From Mutual Interdependence to Vertical Patronage: The Institutional Transformation of the Bazaari-Ulama Alliance in Iran
Abstract
This theoretical study examines the relationship between the religious establishment (ulama) and the commercial merchant class (Bazaari) as major institutions shaping Iran’s socio-political landscape. Using an institutional perspective, we discuss in detail how the alliance between the Ulama and Bazaari transformed from a coalition based on mutual interests and horizontal linkages of symmetric power into a vertical patronage system under the Islamic Republic post-1979. Historically, the Bazaari-Ulama coalition functioned as a powerful opponent against the authoritarianism and foreign intervention during several incidents, such as the Tobacco Revolts (1891), the Constitutional Revolution (1906), and the 1979 Islamic Revolution. However, the post-1979 state’s consolidation of power through the doctrine of Velayat-e Faqih and the subsequent emergence of the military-bonyad complex gradually weakened the Bazaaris' institutional autonomy. We demonstrate how, during the 1980s and 1990s, the ulama utilized state-led welfare expansion, discretionary economic policies, and the overproduction of educational credentials as institutional mechanisms to weaken the bazaar’s traditional authority and move from cooperative hierarchies to a vertical patronage system. These institutional mechanisms transformed a horizontal alliance between the two institutions into a hierarchical system led by the ruling clergy, thereby fundamentally restructuring Iranian society.
Keywords
Ulama, Bazaari, Islamic Revolution, Institutions, Development
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