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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Iran – Foreign relations'
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1
Morsy, Ahmed. "Bandwagon for profit : Egyptian foreign policy toward Iran." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/13077.
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What explains the lack of normalized relations between Egypt and Iran? Despite mutual potential benefits Egypt and Iran could have gained from normalized bilateral relations over the past several decades, a range of factors prevented them from doing so, including personality politics, domestic political and economic considerations, as well as regional and external alliances and competing visions of regional order. Accordingly, the trajectory of modern Egyptian policy toward Iran has been non-linear. Realist and constructivist schools of International Relations theory, on their own, cannot adequately explain how Egypt's foreign policy toward Iran varied from times of hostility, friendship, stagnation, and openness under Presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat, Hosni Mubarak, and Muhammad Morsi. As such, neoclassical realism - with its emphasis on the interaction between geopolitical structural conditions and the roles of leadership and domestic politics in shaping a state's foreign policy - offers the best framework for analyzing Egypt's foreign policy behavior toward Iran.
2
Blumel, Christina M. "A comparative analysis of U.S. foreign policy in Iran and the Philippines." PDXScholar, 1991. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4295.
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This paper is a comparative analysis of U.S. foreign policy towards Iran and the Philippines. The question which prompted this research topic was simple: why was the outcome for the United States so different in terms of subsequent relations with each state after the downfall of the Shah and Ferdinand Marcos? Both leaders were important U.S. allies in strategic states that had benefited from foreign aid. Opposition groups in each state resented this support of their repressive leaders. Unlike Iran, good relations with the Philippines continued during the Aquino presidency, without the resentment and mistrust which prevented good relations after the Shah's departure.
3
Gibson, Bryan. "Covert relationship: American foreign policy, intelligence, and the Iran-Iraq War, 1980--1988." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/27848.
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Following the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Iraq invaded Iran resulting in a costly war from 1980 to 1988, which threatened American interests in the Persian Gulf. From the outset, the stated official American policy was strict neutrality, but this was not the case. The war had provided the United States with an opportunity to improve relations with Iraq, particularly alter Iran reversed the Iraqi invasion in the summer of 1982. Because the Reagan administration could not let Iraq collapse, the United States tilted heavily towards Iraq in defiance of its stated policy. Interestingly, the tilt towards Iraq did not stop the Reagan administration from secretly dealing with Iran in 1985. Consequently, the disclosure of these dealings resulted in the buildup of American naval forces in the region to protect the shipment of oil, and eventually the use of force to end the conflict in 1988.
4
Austin, J. William B. "Imperialism, postimperialism and Iran." Thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/50073.
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The usual explanations of the events leading to the Iranian Revolution have been either an analysis of Iranian culture or an analysis of the exploitation of Iran by imperialist powers. This thesis seeks to expand on imperialist theory by using post-imperialist theory to explore the reciprocal affects of transnational class formation which came about with the growth of transnational corporations. This approach is well suited to the Iranian case because of the strong ties that Iran under the Shah had with the international community.Master of Arts
incomplete_metadata
5
Pagé, Charles 1978. "Involvement based on identitive affinities : the case of Iran." Thesis, McGill University, 2001. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=33918.
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Since the end of the Cold War, considerable attention has been paid to "ethnic" or "identitive" conflicts. Some scholars argue that these conflicts tend to draw in 'kin' states who support the belligerent(s) with whom they share identitive affinities. This thesis examines such involvement, based on identitive affinities, in ethnopolitical conflicts. In particular, it analyses the pattern of involvement of one country: Iran. Specifically, it looks at Iran's policy towards five conflicts: Afghanistan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Iraq, South Lebanon and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.This thesis argues that kinship is only a permissive cause of involvement while the presence and scope of involvement are determined by other factors, in the following order: security threats, non-security interests (influence, economic interests), and ideology. Proximity is of great importance as security threats usually emanate from neighbours and not from far-away enemies.
6
Ross, Christopher Nicholas. "Lord Curzon, the 'Persian question', and geopolitics, 1888-1921." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.609030.
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7
Khatib-Shahidi, Rashid Armin. "German foreign policy towards Iran : the case of the National Bank of Persia." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1999. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:55dd46e5-2eef-46f6-be8b-ca7bb177a518.
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The objective of this thesis is to show that after World War I, the National Bank of Persia emerged as an ideal accessory to Germany's desire to establish a foothold in Iran. It argues that the main motive behind Germany's involvement in the National Bank was to utilise the bank as a vehicle for extending German national interest into Iran. However, although Germany's main interest was to thereby gain economic influence in Iran, the National Bank provided Germany with a tool that furthered its desire for political participation and the establishing of authority within the spheres of interest of Britain and Russia. The objective of this thesis is not to establish a comprehensive and complete overview of German foreign policy toward Iran and its interactions with the National Bank of Persia. It aims rather at highlighting a number of events that are significant for an examination of Germany's policy toward Iran and its evolution up until the outset of World War II. In pursuit of this task, emphasis is given to the opinion expressed at the time, as reflected in German sources, rather than the historical reality behind those sources. German foreign policy towards Iran in the first half of the twentieth century can be divided into three distinct phases. The first phase, which was initiated before Word War I, collapsed as a consequence of the war and the Versailles Treaty, achieving little success. The second, more significant, phase began around 1924, and was marked by the creation of the National Bank of Persia in 1927, the appointment of the German national Lindenblatt as its director, the appointment of his compatriot Schniewind as financial advisor to the Persian government, the contracts granted to German companies and consortiums for the construction of the Trans Iranian Railway, the reestablishment of trade relations between Germany and Iran, and the wide-ranging flight concessions granted by the Iranian government to the German company Junkers. The third phase of Germany's involvement with Iran came about with the achievements that resulted from the trade agreements of 1935. From a German perspective after 1933 diplomacy started to replace the role of the National Bank, as the prime agent of Germany's relations with Iran. This phase lasted until the British-Russian invasion of Iran in 1941, and saw Germany lose almost its entire influence over the National Bank, while its influence over trade with Iran had progressively increased. Germany's foreign political success during the inter-war period resulted in an expansion of its commercial relations, which elevated Germany from a country with almost no trade relations with Iran to its largest trading partner.
8
Tisdale, Tyron Earl Jr. "The United States and Iran, 1951-1953: The Cold War interaction of national security policy, alliance politics and popular nationalism." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/184685.
