Hows and Whys of Reuter’s Agreement: From Contraction to Cancellation

Abstract

This article is an attempt to survey the contraction and cancellation of the Reuter's agreement as a one-sided approach and from special perspective, by using minimalistic ideology and with emphasis on multi-sided and various reasons and factors effective in the process of this contract. On the basis of this research, in this contraction, different factors came together and augmented one another. They can be summarized in the three factors of modernized inclinations of Nasser al din Shah, operationalization of the insights of Mohammad Hussein Khan Sepahsalar, the chanceller of the time, and efforts of the English merchants for trading in Iran. In the cancellation of the Agreement, also, different processes were involved including the explicit opposition of Russia, the priority of the political-security role of Iran for the Government of England, and disagreement of the majority of the Qajar Court authorities and a part of clergy people with Sepahsalar and their benefitting from this opportunity to dismiss him. On this basis the article attracts the attention for researchers to this issue that history cannot be interpreted just on the basis of intentions and with the supposition of actualization of actor's intentions, but there should be more emphasis on the importance of the role of constructs and dialectic of constructs with the agency of individuals and their thoughts.