The Genealogy of Human Rights Discourse in Modern Iran

Authors

Hassan Vaezi, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Major/Program

Political Science

First Advisor's Name

Mohiaddin Mesbahi

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Astrid Arraras

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Third Advisor's Name

Benjamin Smith

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Eric Lob

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Keywords

Islamic studies, religious education, theology and philosophy of religious thought, women's studies

Date of Defense

4-7-2023

Abstract

The Genealogy of Human Rights Discourse in Modern Iran

(1796–1925)

The origin of public discourse on human rights in Iran dates back from the late 19th century and culminates in the signing of Iran’s first constitution in 1906. This constitution is widely regarded as the first official document enshrining and safeguarding a wide array of human rights in contemporary Iran.

Iranian society’s socialization into a rights–based notion of citizenship carrying certain human rights, freedoms, and individual rights may be attributed to the political, economic and social reforms and transformations that transpired during the Qajar Dynasty from 1789 to 1925. In this period, the imposition of legal limits on the Shah's powers and the formation of new civic institutions such as consultative assemblies consolidated a sense of societal familiarity with individual, civic, and social rights. Later, these rights were recognized as “the rights of the nation” in the Persian Constitutional Amendment of 1907 where it was stipulated that “the powers of the realm are all derived from the people and the Fundamental Law regulates the employment of those powers.”

In short, the Constitutionalist Revolution of the early 20th century was the first systematic effort in Iran focused on achieving justice, democracy, free elections, the rights to litigation, independence of the judiciary, and a constitution where the royal prerogatives and powers are explicitly demarcated. In this dissertation, I track down the genealogy of the human rights discourse in Iran and demonstrate significant factors that contributed to the emergence of modern interpretation of human in the constitutional era. In this work I unpack a multiplicity of mutually reinforcing factors and actors including the political elite, travelogues, women, Ulama, and the great powers that helped the ordinary people’s familiarity with constitutionalism and a rights-based notion of citizenship.

Identifier

FIDC011084

Recommended Citation

Vaezi, Hassan, "The Genealogy of Human Rights Discourse in Modern Iran" (2023). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5248.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/5248