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The years 1951 to 1953 are among the most important and controversial in Iranian history. The period is significant not only for the domestic dynamics of popular nationalism under Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, but also for the role that United States policy played in an interaction with the conflict between a lingering British economic presence and the Iranian move to nationalize its oil industry. An examination of United States national security policy of that time reveals that policy toward Iran was consistent with the overall post-war policy of the United States, dominated as it was by the central theme of preventing the spread of communism. The task for the men who were charged with the application of U.S. policy in Iran during those years was to accommodate two factors which complicated the search for an order which would ensure post-war national security for the United States: Iranian nationalism as epitomized by Mossadegh; and the economic and diplomatic interests of Great Britain. The United States sought to resolve the conflict so that instability in Iran would not invite communist influence or takeover. United States policymakers were influenced by several factors which combined to eventually decide the outcome. The centrality of the perceived world communist expansion threat, McCarthyism in the United States, the role of several key figures with experience in U.S.-Soviet diplomacy, and the change from a Democratic to a Republican administration at the time Mossadegh was experiencing a deterioration of his own domestic political situation; all worked toward the still-controversial outcome of U.S. policy: the overthrow of Mossadegh. The primacy of containment of communism in United States policy did not preclude variations in its application, nor did this emphasis ignore the forces of Iranian nationalism and self-determination. Nonetheless, given the men involved in the policy decisions, the information available to them and the context of the post-World War II international order, the outcome was predictable and entirely consistent at the time with creating an international order conducive to the national security interests of the United States.
9
Rees, Samuel Huw. "The collapsing pillar : Jimmy Carter and US foreign policy towards Iran, 1977-1981." Thesis, Swansea University, 2013. https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa43014.
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The continuing diplomatic impasse between the United States and Iran dates back to the turbulent events of the late 1970s. Blame for the 'loss' of Iran, which had been one of the 'twin pillars' of US strategy in the Persian Gulf, has inevitably fallen on the White House incumbent at the time, President Jimmy Carter. This thesis offers a reassessment of Carter's decision making and his responses to the fall of the Shah, the Islamic Revolution and the US embassy hostage taking. It demonstrates that the breakdown of US-Iranian relations was not simply a one-president phenomenon and, more significantly, Carter's handling of Iran was not as dire as it is often portrayed. The research is based on a thorough examination of the available archive material, including newly released documents, as well as recent interviews with the major protagonists. When Carter took office in 1977 he inherited a badly creaking Iranian pillar that was soon to collapse altogether. The flawed policies of his predecessors placed strict limitations on his administration and unwittingly created a ticking time bomb in the form of the Shah. Despite these restrictions, Carter battled to reconcile the strategic necessities of Cold War containment with his moral principles in areas such as human rights and arms sales. In an administration seemingly dominated by the disagreements amongst his top two advisors, Carter remained the key decision maker at all times. He recognised the practical limits of American power and assumed sensible positions in response to an ever changing and uncontrollable crisis. Aside from its contemporary significance, Iran is therefore critical to Carter's disputed legacy and how he rates as a foreign policy president.
10
Paules, Marian Helen Boroujerdi Mehrzad. "United States relations with Iran: American identity, foreign policy, and the politics of representation." Related Electronic Resource: Current Research at SU : database of SU dissertations, recent titles available full text, 2003. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/syr/main.
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11
Clary, Eric Michael. "Using the Syrian Civil War to Measure Hierarchy: Regional Power Transition in the Middle East." PDXScholar, 2018. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4359.
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In 2018, the Syrian Civil War will enter into its ninth year of conflict. From an international relations perspective there are few, if any, studies on state actors in regional sub-state systems. What can an intrastate conflict teach us about future dynamics of the regional interstate hierarchy? It is worthwhile to examine The Syrian Civil War for three reasons. First, Syria lies in the heart of the Middle East lending proximity to regional actors. Second, the breakdown of order in Syria represents a microcosm of the global anarchic environment. Third, Syrian Civil War is an intrastate war that encapsulates both state and non-state actors. This paper intends to provide a clear regional hierarchical analysis with future possibilities and perspectives.
For the last century realism then neorealism dominated the field of international relations, yet they are unfit theories for analyzing the Middle East's hierarchy. To address anomalies realists and neorealists incorporated preference and satisfaction, which undermined the core tenets of their theories. Power Transition Theory (PTT) incorporates satisfaction while maintaining structural organization. The addition of power and satisfaction give PTT the necessary tools to assess regional hierarchies and estimate the likelihood of conflict. This PTT theoretical framework will be used to assess the global hierarchy, the status quo set by the United States, and Syria's relation to the status quo. A synopsis of the Syrian Civil War will be provided to contextualize the actors and dyadic comparisons between actors before and after the Iranian-Russian-Syrian victory in Aleppo. The dyadic comparison indicates power and satisfaction among interested parties and if they change during the course of the conflict.
Conclusions indicate that the actors and the environment in the Syrian theater are suitable for Power Transition Theory and the data acquired by researching the Syrian Civil War affirms Yeşilada and Tanrikulu's assessment that Russia tops the Middle East's hierarchy with Turkey and Iran following at near parity. The findings reveal the veracity of Lemke's claim that PTT can be utilized for intrastate conflict. The findings substantiate my claim that intrastate conflict can inform us of a region's hierarchy.
12
Allgott, Philip. "U.S. diplomatic relations : how has it been used in Iran and North Korea? /." Jönköping : Jönköping University. Jönköping International Business School, 2008. http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:201405/FULLTEXT01.
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13
Askren, Jillian. "United States-middle-east relations : the role of economics in foreign policy." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 2010. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/1347.
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This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.Bachelors
Sciences
Political Science
14
Etemadi, Farhad. "Le tribunal des différends irano-américains comme processus de réglement pacifique des différends entre les deux pays." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/212460.
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15
Eruysal, Esra. "Economic Relations Between Turkey And Iran From 1990 To 2010: A Turkish Perspective." Master's thesis, METU, 2011. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12613959/index.pdf.
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This study aims to analyze the transformation of Turkey&rsquos relations with Iran in the 1990s and 2000s from the perspective of &ldquo
trading state&rdquo
in a historical framework. In this context, the political and economic relations between Turkey and Iran are discussed by taking into consideration the internal transformation of Turkish economy. This thesis argued that the course of Turkey&rsquo
s relations with Iran in the 1990s is mainly shaped by the military-political considerations. Not only political but also economic relations between Turkey and Iran were negatively affected by tensions and rivalry between the parties during the 1990s. Despite the counter-efforts of some of the business circles and the political parties, neither the economic nor the political relations did improve. Unlike the 1990s, Turkey&rsquo
s relations with Iran in the 2000s are largely shaped by economic and commercial considerations. Increasing dialogue and developing cooperation at the political level are positively reflected in the economic relations. As a result of the eagerness of Turkish businessmen towards the development of economic relations with Iran and the intensive support of the political elites, economic relations substantially improved in the 2000s. However, rising foreign trade relations between the parties created an asymmetric dependence to the detriment of Turkey, rather than mutual interdependence as Iran benefits more from this relationship due to its oil and natural gas exports. The increasing relationship between Turkey and Iran supports the argument that Turkey is emerging as a &ldquo
trading state&rdquo
in the 2000s.
16
Hoback, Elizabeth Anne. "The past, present, and future of U.S. foreign policy in the states of Iran and Turkey." Thesis, Boston University, 2008. https://hdl.handle.net/2144/27674.
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Thesis (B.A.)--Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses.PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you.
