Study On Iranian Tribal Society Under The Riza Shah’s Rule

Iran is located in the great migration corridor of the people from the Eurasian continent,and it has been affected by the nomadic people for a long time.Therefore,the distribution of the tribe in Iran is very extensive.The size of the tribes,their religious beliefs,their concentration of power and their lifestyle vary widely.Most Iranian tribes believe in Islam.As for the size of the Iranian tribes,they can be divided into four types:large tribal groups,large tribal alliances,small tribal groups and smaller tribal groups.Among tribal groups of varying sizes,there are centralized tribal alliances as well as loosely structured tribes.From the perspective of production and lifestyle,the Iranian tribes can be divided into three types:nomadic tribes,semi-nomadic tribes and settled tribes.While tribal forces form the political and military bases of dynastic rule,tribal rebellions also tend to be the main factors leading to regime instability and even the destruction of the dynasty.There is a sharp conflict between tribes and countries.The establishment of the Pahlavi Dynasty marks a new historical period for Iran,and the modernization of the country become the first task of the new dynasty.In the process of modernization,the Iranian tribes have undergone unprecedented changes and are disintegrating.Riza shah initially completes the state-building by forming a modern army,setting up modern administrative and judicial system,unifying tax and monetary and financial system,which strengthen the country’s centralization and control ability to the tribal areas.In terms of nation-building,Riza shah is committed to building national identity to replace tribal people’s narrow tribal identities.The development of Iran’s industrialization impact the self-sufficient natural economy of tribes,and the construction of modern traffic and communication facilities broke the isolated conditions of tribal areas.However,the most immediate and profound impact on the disintegration of Iranian tribal society is the tribal policy of Riza shah.Riza shah takes down the tribal insurrections and disarms the tribes;forcs tribes to settle and prevent tribal movements;punishes the tribal leaders,which have fundamentally undermined the military and economic base of the tribe,and the internal structure of the tribe has been greatly impacted.The influence of Riza shah’s modernization measures on tribal society can be mainly manifested in the following aspects.Firstly,the destruction of the tribal economic structure and the sharp contradiction between the tribesmen and tribal leaders.The second is the disintegration of tribal structures.The strengthen of the centralization lead to the dissolution of the existing tribal alliances.The destruction of the tribal economy and the inducement of industrialization also lead to a large number of tribal people moving to urban areas.Thirdly,due to the disintegration of the tribal society,the tribal identity of the tribal people is gradually replaced by national identity,professional identity and class identity.Finally,with the deepening of tribal social integration,Iran’s national capacity has been greatly enhanced,and the state’s control of the tribal areas has achieved unprecedented breakthroughs.Iran’s transition from strong society-week state to weak society-strong state is initially realized in the period of the Riza shah.After Riza shah is forced to abdicate in 1941,there are quite a number of tribes restore the original nomadic life,but they might not really anyway back to its original form.After the second world war,in the aftermath of the more radical modernization of King Pahlavi,the tribes have largely retired from the Iranian history,except the remnants of tribes in a few areas.