By a rescript dated Feb. 2, 1907 Mohammed Ali Shah con firmed the previous ordinance of Dec. 1906, and on Oct. 8, 1907, signed the Constitution in its final form and took the oath of kingship prescribed therein, in the presence of the assembled Majlis. As time passed however this monarch, chafing under the unwonted trammels of constitutional government, rashly at tempted to suppress the Majlis and overthrow the Constitution, but his effort proving abortive resulted in his enforced abdication and exile to Europe, and the accession of his son, Sultan Ahmed Shah (a child of 12 years of age), in accordance with the pro vision of the Constitution, perpetuating the Kajar dynasty.
During a precarious reign of 16 years this young potentate con trived to alienate the affections of his subjects completely and on Oct. 31, 1925, the Majlis voted by a large majority for his deposition and for the convening of a Constituent Assembly which should reform the constitution and appoint the then prime minister, Riza Khan Pahlavi, head of a provisional government pending the conclusion of its labours. This body elected Riza Khan Pahlavi to the throne on Dec. 13, 1925; he took the oath two days later, and on April 25, 1926, was crowned at Tehran. Ahmed Shah (b. 1898) retired to Europe on his deposition, and died in the American Hospital at Neuilly, on February 27, 193o.
Under the Constitution, the Shah's powers are in general those ordinarily accorded to the ruler of a State under a Cabinet system of government. The prime minister, who is the constitutional executive, actually receives his appointment from the Shah, but is responsible to the Majlis, whose approval and support are of course a sine qua non. He, in turn, selects his ministers and intro duces them to the Shah and to the Majlis. With his ministers he constitutes the Cabinet, or Council of Ministers, which pos sesses general executive powers, issues decrees for the enforce ment of laws, and, during the usual parliamentary recesses, exercises a measure of provisional legislative power; but the sole right of imposing, reducing, or abolishing taxes, making appropria tions, approving loans, or granting concessions, rests with the Majlis.
In 1928 the Council of Ministers was composed of the prime minister and eight ministers holding the following portfolios: War, Interior, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Justice, Posts and Telegraphs, Public Instruction and Public Works.
Persia, for purposes of administration, was, in 1928, divided into twenty-six provinces, which are governed by Governors-General who, in many cases, are officers of high rank. The provincial governors are directly responsible to the Central Government and come under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior. Prov inces are sub-divided, either wholly or in part, into districts (buluk) each under a deputy-governor (naib-ul-hukumeh), and comprising a number or group of villages rather than a definite area. The buluk, however, is usually only a name, the administra tive unit being the village. Local government in the villages is simple, the principal authority in agricultural affairs being the Kadkhuda, or head-man. In addition to a Kadkhuda, many of the larger villages appoint as their representatives a number of elders or grey-beards who take the side of the villagers in the event of a dispute. In many districts, the distribution of water is in the special charge of a waterman. When a dispute arises over water or land, it is often submitted to the impartial decision of these elders. When any case requiring a legal judgment arises, appeal is made to the local Mullahs, to the deputy-governor, or even to the governor of the province.
The cities and towns are in general governed by municipal com missions. The last vestiges of the ancient satrapal system of local administration are rapidly disappearing in Persia ; but for a long time after its forms had vanished its spirit prevailed and ad ministrative services such as the post, telegraphs, the mint and the collection of various taxes were "farmed" out. As a result, ,
administration became local and personal, and there were no uniform regulations applying to the whole country. To-day, modern and uniform principles of administration are becoming universal. The Constitution provides that, throughout the empire, provincial and departmental councils shall be established, the members of which shall be elected by the local inhabitants. Legal provision has accordingly been made for the election of rural and town councils.
In 1928, the 26 provinces of Persia were as follows :— (I) Astarabad (13) Kermanshah (2)Azerbaijan (Tabriz) (14) Khurasan (3) Burujird ( '5) Khuzistan (4) Damghan (hitherto com- (16) Kurdistan bined with Semnan, (17) Malayir now separated) (18) Mazanderan (5) Fars and Southern ports (19) Nehavend (6) Gilan (20) Qazwin (Kazvin) (7) Gulpaigan (21) Qum (8) Hamadan (22) Semnan (9) Iraq (23) Shah Rud (io) Isfahan (24) Tehran ( ) Kashan Yezd (12) Kerman (26) Zinjan Armed Forces.—The Persian armed forces consisted in 1927 of a regular army of some 40,000 men, a Gendarmerie (Amnieh) of about 7,000 and a police-force of 5,000. The existing regular army is entirely the creation of Reza Shah Pahlavi, whose eleva tion to the throne of Persia was effected mainly through the instrumentality of the homogeneous force which he had created out of the motley military formations to which political exigencies and periodic aspirations in the direction of reform on the part of the Persian people had at various times given birth. The more important of these forces were the South Persia Rifles, organised and trained by British officers, the Persian Cossack Division, commanded by Russian officers, the Gendarmerie, which had made a promising start under Swedish officers during the few years preceding the World War, and the decrepit remnants of the Nizam, the old Persian regular army, formed and reformed by successive "missions" of European officers of French, British, Austrian and other nationalities, since the time when Abbas Mirza, the son of Fateh Ali Shah, first decided that drilled and disciplined troops could more effectively oppose Russia than the irregular masses of tribesmen upon which Persia had hitherto relied for her defence. Reza Pahlavi, when he became minister of War in 1921, set himself in the first place to eliminate foreign influence entirely from the army, and in the second place to weld these various forces, with their different organisations, their diverse methods of training, even their different words of command. into a uniform and truly national Perisan army, obedient to him self and imbued with some spirit of patriotism. Under his leader ship the army, officered entirely by Persians, rapidly established a mastery over the country, such as had been unknown for many years. A degree of security remarkable in comparison with the disorder of previous years was achieved and maintained with fair consistency; the tribes who for long had been almost a law unto themselves, were brought to submission, and the pay ment of revenue regularly enforced. The country was divided into six military districts, five of which, the Central, the North Western, the Western, the Southern and the Eastern, with head quarters respectively at Tehran, Tabriz, Kermanshah, Shiraz and Meshed, are each garrisoned by a lashkar (a force approximating to a division), and the sixth by a strong independent brigade with headquarters at Resht. Each of these forces is composed of cavalry, artillery, and infantry with the essential ancillary services, in proportions and strengths varying according to local needs, the greatest strength and the most mobile troops being main tained at Tehran whence they are despatched as need arises to reinforce the provincial divisions. A small air force of 1 o to 15 machines is located at the capital.