2031-01-02
17
Gomari-Luksch, Laleh. "Realism, rationalism and revolutionism in Iran's foreign policy : the West, the state and Islam." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/13719.
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Iran's foreign policy is consistent and is fundamentally realist with a revolutionist vision while the means are rationalist is the central argument of this dissertation. I make use of the English Schools three traditions of realism, rationalism and revolutionism in analyzing the speeches of Iranian statesmen to identify the ways in which the dynamics of the three traditions have evolved since 1997 and what it means for interpreting the developments of Iran's foreign policy ventures. I utilize both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis in examining the speeches of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, the presidents since 1997. The quantitative method employs a customized software generating figures that represent the recurrence of realist, rationalist and revolutionist terminologies in all the documents downloaded from the official websites of the Iranian statesmen as well as the United Nations and select news agencies and affiliates. The quantitative phase of the analysis, meanwhile, carefully examined selected statements of the supreme leader and the presidents uncovering the foreign policy argumentations and justifications, which were studied alongside foreign policy actions and classified under the three traditions. The findings suggest that Iran's foreign policy is the same as in the other states of international society – it is consistent and dynamic. It is simultaneously realist, rationalist and revolutionist with each tradition serving a specific purpose, which cannot be disentangled from the other two.
18
Kaveh, Moravej Kaveh. "The SAVAK and the Cold War : counter-intelligence and foreign intelligence (1957-1968)." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2011. http://www.manchester.ac.uk/escholar/uk-ac-man-scw:138424.
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This research investigates Iran’s geopolitical importance in the context of the Cold War in the years 1957-1968 that made it a key target for Soviet intelligence and a crucial intelligence battleground with all states that held an interest in Iran. For Iran and the non-Soviet Bloc powers, Iran’s newly established intelligence and national security organisation (SAVAK) had become an entity whose counter-intelligence capabilities were crucial in curtailing the activities of Soviet and Soviet-aligned intelligence officers within Iran. The intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union, the KGB and GRU, were highly active within Iran in both seeking to gather intelligence and to undermine the Pahlavi regime and it was left to the SAVAK’s counter-intelligence directorate to pursue the difficult task of combating these efforts. This Cold War battle extended to Iraq where Iraqi governments were viewed by the SAVAK as being proxies for Soviet interests. As a result of such concerns the SAVAK’s foreign intelligence structure sought not only to gather intelligence but also to directly influence events within Iraq. Iran's counter-intelligence and foreign-intelligence structures therefore played a critical national security role during the Cold War years 1957-1968. This research will firstly explore how the SAVAK’s foreign intelligence activities ultimately led to the establishment and expansion of Iranian intelligence collection and analysis capabilities in its regional sphere of interest. Intelligence theory is also used to examine the SAVAK's counter-intelligence and foreign intelligence structures and operations during the stated period of investigation, together with the influence of Cold War thinking on its activities. The main strands of inquiry in this research will at the outset involve the question of why Iran felt it necessary to establish professional foreign intelligence and counter-intelligence capabilities. The structure and operational methods of these capabilities will then be examined along with the reasons for why the USSR and Iraq were targeted by Iranian foreign intelligence and counter-intelligence. The important relationship between intelligence and policy formulation and execution will also be analysed in this specific period of the Cold War.
19
Kaussler, Bernd. "Defending the "Satanic Verses" : constructive engagement : British-Iranian relations and the right to freedom of expression (1989-2004) /." Thesis, St Andrews, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/538.
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Moore, Eric D. "The Crisis of Cooperation: A Critical Analysis of Russian-Iranian Relations in the Post-Soviet Era." PDXScholar, 2012. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/902.
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In the study of contemporary politics few interstate relationships have proven more instrumental, controversial, and perplexing to global policy makers than that which has persisted between Moscow and Tehran since the collapse of the USSR. Despite the great importance of Russian-Iranian relations to questions of global and regional politics there has, to date, been very little in the way of critical scholarship performed on the subject. While a wide-array of accounts from subject analysts provide a wealth of data on contemporary and historical events which have presumably defined and conditioned bilateral relations, there has been relatively little effort to isolate, examine, test, and evaluate those conditions or variables that are deemed salient to cooperation. In light of these circumstances, this study seeks to initiate a tradition of scholarship on Russian-Iranian relations that appeals broadly to the use of a scientific methodology. The first step of any scientific inquiry requires attention devoted expressly to the development of a dependent variable of bilateral political affinity. While it remains outside the scope of this present investigation to analyze the host of factors/conditions capable of influencing bilateral relations, the formalization of a variable which records changing political affinity is a necessary first step and one that will fill-in a significant gap within the existing literary tradition. Rather than simply dismissing the extant tradition of literature on Russian-Iranian relations, this study seeks to aggregate and transform the subject's many diverse narratives into a user-friendly, quantitative, political metric which can form the basis for future empirical inquiry. Thus this study introduces a new approach to monitoring and measuring changes in Russian-Iranian cooperation known as General Political Affinity (GPA). Represented on the basis of a 21-point scaled indicator of bilateral affinity, GPA succinctly defines cooperation between Moscow and Tehran as the summation of three underlying, persistent issue dimensions: the trade in conventional weapons; cooperation in Iranian nuclear development; and level of agreement on matters of Caspian Sea delimitation. In more generic terms, these three criteria seek to evaluate interstate cooperation, generically, as a product of: defense cooperation; state-sponsored development assistance; and territorial agreement. The unique approach to operationalizing political affinity presented in this study not only functionally improves our ability to explain and predict the course of Russian-Iranian relations, but also provides a new schematic for evaluating bilateral relations among all political dyads.
21
Matějková, Adéla. "What's at stake of normalized relations between the United States and Iran." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2012. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-162773.
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This thesis tries to identify what's at stake of normalized relations between the United States and Iran since the Iranian revolution in 1979. The thesis tries to find out what are the key issues behind the failed relations between these two countries from the American point of view in order to determine whether normalized relations between these two countries can ever be achieved. It elaborates on four key characteristics of individual level analysis of foreign policy decision making applied on three key Presidents involved in foreign policy making towards Iran since 1979.
22
Collins, Marshall. "Exclusion vs. Inclusion: American and Turkish Foreign Policy in the Middle East." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2012. https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/39.
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Why do countries engage in democracy promotion around the world? Why is the principle component of U.S. foreign policy abroad assistance with democratization? One answer is the Democratic Peace Theory (DPT) (also known as “Liberal Peace”). Accordingly, DPT states, as its basic tenant, democracies behave differently with one another than they do non-democracies, especially in relation to military altercations.
