Persian Empire 1845

Chapter 578 Cabinet Reform
Iran is making final preparations for next year's parliamentary elections, and the government is also making corresponding adjustments, including refining the division of labor and adjusting the functions of various departments.

The Iranian government currently comprises eleven ministries: finance, foreign affairs, interior, justice, education, agriculture and forestry, industry and commerce, postal services, army, navy, and transportation. Initially, this system was sufficient to keep the country running, but as the workload increased, problems such as inefficiency and unclear responsibilities emerged. The increased functions and responsibilities of some departments, along with the lack of clarity regarding the duties and functions of each sub-sector, led to hundreds of incidents of inter-departmental disputes and buck-passing. The government has reached a point where reform is imperative.

According to the cabinet amendment regulations approved by Shah, five new ministries—Construction, Water Resources, Colonial Affairs, Health, and Religious Affairs—have been added to the existing cabinet, along with two new bureaus—Finance and Audit.

As Iran's industrialization accelerates, the existing government structure is no longer able to effectively coordinate increasingly large-scale and technologically complex national engineering projects. Overlapping functions and unclear responsibilities have led to inefficiency and resource waste. The establishment of the Ministry of Construction aims to end this chaotic situation.

The Ministry of Construction is responsible for the planning and construction of large-scale public works and economic projects, and is in charge of the country's key infrastructure. It also spearheads the modernization of major cities such as Tehran, Isfahan, and Tabriz, including widening streets, constructing sewer systems, and installing gas streetlights.

The Ministry of Water Resources is responsible for the construction, maintenance, and management of water conservancy projects within its territory, and for formulating and supervising the implementation of national and inter-regional long-term water supply and demand plans and programs. Because Iran is also a major agricultural country in the Middle East, water conservancy projects are crucial. Furthermore, Iran periodically faces droughts. A strong Ministry of Water Resources can conduct inter-regional water resource allocation during years of disaster, organize drought relief efforts, and enhance the country's resilience and stability.

The Ministry of Colonial Affairs, needless to say, was responsible for the development of colonies, the resettlement of immigrants, and relations with local powers. The Ministry of Health was responsible for establishing a modern public health system. This included setting up hospitals, training doctors and nurses, promoting vaccination, and overseeing urban water supply and sanitation. Its aim was to combat epidemics, reduce mortality rates, and improve the physical health of the population.

The establishment of the Ministry of Religious Affairs is a change driven by the current religious situation in Iran. On the one hand, Iran is vigorously promoting secularization and shedding religious influence; on the other hand, Shiites have deeply integrated into all aspects of Iranian society, and they still hold considerable authority in some areas. Moreover, enlightened Shiite scholars have already made changes in some places, making the Shiite community more flexible and attracting more people to convert with government support.

To address the problems arising from religion, the Ministry of Religious Affairs was established. Its functions can be divided into two main parts: firstly, the management of religious funds.

Religious endowments, or waqf, are one of the largest and most stable wealth systems in the Middle East, encompassing land, real estate, and shops, with proceeds used for charitable and religious purposes. The state's "assistance" in managing this enormous wealth effectively transfers economic power from completely independent religious institutions to the central government, weakening the economic independence of the clergy and strengthening state control.

The department will conduct a unified registration and cataloging of all religious foundation assets nationwide, and audit their income and expenditure to ensure that they are used for legally mandated charitable or religious purposes, preventing misappropriation and corruption. Uses will be allocated to traditional charitable projects such as mosque maintenance, religious school operation, poverty relief, public fountains, and bathhouses.

The other part is the judiciary, which aims to prevent excessive interference by religious justice in national civil, commercial, and criminal law, while also safeguarding the religious traditions of society. The department's functions also include recommending and appointing religious judges and supervising their judicial activities to ensure they exercise their judicial power within the limits granted by law.

A dedicated office was established to handle jurisdictional disputes between religious and secular courts. Islamic law underwent a degree of revision and codification to reduce arbitrariness in judgments and make it more aligned with the governance needs of a modern state. This department did not abolish religious courts and funds as quickly as radicals envisioned, nor was it entirely religiously dominated as in Tunisia. It embodied the long-standing pragmatism and balancing act of Persian politics. It did not eradicate tradition, but rather "tamed" and "absorbed" it, transforming it into part of the state apparatus.

At the same time, during radical modernization reforms, this department acted as a stabilizer and pressure relief valve for society. Conservative citizens could still handle family matters within the religious judicial system they were familiar with, and devout believers could still see religious funds being managed "well," thus reducing resistance to social transformation.

As for the Monetary Authority, it retains its original functions of currency issuance and maintaining the stability of the external exchange rate, but now it has the power to manage and supervise the banking, financial, and lending sectors. At the same time, its administrative level has been elevated to the same level as the department, and it is directly responsible to Shah.

The same applies to the audit bureau, which is responsible for examining the accounts of various departments and provinces to ensure that their expenditures are legally justified, comply with the budget items approved by parliament, and that reimbursement vouchers are authentic and complete. It rigorously investigates and punishes corruption, misappropriation of public funds, and over-budget spending. It prevents waste and inefficiency, ensuring that national funds are truly transformed into national strength.

The newly added departments have refined and clarified their functions and responsibilities, while also avoiding the drawbacks of some departments having excessive responsibilities and lacking checks and balances on power.

Differentiation and checks and balances are necessary political means of governing a country. By subdividing administrative functions, conflicts and contradictions between departments can be resolved, while also leaving more room for advancement for subordinate officials, allowing them to achieve upward mobility through relatively fair means. This is the purpose of changing the functions of various central departments.

In addition, the stock exchange will re-establish a securities regulatory committee to crack down on speculative business. A new Department of Land and Resources will be added, responsible for the allocation and management of domestic land resources, and the planning, management, protection, and rational utilization of national mineral resources, agricultural and forestry resources, marine and fishery resources, and other natural resources. The Statistics Department under the Ministry of Finance will be renamed the National Bureau of Statistics, responsible for conducting nationwide population, agricultural, industrial, and commercial censuses; standardizing national data; and regularly publishing economic and social reports.

All of this changed during this period, especially with the establishment of the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Faced with cannons, those Ulimas could only nod in agreement. Take away their money bags and guns, and let's see how they rebel.

Faced with such drastic changes, it's unclear whether civil servants and bureaucrats are prepared. Even if they aren't, they won't be given time; they'll just have to adapt slowly.

(End of this chapter)