An Examination of the Concept of Justice in Political Advice Literature of the Qajar Era

Abstract

Justice is one of the central concepts in the Iranian tradition of political thought and has historically been associated with governmental legitimacy, the ethics of rulership, protection of the population, public security, and the prosperity of the realm. This study examines the concept of justice in Qajar-era political advice literature and explains its transformation from a sovereign-centered model into a legal and institutional conception. The study employs a descriptive-analytical method based on library research and the conceptual analysis of political advice texts, reformist treatises, critical writings, and historical accounts associated with the Qajar period. The findings demonstrate that traditional political advice literature primarily connected justice with the personal virtues of the monarch, including wisdom, moderation, protection of the subjects, responsiveness to grievances, avoidance of oppression, and supervision of governmental officials. Within this model, the just shah was regarded as the principal source of political order, while the realization of justice depended more on the ruler’s moral character and personal will than on stable institutions. This understanding gradually changed as administrative, fiscal, judicial, and social crises intensified and Iranian intellectuals became increasingly familiar with modern political ideas. In later reformist writings, justice became associated with the rule of law, merit-based administration, fiscal reform, opposition to corruption, relative judicial autonomy, governmental accountability, political consultation, and public rights. At the same time, the political status of the population evolved from subjects dependent on royal protection to members of a nation possessing recognizable rights. The study concludes that Qajar political advice literature constituted an intellectual bridge between the Iranian-Islamic tradition of the just ruler and the modern conception of lawful government. Although justice retained its ethical and religious foundations, it gradually developed from a personal virtue into a political, legal, and institutional principle, thereby contributing to the conceptual emergence of constitutionalism, limitations on political authority, and demands for accountable government in Iran.