Why are some countries more successful than others in promoting democratic ideals around the world? In order to partly explain this question, I examine American and Turkish foreign policy initiatives in the Middle East from a comparative perspective. The United States of America and the Republic of Turkey both reflect the basic tenant of the Democratic Peace Theory in their foreign policies. Each maintains policies that promote the establishment of democracies and the perpetuation of democratic ideals in the Middle East region. Differences in policies are observable when consideration is placed on the principles of inclusion and exclusion in negotiating, nation building, and the promotion of national interests in foreign affairs. The United States maintains bureaucratic rigidity while Turkey exemplifies an open policy when negotiating with interested parties. An analysis of nuclear proliferation in Iran, the two invasions of Iraq since 1990, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reveals an increase and advancement of Turkey’s influence in the spread of democracy in the Middle East and a corresponding decline in that of the U.S. This approach might have strengthened Turkish strategic leverage in the region with comparatively greater (than the United States) ability to promote democratic ideals in the Middle East region through the continued building of partnerships and a dedication to stability of the region, the balancing of internal political ideologies, and the stability of Turkish international relations above all else.
23
Baghdadi, Nima. "Dynamics of Iranian-Saudi Relations in the Persian Gulf Regional Security Complex (1920-1979)." FIU Digital Commons, 2018. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3652.
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This dissertation is an exploration of the dynamics of Iranian-Saudi relations from the earliest days of their encounter in the 1920s through 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. This is a period in the relations of the two states that has rarely been the subject of intellectual inquiry in the existing literature. This present research provides an analytical historiography of Iranian-Saudi relations with an aim to examine the elements constituting the dynamics of their relations. This is attained by contextualizing the milestones of Iranian-Saudi relations, triangulating historical accounts to identify the narrative among alternatives that best fits the meaningful causal processes explaining continuity and change, and weighing the impacts of factors playing a role in any given period of the Iranian-Saudi relations.
24
Uzmez, Sena. "Iranian Nuclear Crisis And Its Impact On Us-iranian Relations Between 1953-2008." Master's thesis, METU, 2010. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12612879/index.pdf.
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ABSTRACT
IRANIAN NUCLEAR CRISIS
AND
ITS IMPACT ON US-IRANIAN RELATIONS BETWEEN 1953-2008
Üzmez, Sena M.S., Department of International Relations Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ö
zlem Tü
r December 2010, 101 pages This thesis analyzes the U.S.-Iran relations in accordance with Iranian Nuclear Crisis from a historical perspective. Analyzing the U.S.-Iran relations since 1953 until 2008, it is possible to see that as the two countries&rsquo
perceptions towards each other change, their policies towards the nuclear issue change, too. While nuclear developments were not a threat for the two states that were close allies during the Shah Era, the perceptions totally changed after the Islamic Revolution. However, even if US and Iran started to perceive each other as a threat, nuclear issue lost its importance because of Khomeini&rsquo
s approach in this period. With the September 11, 2001 attacks, the American approach has changed not only regarding the Middle East, but also regarding the nuclear issue in Iran. The Nuclear Crisis that started in 2002 by the announcement of secret nuclear centrals escalated to its peak with the election of Ahmedinejad as the president. Different historical facts that were experienced at different periods shaped perceptions of two nations towards each other. As these perceptions change towards each other, their perceptions regarding the nuclear issue and their policies have changed, too. In this study, how these two nations&rsquo
perceptions towards each other were shaped and their approaches regarding the nuclear issue influenced by the historical events will be examined and analyzed.
25
Wahlert, Matthew H. "Wishful Thinking in Foreign Policy: A Case Study of the Carter Administration and the Iranian Revolution." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1323036660.
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26
Schiffer, Elin. "Transatlantic convergence, divergence and drift : A discourse analysis of the Iranian nuclear weapons program and its effects on transatlantic relations." Thesis, Försvarshögskolan, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-7234.
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This study offers a glimpse into how the transatlantic relationship between the European Union (the EU) and the United States of America (the U.S.) has developed during the last three presidential administrations, including the Trump administration. To do this, the study has developed a frame- work on transatlantic convergence, divergence, and drift, which it uses to analyses similarities and differences within the different parties’ discourses on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. The study concludes that while there has been some divergence with all three U.S administrations, how- ever there has been far more convergence with the Bush and Obama administration than with the Trump administration. Moreover, this study argues that Trump administration represents in some ways a ’transatlantic drift’, since the parties have opposing views on the Iran deal (JCPOA) and cherish widely different fundamental security values.
27
Delgado, Magdalena. "A constructivist analysis of religion's role in foreign policy : the cases of Israel, Iran and Saudi Arabia under the leaderships of Menachem Begin, Ayatollah Khomeini and Fahd bin Abdulaziz." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2015. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3379/.
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The 1648 landmark signing of the Westphalian Treaties which famously implemented the principle of cuius regio, eius religio has, for International Relations (IR), meant that relatively little attention has been paid to religion as an influential force in international relations. A “turn to religion” amongst a growing body of IR scholars, fueled by post-Cold War studies and empirical events, has sought to change this by placing religion within the study of IR. With a view of adding to this debate, this thesis examines the role of religion in Israeli, Iranian and Saudi Arabian foreign policy during the respective leaderships of Menachem Begin (1977-84), Ayatollah Khomeini (1979-89) and Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (1975-1995). It does so by drawing on extensive primary material, including private and public discourse of the leaders in question, as well as existing literature from, primarily, Middle East Studies and Religious Studies. The thesis argues, and shows with reference to its empirical findings, that the leaders’religious beliefs shaped their respective world-views and, by extension, their foreign policy doctrines and foreign policy outcomes. Moreover, it shows that religion played an important role in legitimizing the leaders themselves as well as their respective foreign policies. In this context, the thesis furthermore shows that, for the foreign policy leaders, religion assumed distinct meanings which were seemingly shaped according the context in which they operated. Importantly, the thesis argues, this does not uncritically support the long-standing assumption in IR scholarship that religion is epiphenomal, and/or a tool of instrumentalisation. With reference to Constructivist literature and a dynamic definition of religion developed for this project, the thesis rather explains that the malleable nature of religion can and does interact with variables like material security to shape, and sometimes drive, conceptualisations of national interest and foreign policy outcomes. The project concludes that religion’s role is multi-faceted, and, more to it, that the foreign policies of Khomeini’s Iran, Begin’s Israel and Fahd’s Saudi Arabia cannot be fully understood without it.
28
Shannon, Matthew Kenneth. "Losing Hearts and Minds: American-Iranian Relations and International Education during the Cold War." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2013. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/219241.
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HistoryPh.D.
International education served a dual function in the American-Iranian relationship during the thirty-seven-year reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. On the one hand, education was the most important component to the shah's project of authoritarian development - a model of rapid socio-economic development predicated on the premise that anti-communist statism, a less vibrant political milieu, and a more forceful role for the security forces would maintain domestic stability, guarantee the westward flow of Iranian oil, and keep Iran firmly entrenched in the American camp in the cold war competition. Iranian alumni of American universities were elected to the majlis, entered the shah's bureaucracy, staffed the Plan Organization, worked in the financial sector, served in the armed forces, joined university faculties, and assumed the premiership. On the other hand, the influx of Iranian students to American campuses spawned debates outside of traditional foreign policymaking communities about international relations, human rights, and development that were quite different from those that took place in the halls of power in Washington or Tehran. What emerged was a coalition of progressive American and Iranian internationalists that rejected the shah's authoritarian model of development, challenged the American assumptions that propelled U.S. ascendance in the Persian Gulf region, and called for the realization of civil and political rights in Iran. These educational networks made the American-Iranian relationship at once the most intimate and volatile of the cold war era. In the end, I argue that international education produced more friction than harmony as proponents of authoritarian development and progressive internationalists negotiated the acceptable boundaries for the exercise of state power.
