Is democracy a foreign concept to the political culture of the Near East? This perennially debated question often overlooks a crucial historical factor: the rise of Ottoman and Qajar constitutionalism during the long nineteenth century. This volume is the first study to emphasize constitutionalism as a transformative force across Ottoman and Iranian lands. It investigates how new political ideas and social dynamics across the century shaped constitutionalism into a multifaceted and potent movement, culminating in the revolutions of 1906 and 1908. It traces how constitutionalism durably altered conceptions of state and society, leaving a significant legacy in both Iranian and (post-)Ottoman contexts.

Contributors are Houri Berberian, Yaşar Tolga Cora, Anne-Laure Dupont, Fujinami Nobuyoshi, Zaur Gasimov, Peter Hill, Denis Hermann, Erdal Kaynar, Varak Ketsemanian, Mira Xenia Schwerda, Alisa Schablovskaia, Nader Sohrabi and Barış Zeren.