Turkey and Iran: Nationalism and Modernization Compared
This paper compares the nation-building efforts of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in Turkey and Reza Shah in Iran during the 1920s and 1930s, examining how each leader pursued secularization, westernization, and the cultivation of nationalist identity. It traces parallel reforms in law, education, culture, and women's rights, and analyzes how each leader sought to disconnect his nation from its Islamic past while fostering ethnic pride. The paper then turns to the reversals that followed: Khomeini's Islamic Revolution in Iran (1979) and Erdogan's Islamist turn in Turkey (2002 onward), arguing that both nations ultimately saw authoritarian, religion-centered regimes undercut the modernizing projects of the previous generation.
- Introduction: Two Empires in Crisis: Context for Turkish and Iranian identity crises
- Ataturk and the Kemalist Project in Turkey: Ataturk's sweeping secularization and westernization reforms
- Reza Shah and Modernization in Iran: Reza Shah's parallel modernization of Iranian society
- Nationalism, Identity, and Ethnic Pride: Ethnic nationalism cultivated by both leaders
- Reversals: Erdogan in Turkey and Khomeini in Iran: Islamist leaders roll back secular reforms
- Conclusion: Modernization achieved then partly dismantled
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What makes this paper effective
- The parallel structure — consistently pairing Turkish and Iranian developments side by side — gives the comparison clarity and analytical coherence throughout.
- Concrete policy examples (banning the fez, the Women's Awakening, the Trans-Iranian Railway, the State Art and Sculpture Museum) anchor abstract arguments about secularization and westernization in observable historical events.
- The paper extends its scope beyond the founding leaders to examine later reversals under Erdogan and Khomeini, demonstrating awareness that historical reforms can be undone.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper uses a comparative historical framework to draw meaningful parallels between two sovereign states undergoing simultaneous but independent modernization projects. By isolating common variables — leadership style, secularization policy, cultural reform, and subsequent Islamist backlash — the author shows how the same broad forces played out differently in two distinct national contexts, a classic method in comparative politics and history.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with historical context for both nations, then dedicates separate sections to each leader's reform program before converging on shared themes of nationalism and ethnic identity. The final section mirrors the opening structure by examining both nations' reversals together, creating a symmetrical arc: modernization achieved, then partly dismantled. Citations from Foreign Policy, World Affairs, Smithsonian, and Middle Eastern Studies lend credibility to the argument.
Introduction: Two Empires in Crisis
In the early 1920s, both Turkey and Iran found themselves in an identity crisis. Formerly famous for their respective empires — now crumbling — they were in need of resurgence after the previous institutions of government had failed them. Mustafa Kemal (1923), later known as Ataturk, meaning "father of Turks," and Reza Shah (1925) came to power and contributed to the formation of the modern national identity in each country. They are both celebrated leaders who generated feelings of nationalism and brought their people together to acknowledge and take pride in their national identity.
It was a revolutionary time for the Turks, and Ataturk was determined to bring the nation from a "backward" land — compared to the developed West — to a more "respectable" nation built on sophisticated and progressive ideals and culture. As a true nationalist, he aimed to create a homogeneous, ethnically Turkish state. Likewise, in Iran, the Persians led by Reza Shah began a course of modernization, which included shifting to a constitutional monarchy — lasting until the 1979 revolution — and adopting an internationalist perspective similar to Turkey's. This paper compares and contrasts the initiatives that Ataturk and Reza Shah undertook to transform their respective citizenries into Turkish and Iranian nationalists, with a brief discussion of the effectiveness of their reforms in light of more recent changes in each country.
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