Temple University--Theses
29
Mason, Robert. "Economic factors in Middle East foreign policies : the case of oil and gas exporters with special reference to Saudi Arabia and Iran." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10036/3838.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis identifies the relationship between economic factors and non-economic factors, and the relative weight of each, in the conduct of Middle East foreign policies but with special reference to Saudi Arabia and Iran between 2001 and 2012. In the Saudi case, economic factors are contextualized within its traditional themes of maintaining security and stability through international alliances and promoting stable and long term energy export markets. In the case of Iran, economic factors such as the role of sanctions in facilitating closer ties with a range of anti-western states are put into perspective by other factors such as national security issues and emerging splits in the decision making elite. The research draws on a conceptual hybrid of constructivism and omni-balancing and by doing so pays particular attention to the perceptions of foreign policy decision makers in their assessments of the domestic, regional and international environments. The conceptual framework therefore accounts for historical events such as the Islamic revolution and perceived hostility to it, and enduring Saudi-Iranian tensions based on sectarian and ideological struggles for dominance across the Middle East. Oil policy, including oil production, pricing and security of supply and demand, is found to be the paramount economic factor in the foreign policies of Saudi Arabia and Iran, but weighted in favour of the former. As swing producer in OPEC, Saudi Arabia needs to maintain sustainable oil supplies to its allies in the West, and increasingly East, whilst leveraging its oil reserves against adversaries such as Iran. In contrast, Iran has the incentive, but a dwindling capability, to maximise its oil revenues to fund the national budget amid tightening U.S.-led sanctions designed to curb its nuclear programme. The thesis also finds that economic factors such as ‘riyal politik’ as well as non-oil trade and investment deals are less effective in Saudi and Iranian foreign policy. This is because they tend to be offered or utilised as short-term leveraging mechanisms in new or unstable bilateral relationships with a variety of state or nonstate actors which do not always share their ideological perspective or interests. To overcome significant geo-strategic and ideological incompatibilities, reciprocal confidence building measures and active engagement on a broad set of contentious issues is prescribed.
30
Sanati, Reza. "OPEC and the International System: A Political History of Decisions and Behavior." FIU Digital Commons, 2014. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1149.
Full textAbstract:
The conventional understanding behind how the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has formulated its decisions and subsequently behaved in the international system has consistently centered on the role of market forces. Either proactively or reactively, it has been assumed that OPEC’s actions were merely engaging and responding to the supply and demand dynamics in the global economy. Though space was always given to the political considerations of certain OPEC Member States, and how that impacts the behavior of the Organization, inquiry into OPEC decision-making and behavior has generally centered on economic considerations, with politics playing an intermittent supporting role.
This work challenges the assumptions behind the conventional narrative of OPEC’s behavior in the international system. By utilizing a historically-based process tracing method, relying heavily on archival data from OPEC’s headquarters and declassified American national security documents from the late 1940s to the present, a more sophisticated model of decision-making and behavior is developed. Accordingly, OPEC’s decisions and behavior are more accurately a product of four inter-related determinants: the role of market forces, the influence of outside actors (usually great powers) upon the Organization, interstate relations and politics among Member States, and the pressure of the internal state dynamics within OPEC Member States. It is at the intersection of these four variables where OPEC’s behavior is more readily understood. Thus, with a sophisticated understanding of the interplay of these determinants, OPEC’s decision-making process and behavior can be more accurately understood and possibly forecasted to a limited degree.
31
Garlitz, Richard P. "Academic Ambassadors in the Middle East: The University Contract Program in Turkey and Iran, 1950-1970." Ohio : Ohio University, 2008. http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?ohiou1224727953.
Full text
32
Feizi, Hiva. "Discourse, Affinity and Attraction| A Case Study of Iran's Soft Power Strategy in Afghanistan." Thesis, University of South Florida, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10787971.
Full textAbstract:
This dissertation is a case study of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s approach to soft power with a focus on Iran’s use of soft power in Afghanistan. This dissertation is unique as it a delves into the diverse conceptual prescriptions on soft power, especially from a non-Western perspective. Studies of soft power in the current International Relations discipline ignore the implicit widespread liberal democratic bias in the current understanding of the concept. This dissertation argues that there are certain ontological assumptions lying deep within the soft power model first proposed by Joseph Nye (1990) that make it difficult to use as a model for studying non-Western states. This stems from Nye’s consideration that sources of attraction, essential in wielding soft power, as universal and equivalent to Western liberal values. Nye does not consider how the sources of attraction that he identifies are biased towards a Western notion of values, culture, policies and institutions. This has led to a disregard of the use of soft power by non-Western states. Thus, the aim of this study is to address the western-centric limitation of Nye’s concept by offering a reconceptualization that can be applied in studying the soft power of states that do not necessarily adhere to the same universal norms.
By applying Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse analysis framework, this dissertation examines Iran’s soft power strategy in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2017, in order to enhance its influence. Iran’s soft power application relies on what that the author calls ‘affinity’, whereby audience-oriented and localized resources of attraction are identified in the target population and are subsequently discursively cultivated. Attraction build through the ‘affinity’ process is different than Western states’ use of attraction and application of soft power.
This dissertation highlights how Iran has created an affinity node centered on a ‘sense of brotherhood’ with its Afghanistan audience. It also shows that the strength of this narrative is in Iran’s ability to create an emotional connection that is embedded in commonalities between the two countries’ in terms of culture, historical legacy, and common language. The analysis presented shows the affinity node of brotherhood appears in over 20 speeches and statements targeted at the Afghan population by the Iranian supreme leader and successive Iranian presidents in recent decades. The notion of brotherhood provides Iran the emotional linkage, the affinity node, to connect with its Afghan audience.
The affinity that Iran establishes with Afghanistan allows Iran to articulate its foreign policy objectives by showing how Iranian influence benefits the Afghan population and appeals to existing Afghan values. In addition, this dissertation finds that Iran devotes considerable resources to the development of these discourses in Afghanistan through the various institutions that in charge of Iran’s public diplomacy activities. The focus of these activities is mainly in the realm of culture, education, and language, leveraging the common ties between Iran and their Afghan audience.
Lastly, the findings of this study indicate that Iran’s approach to soft power is strategically calculated. Iran makes explicit use of soft power that is different from the original notion of soft power as it was formulated by Nye. Iran’s actions show that sources of attraction do not have to be universal, attraction is contextual in its appeal, based on each target audience and can be constructed through discourses. Thus, as Laclau and Mouffe (1985) would say, Iran’s articulation of an antagonistic discourse challenges the hegemonic discourses that are associated with the Western evaluation of soft power.
