Introduction

At the turn of the twentieth century, Iran embarked on a path to development that was typical of many late developers. Iran’s experience, however, has proved to be unique. Development was accompanied by ideological conflicts that culminated in a religiously inspired revolution in 1979. In the process, a modernizing monarchy gave place to the theocratic and revolutionary politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran (the official name of Iran since the revolution). As populism changed the character of the economy and Islamic ideology (a political doctrine based on Islam) transformed Iranian society, its norms, institutions, and, for a time at least, pursuit of its interests were subsumed under preservation of identity. Since the revolution, the nature of development has been complex, revealing modernizing impulses tempered by the pressures of Islamic ideology. Beyond its ideological and institutional particularities, the Islamic Republic shares many of the characteristics and problems of populist authoritarian regimes elsewhere in the developing world: a bloated public sector, mismanagement, and corruption.

There are three distinct and yet interrelated periods in Iran’s modern development: the early and later Pahlavi (the dynasty that ruled Iran from 1925 to 1979); those of Reza Shah Pahlavi (1925–1941) and Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1941–1979); and the Islamic Republic (1979–present). There is greater continuity between the first two periods, under the Pahlavi monarchs, although there are notable differences as well. The Reza Shah period coincided with the rise of the modern Iranian state and started the process of development. The Muhammad Reza Shah period continued in the footsteps of the first period but accelerated the pursuit of modernization. Development under the second Pahlavi monarch was, moreover, conditioned by different global influences and domestic sociopolitical identities and interests. The Islamic Republic has been distinct from the earlier periods in its ideological orientation and in many aspects of its economic policies and political characteristics. Above and beyond their differences in ideological orientation or policy choices, the three periods are similar in the dominant role of the state in development. The basis of Iran’s path in the modern world is to be found in the historical circumstances in which Iran first embarked on development.

At the end of the First World War India was in the throes of great political change. In 1919 the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms, which devolved some powers on Indians in the provinces, and the Rowlatt Act, which restricted Indian civil rights, had changed the legal and political structure of British colonialism. The massacre of Indian civilians at a festival at Jullianwala Bagh by British troops had created a breach between British rule and its Indian subjects. All of these developments served to energise the independence movement. The intellectual and political trajectory of Islam in India after 1919 was shaped in this environment and by Muslim responses to the gradual end of British rule during the inter-war period. Those responses in turn had their roots in intellectual and political developments which had emerged during colonial rule in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Following the Mutiny Uprising of 1857 Muslims reacted to colonial rule in a number of ways. One of the most celebrated was the modernist project of Sayyid Aḥmad Khān (d. 1898), which sought to reverse the decline of Islam in India by adopting new curricula of education and modern interpretations of the faith that brought many Muslims into the ambit of the colonial order. Reforming Muslim education also influenced ʿulamāʾ in forming new educational formulations such as the Nadwī and Iṣlāḥī traditions centred on Nadwat al-ʿUlamāʾ (Council of ʿulamāʾ) and Madrasat al-Iṣlāḥ (School of reform).

Introduction

At the turn of the twentieth century, Iran embarked on a path to development that was typical of many late developers. Iran's experience, however, has proved to be unique. Development was accompanied by ideological conflicts that culminated in a religiously inspired revolution in 1979. In the process, a modernizing monarchy gave place to the theocratic and revolutionary politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran (the official name of Iran since the revolution). As populism changed the character of the economy and Islamic ideology (a political doctrine based on Islam) transformed Iranian society, its norms, institutions, and, for a time at least, pursuit of its interests were subsumed under preservation of identity. Since the revolution, the nature of development has been complex, revealing modernizing impulses tempered by the pressures of Islamic ideology. Beyond its ideological and institutional particularities, the Islamic Republic shares many of the characteristics and problems of populist authoritarian regimes elsewhere in the developing world: a bloated public sector, mismanagement, and corruption.

There are three distinct and yet interrelated periods in Iran's modern development: the early and later Pahlavi (the dynasty that ruled Iran from 1925 to 1979) periods; those of Reza Shah Pahlavi (1925–1941) and Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1941–1979); and the Islamic Republic (1979–present). There is greater continuity between the first two periods, under the Pahlavi monarchs, although there are notable differences as well. The Reza Shah period coincided with the rise of the modern Iranian state and started the process of development.

Introduction

Enduring rivalries pose particularly interesting theoretical questions for both international relations and comparative politics. Here it is not only the causes of the conflict that matter, but also the reasons for their persistence. These conflicts tend to have both deeper roots in and more directly impact domestic politics. In fact, neither the persistence nor the ultimate resolution of these rivalries can be explained without taking domestic political factors into consideration.

The case of Pakistan–India rivalry sheds much light on the dynamics of enduring rivalries, more so because it involves the question of identity. Identity here refers not only to ethnic or linguistic attachments, but more to how the nature of politics, purpose of the state, and its underlying values and interests are understood by key political actors and their respective constituencies. These notions can be defined in terms of overarching worldviews that are drawn from a religion or political ideology. The Pakistan–India rivalry in particular has involved questions of national identity – in fact, it has helped forge and change those identities on both sides. The rise of Islamism and Hindu nationalism and their role in shaping state ideology and national identities in Pakistan and India has played an important role in the endurance of the rivalry between the two countries. However, what is not immediately clear is if the impact of religious identity has been the same in the two countries, and if that impact has entrenched and intensified the rivalry.