The end of Soviet hegemony has led to the emergence of new Central Asian nation-states which are struggling with the conundrums of national identity amidst complex population mixes and competing local and transnational ethnic religious and political affiliations. This book focuses on the dynamics among transnational forces within and beyond the region and explores the roles played by diaspora communities in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Written by highly respected experts in the field, the book addresses issues such as nationalism, conflict, population movement, the Internet, Muslim...

This is the first study to observe the practice of modernization in Turkey and Iran not only from above, by examining the measures adopted by the political regimes of the late Ottomans, Ataturk and Reza Shah, but also from below, exploring how different social levels contributed to the drive for modernity. It is a full and thorough analysis of how these societies reacted to reform and change.
The State and the Subaltern offers a fresh perspective on the accommodation and resistance to modernization and the relation between the common people and the state in two Islamic societies...

During the late 19th century, Baku, the capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan, was an important centre for collecting information on neighbouring Muslim countries. This tradition was maintained under the Soviet administration, with the result that today libraries in Baku and Azerbaijan boast an extensive and unique collection of books, manuscripts, newspapers and other serials from the Persian- and Turkic-speaking areas of the Caucasus and Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Ottoman Empire and the Arab world.
The newspapers and serials held in these collections - largely in...

This is a study of modern Iranian political history and is set in the international context of the Second World War and its aftermath. The book covers the essential background in Iranian political history in the 20th century including the role played by Azerbaijani politicians in the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-6, the drastic reforms of the autocratic Reza Shah regime and its effect on ethnic identity in Iranian Azerbaijan, the abdication of the Shah, the role of the Allied Powers, and the occupations of Iran. The book draws on Turkish, Persian, and Azeri sources as well as British,...

The First World War, leading to the overthrow of the Qajar regime and replacement by Reza Shah, was pivotal in the history of modern Iran. The Constitutional Revolution of 1906-09 aimed to abolish the arbitrary regime and bring in a modern constitution and parliament. But growing provincial unrest and rebellion by nomadic peoples, brought chaos and instability, heightened by the strains of war and intervention by foreign powers. Iran was on the brink of disintegration, modernisation had failed, and growing frustration and pressure from the disillusioned middle classes, intelligentsia and...

Examines Ottoman and republican Turkish social and labour history from the end of the nineteenth century to the early 1950s.

The authors trace the emergence of Ataturk and Reza Shah through the constitutional revolutions in Iran and the Ottoman Empire, which led to the introduction of European social models, the establishment of dictatorship and of secularist reforms. This produced in both Turkey and Iran highly authoritarian, nationalist, and quasi-westernised states, where the personality cult of the leader defined the politics of each country."