Recasting the political and economic thought of Mirza Malkam Khan through the theory of uneven and combined development

The theory of "Uneven and Combined Development" was first proposed by Leon Trotsky to explain the particular form of capitalist growth and the experience of modernity in Russia and, consequently, the unique shape of social change and revolution in Tsarist Russia. One of the significant results of Trotsky for the idea of uneven and combined development is that "backward" countries can achieve some of the achievements of advanced countries without taking the initial path, a factor that Trotsky calls the "backwardness privilege." The present study attempts to explain and analyze the conceptual foundations of this theory, to read the political thought of Mirza Malkam Khan, one of the significant intellectual figures of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, from the perspective of the theory of uneven and combined development. Hence, the present study specifically seeks to answer the question, "How can uneven and combined development principle in Mirza Malkam khan's thought be traced?" In this regard, I will argue that he, in his critical confrontation with the backwardness of Iran during the Qajar period and in his views on eliminating backwardness and establishing a constitutional system, always emphasizes the coexistence of societies and leaps in development which are essential elements of the theory of UCD. Furthermore, this study, relying on the analytical-explanatory method, attempts to analyze this thinker's intellectual and political processes through the above theory to explain why Malkam Khan indirectly supports Iran's "backwardness privilege" as an exceptional opportunity for a revolution.