ABSTRACT
The early Qajar period (1785-1848) is important for the development of a distinct theory of the two powers which differed from late Safavid political thought in that it reflected a new constellation of hierocratic and temporal power. There is both continuity and change in this period. While there is continuity with the late Safavid treatment of political ethics and statecraft as a branch of practical philosophy, there is also a break with both traditions of Shiite jurisprudence and statecraft. This break is marked by the emergence, in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, of a new genre of critical political writing out of the statecraft literature which can be considered the beginning of modern political thought.