33
Volkov, Denis Vladimirovich. "Oriental studies and foreign policy : Russian/Soviet 'Iranology' and Russo-Iranian relations in late Imperial Russia and the early USSR." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2015. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/oriental-studies-and-foreign-policy-russiansoviet-iranology-and-russoiranian-relations-in-late-imperial-russia-and-the-early-ussr(8e28977b-999b-419c-8721-b20f22e9b76a).html.
Full textAbstract:
Russia and Iran have been subject to mutual influence since the reign of Shah Abbas I (1588-1629). For most of the time this relationship was not one of equals: since the early nineteenth century and lasting at least until 1946, Russia and then the USSR, in strong competition with Britain, had been gradually, and for the most part steadily, increasing its political, cultural and economic influence within Iran up to very high levels. Nevertheless, the history of Russian/Soviet-Iranian relations still remains understudied, particularly in English-language scholarship. One of the main reasons for this gap must be sought in the hampered access of Western researchers to Russian archives during the Soviet time, which made them draw on Russian-language literature, traditionally pre-occupied with the history of social movements, and with the mechanical retelling of political and economic processes. Thus the cultural and political ties of the two countries on institutional and individual levels (especially during the period surrounding 1917), the influence of Russia, and then of the USSR, on Iran and vice versa, in political, economic and cultural spheres through the activities of individuals, as well as the methods and tools used by the “Big Northern neighbour” during the execution of its foreign policy towards Iran did not receive proper attention, and thus lack detailed analysis. This research addresses the lack of detailed analysis of the power/knowledge nexus in relation to Russia’s Persian/Iranian Studies – the largest and most influential sub-domain within Russia’s Oriental Studies during the late Imperial and the early Soviet periods. The specific focus of this study is the involvement of Russian ‘civilian’ (academic) and ‘practical’ (military officers, diplomats, and missionaries) Persian Studies scholarship in Russian foreign policy towards Persia/Iran from the end of the nineteenth century up to 1941 – a period witnessing some of the most crucial events in the history of both countries. It is during this period that Persia/Iran was the pivot of Russia’s Eastern foreign policy but at the same time almost every significant development inside Russia as well as in her Western policies also had an immediate impact on this country – the state of affairs that ultimately culminated in the second Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941. My thesis is based on extensive research in eleven important political, military and academic archives of Russia and Georgia, which allowed me to consult a significant amount of hitherto unpublished, often still unprocessed and only recently declassified, primary sources. While engaging with notions such as Orientalism, my analysis aims at transcending Edward Said’s concept of a mere complicity of knowledge with imperial power. My theoretical approach builds on Michel Foucault’s conceptualisation of the interplay of power/knowledge relations, his notion of discourse, and his writings on the role of the intellectual. While demonstrating the full applicability of the Foucauldian model to the Russian case through the study of the power/knowledge nexus in late Imperial and early Soviet Russia’s Persian Studies, or Iranology, I focus on the activities of scholars and experts within their own professional domains and analyse what motivated them and how their own views, beliefs and intentions correlated with their work, how their activities were influenced by the hegemonic discourses within Russian society. I analyse the interaction of these intellectuals with state structures and their participation in the process of shaping and conducting foreign policy towards Iran, both as part of the Russian scholarly community as a whole and as individuals on the personal level. For the first time my work explores at such level of detail the specific institutional practices of Russia’s Oriental Studies, including the organisation of scholarly intelligence networks, the taking advantage of state power for the promotion of institutional interests, the profound engagement with Russia’s domestic and foreign policy discourses of the time, etc. In addition, the thesis presents a detailed assessment of the organisation of Iranology as a leading sub-domain within the broader scholarly field of Oriental Studies in the period from the end of the nineteenth century to 1941 and analyses the principles and mechanisms of its involvement in Russia’s foreign policy towards Persia/Iran.
34
Amanatidis-Saadé, George. "Yazdgird I - He Who Maintains Peace in His Dominion: Re-examining the Rise and Fall of Romano-Iranian Relations in the Early Fifth Century." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/39075.
Full textAbstract:
It is generally acknowledged among scholars in the field of Late Antiquity that relations
between the Roman and Iranian Empires reached its climax in the early fifth century. Countless
sources report a variety of co-operative events depicting positive dealings between the Iranian
shah Yazdgird and the Roman emperors Arcadius and Theodosius II. On the other hand, there
exist just as many accounts that Yazdgird persecuted the Christians of his realm towards the end
of his life. We are thus left with opposing narratives about the Iranian monarch, and no
clarification about what truly transpired.
This thesis seeks to clarify the ambiguities surrounding Yazdgird‟s reign. In order to
achieve this goal, the events and circumstances that led to the apogee of Roman-Iranian relations
is first retraced. An examination of potential sources of tension follows this, with the thesis
culminating in the final chapter directly engaging the question of whether Yazdgird persecuted
the Christians of his realm or not.
The focus of this study is not solely to answer the question outlined above, but also to
analyze and revise the entire topic utilizing a more holistic approach. Recent scholarship on East
Syrian Christianity and the Sasanian Empire aided in providing alternative perspectives to the
traditionally unilateral Roman views of the outlined issues. These different viewpoints in turn
helped shape new interpretations and conclusions concerning the apogee and decline of RomanoIranian relations in the early fifth century.
35
Akseki, Emin. "Oman'." Master's thesis, METU, 2008. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12611979/index.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
In this thesis, Oman&rsquos foreign policy between 1970 and 2008 is examined. The main question of this thesis is what the main characteristics of Oman&rsquo
s foreign policy are. In order to identify the main characteristics of Oman&rsquo
s foreign policy its determinants are analyzed by looking at its three interacting environments: domestic, regional and international. In other words, the impacts of these three environments on Oman&rsquo
s foreign policy conceptions, behaviors and decisions are discussed. While examining Oman&rsquo
s foreign policy, special attention is exerted to its foreign policy towards Iran which is the most influential regional power in the Gulf. It is observed that Oman&rsquo
s foreign policy towards Iran is the best telling example of how Oman balances the benefits and constraints of the three environments. Keywords: Oman&rsquo
s Foreign Policy, Characteristics of Oman&rsquo
s Foreign Policy, Domestic, Regional and International Environments, Oman&rsquo
s Foreign Policy Towards Iran.
36
Seyfi, Siamak. "Le tourisme iranien à l'épreuve des sanctions internationales : les mécanismes de résilience touristique dans un contexte politique en transition." Thesis, Paris 1, 2019. http://www.theses.fr/2019PA01H093.
