Modernization and revolution

Middle Eastern modernizers of the nineteenth century found in the Circle of Justice a model for reform, a stimulus to change, and a justification for the alterations they wished to make. ¹ Not until the advent of capitalism late in the century did the Circle cease to represent political relations in the Middle East. Modernization altered political organization to conform at least superficially to Western models – first constitutional monarchies and later republics. An older scholarship described these changes as the importation of foreign practices and the “reform” of ailing institutions, motivated by Napoleon’s 1798 invasion of Egypt and the “impact” of the West. These changes, however, also had indigenous roots and in many cases helped rulers to fulfill the requirements of the Circle of Justice under the new conditions of the period. New forms of technological and social organization enhanced rulers’ ability to protect and provide for their people, while new political institutions aimed to secure justice against the unilateral power of sultans and shahs. Technical modernization altered administrative and social organization as well as technology, while political modernization meant not only new political institutions but new concepts of people’s relationship to the state. Late in the century, the spread of capitalist relations and the Westernization of political culture caused the Circle to disappear from the worldview and vocabulary of most elites; it then became a synonym for constitutionalism and a weapon in the hands of those who challenged top-down modernization. It also remained a defensive tool for the peasants and lower classes, whose security was threatened by the period’s transformations. Rulers and states paid more attention to administrative, economic, and technological modernization than to political participation, especially of non-elites. Popular and elite efforts to broaden participation were alike unavailing, leading to revolution in the Ottoman Empire and Iran after the end of the century.