Social and Political Foundations of Constitutionalism in the Middle East: The First Constitutional Movements in Tunisia, Ottoman Turkey, Egypt, and Iran

Abstract

Although constitutionalism movements have their roots in the efforts to limit the power of European monarchies beginning with Magna Carta, constitutionalism in the modern sense is the product of the global political and social conditions created by the French Revolution of 1789. In the 19th century, when empires struggled for power in Europe and global economic crises shook the world, constitutionalism appeared as a solution to these crises. In this context, in addition to global constitutional revolutions such as in Japan, Russia, Mexico, and China, the “Eastern” and Muslim societies of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) also struggled for their constitutional movements. Although they could not satisfy the expectations as a result of domestic and regional circumstances, the first constitutional movements in Tunisia (1861), Ottoman Turkey (1876), Egypt (1881), and Iran (1905) provided road maps for the modern nation-states of the following years. This study examines these constitutionalism movements in order to understand their social, political, and economic dynamics and organizational mechanisms, as well as their impact on today’s Middle Eastern politics.