Full textAbstract:
Malgré l'utilisation croissante des sanctions en tant qu’outil de politique étrangère de plus en plus populaire dans le paysage des relations internationales contemporaines, les recherches liant les sanctions au tourisme sont limitées, et ce, malgré leur impact considérable sur les destinations et les flux touristiques. Le tourisme est profondément affecté par les sanctions qui peuvent détériorer profondément l'image d’une destination, restreindre sévèrement les voyages internationaux, et perturber les investissements financiers et les chaînes d'approvisionnement. Des sanctions plus globales peuvent engendrer des difficultés économiques considérables sur les destinations, ainsi que des effets indirects, notamment une baisse de la valeur monétaire et des pressions inflationnistes. Peu de pays ont subi un aussi grand nombre de sanctions que l’Iran. Le pays fait l’objet de longues et lourdes sanctions depuis près de quarante ans. L’accord nucléaire iranien de 2015 a permis un rebond du tourisme iranien. Or, le retrait unilatéral américain de 2018 a brutalement mis fin aux espoirs de développement rapide. À partir de l’analyse des conséquences touristiques des sanctions contre l’Iran, et dans le cadre d’une géopolitique émergente, ce travail propose une double approche de ces relations. La première analyse la littérature des sanctions dans le tourisme, en montrant les différents impacts des sanctions sur l’écosystème touristique définissant le cadre conceptuel et théorique de l’étude. Cette première approche est complétée par l’analyse des entretiens passés avec des acteurs clés en Iran pour décrypter les contraintes des sanctions pour les professionnels iraniens du tourisme. La deuxième s’attache à comprendre les mécanismes d'adaptation des autres destinations ayant subi des sanctions (Cuba, Russie et Turquie) pour répondre aux conséquences touristiques des sanctions. Dans l’ensemble, ce travail de recherche approfondit la connaissance des relations entre la géopolitique, la politique étrangère et le tourisme, fournit une analyse des effets des sanctions internatonales sur les destinations et étudie les phénomènes de résilience touristiqueDespite the growing use of sanctions as an increasingly popular foreign policy tool in the contemporary international relations landscape, there is limited research on sanctions in a tourism context despite their substantial impact on destinations and tourist flows. Tourism is profoundly affected by sanctions impacting tourism and hospitality businesses and destination image, severely restricting international travel, and disrupting financial investment and supply chains. More comprehensive sanctions may lead to substantial economic hardship in destinations as well as indirect effects including decline in the value of currency and inflationary pressures. Few countries have suffered as many sanctions as Iran. The country has been subjected to long and severe sanctions for nearly forty years. The Iranian nuclear agreement of 2015 allowed a rebound of the Iranian tourism. However, the US unilateral withdrawal of 2018 has brutally put an end to hopes for rapid development. From the analysis of the tourist consequences of the sanctions against Iran, and within the framework of an emerging geopolitics, this thesis proposes a double approach of these relations. The first analyzes the literature of sanctions in tourism, showing the different impacts of sanctions on the tourist ecosystem defining the conceptual and theoretical framework of the study. This first approach is complemented by the analysis of interviews with key actors in Iran to decipher the constraints of sanctions for Iranian tourism professionals. The second focuses on understanding the adaptation mechanisms of other sanctioned destinations (Cuba, Russia and Turkey) to address the tourism consequences of sanctions. Overall, this work deepens the understanding of the relationships between geopolitics, foreign policy and tourism, provides an analysis of the effects of international sanctions on destinations and studies the phenomena of tourism resilience
37
Reisinezhad, Arash. "Geopolitical Account of Iran's Ties with Non-State Actors under the Shah: 1958-1979." FIU Digital Commons, 2017. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3196.
Full textAbstract:
Late in 2004, King Abdullah of Jordan coined a controversial phrase that still dominates the heart of the geopolitics of the Middle East: The Shia Crescent. “If pro-Iran parties or politicians dominate the new Iraqi government, a new ‘crescent’ of dominant Shia movements or governments stretching from Iran into Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon could emerge to alter the traditional balance of power between the two main Islamic sects and pose new challenges to U.S. interests and allies. What the King of Jordan saw as a threat, Iran saw as the bedrock of its newfound regional power. However, what the King of Jordan and his Arab-Sunni aides downplayed was Iran’s ties with non-Shia groups, ranging from Sunni parties to secular and even non-Muslim groups. More importantly, they neglected Iran’s presence in the Middle East before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In fact, the seeming omnipresence of Iran’s proxies in the Middle East is not a recent, nuanced phenomenon; rather, it dated back to the Shah’s foreign policy in making connections with both the Iraqi Kurds and Shia Lebanese. While much ink has been spilled on Iran’s foreign policy under the Islamic Republic, there has been a void in the analysis of Iran’s ties with Non-State Actors (NSAs) in the pre-1979 Revolution Era.
v
From this point of view, the present study is an attempt to set forth a new understanding of the emergence and fluctuation of Iran’s ties with NSAs at the heart of the Middle East during the Shah’s era. I will accomplish this by identifying the Iran-NSA relationships within an examination of the larger historical context of state-NSA relationships in the region. Here, the story of the evolution of Iran’s ties with NSAs can be narrated as the unfolding of constant interaction between states and non-state forces in the Middle East. Analyzed from this perspective, my research examines the actors, processes, and mechanisms that Iran has used to construct ties with NSAs from 1961 until 1979. “What actors and processes at what levels of analysis and through what mechanisms have constructed Iran’s ties with NSAs?” This is the central question that guides the analytical narrative in the present survey. Therefore, the dependent variable for this research is the evolution of Iran’s ties with NSAs, while the intervening variable is a set of actors and processes that have brought about such sub-state ties. In this framework, the proposed work will undertake these main tasks:
A) Tracing the history of the ebbs and flows within Iran’s ties with non-state actors through a geopolitical lens.
B) Explaining how Iran’s ties with non-state actors unfolded and understanding why Iran’s proxies evolved in the way they did.
C) AssessingthebroadcontoursoftheevolutionarytrajectoryofIran’stieswithNSAs and its possible future path(s) for the geopolitics of the Middle East and its regional balance of power.
38
Alghunaim, Ghadah. "Conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran: An Examination of Critical Factors Inhibiting their Positive Roles in the Middle East." NSUWorks, 2014. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/shss_dcar_etd/19.
Full textAbstract:
Since 1979, Saudi-Iranian relations have been tense due to their position as superior powers in the Middle East. Both countries have different values and perspectives in regards to diplomatic relations with the West. As a consequence of the new developments in Iran's foreign policy and the newfound openness to the West adopted by President Rouhani, the topic has proven to be of research interest. The primary concern of this research was to explore the effect of the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the Middle East, and whether or not there is a possibility to overcome this conflict using the new political developments. For this purpose, a content analysis methodology was employed.
Through an analysis of data presented in the literature review, which consisted of scholarly articles, policy briefs, and books, this dissertation examines the complex political relations through which the pattern of the bilateral relations explain the conflicting narratives. This complexity is present in the political actions taken by Iran and Saudi Arabia, as well as the domestic and foreign policies they are embracing. The findings of this study demonstrate the effect of this conflict in the Middle East. The research also proposes a number of possible recommendations on how to resolve this conflict through political openness and reciprocal agreements that target the citizens of Iran and Saudi Arabia.
