Iranian Journal of Sociology

Abstract This article analyzes the pre-modern state of Iran in the Qajar period by describing and using historical data. Its method is descriptive-analytical with the approach of historical sociology, which has used the technique of document review. The findings show: 1. Taxes and customs duties were the only sources of government revenue; Weak taxation and widespread corruption put the government in incurable financial straits. 2. The inability to pay the troops and maintain them permanently made it impossible to form military forces independent of the tribes, and the government was incapable of defending its borders and internal control. 3. The judicial system did not have a  unified procedure for passing and enforcing a law. These matters were left to influential people and local authorities outside capital and regional centres. 4. Power of bureacracy was almost limited to Tehran and it was not able to defend national borders. 5 On the other hand, the society was powerful. With different modes of production, military power and great solidarity, the tribes were  power centers independent  of established government. The above characteristics show that pre-modern government of Iran is inconsistent with the claim of the Asian mode of production theory that the state is powerful and has a comprehensive and centralized bureaucracy.Iranian society was also a strong and decentralized. Therefore, in order to understand Iranian society better, we should search for other more explainig theories and avoid orientalist perspective. 

Abstract This article examines the rise and fall of the Kermanshah bazaar and its role in Kermanshah province in the 13th century. The theoretical approach of the article is based on the views of ‘Karl Polanyi’. To gather the data, we used the historical research method and examined documents and the Bazaar itself. According to the data, the following reasons made Kermanshah Bazaar flourish and gain a strategic position: the will of European countries to trade in the 19th century, the decline of Trabzon-Tabriz and Caucasus-Puti-Tabriz routes due to silkworm disease, digging the Suez Canal, and the use of steamships in the Tigris and Euphrates. The data also reveals that the Bazaar was imposed by the international system and it could not use capital, labor, and land in trade. Thus, it was a "docking market" that was outside the production mode and its role was limited to the city of Kermanshah. As a result, it changed the morphology of the city and attracted a large number of merchants to Kermanshah. After a century, however, with the outbreak of World War I, this bazaar fell because of the "Currency Inspection law" and the construction of the national railway.