Revolution and Constitutionalism in the Ottoman Empire and Iran [Hardcover]

This is an analysis of the constitutional revolutions in the Ottoman Empire and Iran in the early twentieth century.The primary focus of this book is the Young Turk Revolution of 1908. The analysis considers global diffusion of institutions and ideas, their regional and local reworking, and the long-term consequences of adaptations. It considers the historic reasons for greater resilience of democratic institutions in Turkey as compared to Iran. Finally, the book makes a distinction between the form and content of revolutions and forces us to reconsider our ahistoric thinking about revolutions.The primary focus of this book is the Young Turk Revolution of 1908. The analysis considers global diffusion of institutions and ideas, their regional and local reworking, and the long-term consequences of adaptations. It considers the historic reasons for greater resilience of democratic institutions in Turkey as compared to Iran. Finally, the book makes a distinction between the form and content of revolutions and forces us to reconsider our ahistoric thinking about revolutions.As a wave of democratic social movements, under the influence of velvet revolutions, is sweeping the Middle East, this book calls attention to an earlier wave that swept the region a century ago. In his book on constitutional revolutions in the Ottoman Empire and Iran, Nader Sohrabi considers global diffusion of institutions and ideas, their regional and local networking, and the long-term consequences for adaptation to local exigencies. There are lessons to be learned here. The revolutions, despite the differing social structures of the societies in which they happened, shared the same objectives and demands. Furthermore, the suddenness and simultaneity of their appearance point to a commonality that transcended the localities. Arguing that revolutions are time-bound phenomena whose forms follow global models in vogue at particular historical junctures, the book challenges the ahistorical and purell³>