Abstract:

In Iran, despite the emergence of national and international commercial forces in the second half of the nineteenth century, they were not able to play their historical role in the sense that they couldn't transform the agricultural society into an industrial capitalism due to both external and internal obstacles. In the second half of the nineteenth century, after all-encompassing influence of the west (Russia and the United Kingdom) in Iran that put Iran a semi-colonial condition, there appeared new areas for growth and comprehensive development. Within this historical context, the new commercial forces of Iran emerged. Iranian businessmen following their western counterparts ignored the local trade and turned to business in national and international spheres. Nevertheless, this socio-economic force couldn't play its historical role. In other words, it couldn't transform Iran into a new socially, economically and politically developed country. So, due to domestic despotism and foreign colonialism, Iran couldn’t move towards capitalism and democracy. 

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