Analyzing the Environmental Components of the Patrimonialism Theory in the Study of State Formation in Iran Before the First Pahlavi Era

 There have been various theories about how to form an authoritarian government in Iran before the first Pahlavi, and one of the most important is the patrimonialism theory. From Max Weber's point of view, in patrimonialism, a ruling person's will be considered the only means of organizing and guiding the society. Although political power maintained its autocratic form after the first Pahlavi, the means of exercising power were applied through bureaucracy and administrative systems. Many political science thinkers have welcomed the compatibility of patrimonialism theory with the government evolution in Iran before Pahlavi. However, in this adaptation, less attention has been paid to the political-spatial requirements of Iran. 

 This research has attempted to analyze the reasons for the continuation and stabilization of the patrimonial government in Iran before the first Pahlavi, with a descriptive-analytical method, and from the political geography view. 

 Findings show that a set of factors, including the environmental foundations of Iran's land, the lack of water, and the lack of continuous access to it in all seasons, provides the basis for the nomadic livelihood formation in Iran. So, the emergence of cohesion between different tribes and ethnic groups was possible only with the patrimonial king's political function. In addition, the landowners' production surplus and the urban capitalist class were appropriated by the patrimonial government in the form of tax. On the other hand, the risky geopolitical situation of Iran causes only totalitarian leaders to have the ability to create an alliance between incompatible clans in Iran against hostile foreign forces. 

 These geographical factors have created an increasing compatibility between Weber's theory of patrimonialism and the state-building Pattern in Iran before Pahlavi I.

Innovation: 

In general, the patrimonial king functioned due to natural and human requirements in Iran had organized the totalitarian logic that could not reduce the king's political position to alongside other social institutions.