The construction of national identity is a major theme in the political and social life of modern Iran.The two generations of Pahlavi Kings tried their best to dilute Islamic symbols and construct a Western-like and secular-oriented national identity centering on Aryanism,to serve the construction of dynastic rule and the strengthening of absolute monarchy.By the end of the dynasty,however,Iranian intellectuals,through the interpretation of"Westoxication"and"return to self",reshaped the identity of Islam as a"true"national identity and emphasized the concept of fairness and justice advocated by Shi'ism.The dialectical tensions between the bottom-up construction of Islamic identity and the top-down construction of Aryan identity reflected the contest between democracy and autocracy,as well as the dilemma arising from the transplantation of Western modernization.After the Islamic Revolution,the political elites of the Islamic Republic of Iran continued to prioritize Islamic identity as the core within a more inclusive Islamic-Iranian identity construction,while incorporating Persian symbols into it.The evolution of the construction of national identity in modern Iran stemmed from the sharp society-state contradictions under the Shah Pahlavi's rule,and reflected the shift in Iran's modernization path from Westernization to indigenization.
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