Cultures of statehood, cultures of revolution : Caucasian revolutionaries in the Iranian constitutional movement, 1906-1911

Abstract

The article focuses on the contribution of different groups of Caucasian activists to the unfolding of the Constitutional Revolution (1906-11) in Iran. While previous accounts concentrate on the solidarity between Caucasian and Iranian activists, this article develops a more complex picture, focusing specifically on how Caucasian activists used political violence and how they viewed centralized state rule. The analysis shows that the Caucasian activists were influenced by a political culture of anticolonial resistance in Transcaucasia that was significantly different from the political world of Qajar Iran, thus indicating the wider political influence of Russian state rule in Transcaucasia.