Democracy: Perspectives from Qajar Iran
Shiva Balaghi
Shiva.balaghi@nyu.eduShiva Balaghi is an Associate Director of Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at New York University. She has edited books titled ' Picturing Iran: Art, Society and Revolution' and ' Reconstructing Gender in the Middle East: Tradition, Identity and Power'.
Discussions by pundits, politicians, and scholars alike are increasingly focused on the question of Islam and democracy – and whether democracy, considered by most to be a Western and secular concept, is reconcilable with Islam. Within this discourse, Iran is a pivotal case study, with some arguing it demonstrates that Islam and democracy are fundamentally irreconcilable while others uphold Iran as a burgeoning democracy. Neither school of thought, however, has critically analyzed the history of democracy in Iran. Iran was the first Middle Eastern country to have a revolution at the turn of the century whose primary aim was the implementation of constitutionalism. Indeed, a pivotal feature of that Constitutional Revolution of 1906 was an attempt to reconcile the ideologies and institutions of constitutionalism with those of Islam. In this paper, I will review the overarching contours of the debate on Islam and democracy, explicate the central role the Iranian case has in these debates, and discuss the constitutional movement as a hybrid moment in history that merged Islam and universal rights. The successes and failures of that historical experience can enrich the current debates on secularism versus religion in the articulation of a democratic system—arguing against a simplistic binarism which overlooks important historical experiences. Better understanding this phenomenon may suggest important ways to develop internal models of democracy in the Islamic world.