JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY
Year:2014 | Volume:6 | Issue:1|Papers Count:7

The subject of this paper is analysis of the process of democratization in Afghanistan within the time period of 1907-2008 AD. The article claims that over the past one hundred years (1907-2008 AD), the Afghans in four historical periods of "Constitutionalist Movement" (1907-1928 AD) , "The Democracy Period" (1946-1953AD) , "The Decade of Constitution" (1963-1973 AD) and " The Interim Government , The Transitional Government, and The Islamic Republic" ( 2001-2008 AD), have made efforts towards the democratization of their society’s political and social relations. However, "democracy" has not been established in Afghanistan yet. To prove this claim, the question of “Why democratization process in Afghanistan has not led to democracy?” has been presented. Later, after a critical argument about democratic theory, the causal provisions of “socio-economic development", "civil society", "a model of democratic political elite" and "the role of international or external factors" have been proposed to explain the problem of the historical period. Historical comparative and historical narrative agreement methods have been used in this research. The experimental findings imply that in case of socio-economic development, establishment of civil society and democratic relations between political elites and positive role of external and international agents in Afghanistan, democratization will be established in this country.

This article that has studied the causes of the formation of Motalefeh before the Islamic revolution of Iran was codified on the basis of placing Motalefeh in the model of categorical base of its members, namely "stratum of urban traditional medium". Thus, at first, the characteristics of the aforesaid stratum were regarded. Then by separation of the traits of this stratum, namely traditionalism and severe tendency to religion, sensitivity in sexual issues and household affairs, opposition with luxury-oriented ness, pessimism to alien symbols, negative attitude toward modern financial Institutions, threat of economic position, decadence of social situation and finally, close relation with shia clergy, these characteristics has been studied with regard to the Motalefeh in that time period. Thereby the causes establishing of this religious-political group has been analyzed.

The mysterious world of legend exists everywhere and every time with no source except the people’s belief. The Legend of Kaveh is linked with the thought and desires of Iran’s people, as well as their legends and fatherland. Iran legendary history is of great importance. For more cogitation, the legend of Kaveh will be investigated in the history and legend. Colloquial conveyance of a legend is rooted in the social behavior rather than in the individual one. In the present study, the legend of Kaveh has been considered as a victorious rebellion in the national history of Iran. Kaveh was not mentioned in the religious literature of Pahlavi at all and has no legendary antiquity. KavehAhangar (blacksmith) was first created in Shahnameh by Ferdowsi and later in the works of historians of Islamic era. It seems that this legend has been created after Ashkanid era and engraved in the legendary history of Sasaniid era. The Legend of Kaveh, as a symbol of a victorious rebellion, is reminder of those people who desire to change their destinies. Detailed description of this legend is mentioned in three chapters: A) History of the Legend of Kaveh Rebellion, B) Kaveh and Kaviani Banner, C) The Legend of Kaveh, Zahak, Fereidoun and Jamshid.

The Constitutional revolution in Iran at the late Qajarid dynasty resulted from a coalition of middle classes; however, it failed to be consolidated. This paper applies the structural-institutional approach to explain the instability of constitutional achievements and fragile coalitions between the revolutionaries. Five structural-institutional factors will be discussed as the causes of fragile coalitions. Analytical narrative is the method for explaining events. A matrix of institutional arrangements including imbalanced class structure, economic deficiencies, world-system situation, and incapacitated state were identified as the main factors that created instability. But the effect of weakly founded political institutions of constitutional period was the most important factor of the fragile coalitions, which resulted in conflicts between the political actors, loose agreements, and lack of structured system of decision making and achieving common aims.

This study investigates the interaction between the leaders of social movements and public in the context of 2009 post-election events in Iran. For this aim, framing analysis approach was used as an analytical tool to capture the modification in framings in different stages of the movement. This approach puts an emphasis the importance of interpretive frameworks in shaping people’s perception of the situation and also the impact of leadership on mobilizing the public. A qualitative content analysis of the texts of the speeches and statements made by the movement leaders in a two-year period was conducted. This article divides the framings of the movement into three distinct periods and describes the characteristics of each one in details. The results show how the dynamics of a movement alonga social event can affectits leaders and subsequently make them modify their framings.

The tombs play an important role in the Islamic era. These buildings, which are widely distributed in all parts of Iran, can reveal detailed information about the architectural styles, decorations and other materials relating to the structures and forms of these kinds of buildings. Shiite Zeidiyye government in the fourth century AD and Mar’ashid in the eighth century AD, and immigration of Sadat and Alavid individuals to the Iranian plateau and regions such as Rey, Ghasran, Damavand, Tabarestan, Ghumes (Kumesh) and Khorassan, have been the reasons for the development of these buildings. With the death or martyrdom of these people, those places were focal points for the growth of the Shi'ite thoughts and justice-oriented uprisings or jumps. Lavassanat and Rudbar-e-Ghasran region in the northern present-day Tehran has been in direct contact with the area of Damavand in the southern Alborz climatically, historically, and culturally. This study is an analysis between some Ilkhanid buildings in the area of Lavasanat and RudbarGhasran and some contemporaneous monuments at Damavand area. The purpose is a comparison and studying of architectonic structure of the buildings, stylistic similarities and differences between them, and the kind of material and ornaments used at the mentioned regions. The research method is descriptive – analytic, data gathering was done by field and documentary methods with a theoretical orientation in cultural history studies.

The Iranian society evolved in a particular way in the Qajarid period, as a pre-modern and traditional society. The introduction of modernity was the main factor behind these changes. The political result of the defeat of this modernity was the onset of the Pahlavid dynasty, which shaped changes in the Iranian society of the Pahlavid period based on this very modernity; the changes and developments through which the issue of the evolution of Iranian clothing is also raised. The present research is a fundamental study based on its goals, and a descriptive-analytical research based on its theme. To reach this objective, the required data were extracted from the previous researches and historical references, and undergone quality analysis to reach scientific results.The results showed that the changes in clothing of the Qajarid period, due to preservation of traditional structure, were only received and accepted by a small number of the court members and the intellectuals of the time, and the common folk persisted on sticking to the traditional norms of clothing. In the First Pahlavid era, under the rule of a dictatorial modernity system that conveyed trends from the top to create an identity for the society, changes in men’s clothing grew with the cooperation of the cultural sources of the society, but change in women’s clothing took on a different form due to the non-cooperation of this group.