39
Beaulieu-Brossard, Philippe. "'Bomb', 'sanction', or engage'? : the theory/political practice of the Iranian nuclear crisis from the American perspective (1998-2014)." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/6085.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis argues that the debate over the relationship between Theory and political practice has reached a dead-end in IR. Most scholars taking part in this debate based their claims on meta-theoretical assumptions, which explains the inability to settle the debate. This logic not only discouraged empirical enquiries, but also undermined reflexivity. Instead, this thesis calls for the translation of these meta-theoretical assumptions into a methodology and into methods to produce empirical knowledge by which to explore the relationships between Theory and political practice on specific issues. To this end, the thesis investigates relationships between American IR academic discourse and senior officials discourse and their effects on US foreign policy towards Iran between 1998 and 2014. The thesis provides a typology to map and to assess the gaps in the debate over the relationship between Theory and political practice in IR. This typology is composed of four ideal-types: Theory to political practice, Theory vs. political practice, Theory as political practice and practice to political practice. The thesis also translates meta-theoretical assumptions drawn from Wittgenstein and Foucault into a methodology to generate empirical knowledge on specific relationships between Theory and political practice. This methodology enables to trace an evolving system of thoughts expressed in the Theory and political practice of the Iranian nuclear crisis and to expose what this system does to US society and foreign policy. Three elements compose this system: the certainty of democratic teleology, the certainty of uncertainty and the certainty of smart power. The thesis claims that IR knowledge production on Iran mostly acted as symbolic knowledge morphing uncertainties about Iran into certainties for US governmental power. Only then could senior officials produce a judgement against Iran and implement disciplinary measures in the form of sanctions, covert actions, and military threats.
40
Yusifov, Shahin. "La Turquie dans la politique de l'Azerbaïdjan en 1992-1998 : aspects politique, institutionnel et sécuritaire." Thesis, Strasbourg, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016STRAG011.
Full textAbstract:
L’écroulement de l’URSS à la fin du XX siècle a donné naissance à quinze nouveaux États indépendants sur un large territoire eurasien. Tel est le cas de l’Azerbaïdjan, l’un des pays du Caucase du sud, qui a regagné son indépendance après l’effondrement du système socialiste en 1991. Grâce à sa situation géographique et à ses richesses énergétiques (pétrole et gaz), l’Azerbaïdjan occupe une place stratégique et fait l’objet d’un « jeu » géopolitique, aussi bien à l’échelle régionale que mondiale entre de grandes puissances telles que les États-Unis, l’Union Européenne, la Russie, la Turquie et quelques autres. En retour, il essaie de jouer son atout, en appliquant une politique étrangère multivectorielle. Parmi eux, la Turquie occupe une place privilégiée dans la politique étrangère de l’Azerbaïdjan, grâce à son histoire, sa langue, sa religion et leurs traditions communes. Cette thèse s’est fixée pour objectif d’analyser les relations qui se sont établies entre l’Azerbaïdjan et la Turquie, en se basant sur trois axes qui constituent les pivots principaux des relations bilatérales entre les deux États: politique, économique (commercial) et sécuritaire (stratégique)The collapse of the USSR at the end of the twentieth century has been followed by the creation of fifteen new independent States in the large Eurasian territory. Such is the case of Azerbaijan, which has declared its independence in 1991. Thanks to its geographical position and energy resources (oil and gas) Azerbaijan occupies a geopolitically strategic position and is subject to a geopolitical « game », which implies both regional (Turkey) and great world powers (such as the US, EU and Russia). Consequently, Azerbaijan has adopted a multi-vector foreign policy with its neighbors. Among its neighbors, Turkey, sharing a common history, language, religion and traditions has an important place in the foreign policy of Azerbaijan. In terms of the geopolitical « game », this thesis analyses the relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey. It is based on three axes, as these are the main pillars of bilateral relations between both states. These are political, institutional (commercial) and strategic (security)
41
Nocetti, Julien. "La Russie de Vladimir Poutine au Moyen-Orient : analyses d'une ambition de "retour" (2000-2013)." Thesis, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 2019. http://www.theses.fr/2019USPCF007.
Full textAbstract:
Le Moyen-Orient représente un « Sud » souvent occulté dans l’analyse de la politique étrangère de la Russie. Or, la politique de Moscou au Moyen-Orient constitue un indicateur souvent révélateur des dynamiques, des atouts et des limites de la puissance russe. Sur la période étudiée (2000-2013), la poursuite d’objectifs « rationnels » – maximisation de la sécurité de l’État dans un système international perçu comme anarchique – n’exclut pas une quête identitaire éclairant la manière dont la Russie se perçoit au monde, souvent en opposition à l’Occident. Notre recherche interroge ainsi le réinvestissement du Moyen-Orient par la Russie de Vladimir Poutine en se penchant sur les logiques internes et extérieures de la politique russe. D’une part, à sa prise de fonctions, Vladimir Poutine est ainsi confronté au double défi d’éviter la polarisation ethnique et religieuse de la population russe et d’améliorer l’image de la Russie dans le monde arabo-musulman après les guerres de Tchétchénie. D’autre part, le Moyen-Orient reste le lieu traditionnel de l’affirmation de la puissance russe. À travers les grands dossiers sécuritaires de la région, Moscou jauge celle-ci à l’aune de l’Occident, en particulier des États-Unis, tout en faisant le pari, depuis la crise financière internationale et la guerre de Géorgie en 2008, d’un déclin inexorable de la puissance américaine. À partir de 2011, les « printemps arabes » révèlent une politique russe conservatrice par instinct, prudente dans son exécution, faite de manœuvres et de compromis si nécessaire et privilégiant les partenariats tactiques aux alliances contraignantesA highly and recurrent belligerent region, the Middle East represents a “South” which is often neglected in the study of Russian foreign policy. However, Moscow’s policy in the Middle East constitutes a particularly relevant indicator of the dynamics, assets, and limits of the Russian power. In our study period (2000-2013) the pursuit of “rational” objectives – the maximization of the state’s security within an international system perceived as anarchic – does not exclude an identity quest which enlightens the way Russia sees itself in the world, often in opposition to the West. Our research thus questions the reinvestment of the Middle East by Vladimir Putin’s Russia by addressing both the domestic and external rationales of Russian policy there. Once elected president in 2000, Vladimir Putin faced the twofold challenge of preventing an ethnic and religious polarization of the Russian population, and of improving Russia’s image in the Arab-Muslim world after the two wars fought in Chechnya. On the other side, the Middle East remains the traditional area for asserting Russia’s power. Through the main security issues in the region, Moscow mainly gauges the Middle East with regard to the West, most notable the United States, while betting, since the world financial crisis and the Georgia war in 2008, an inexorable decline of the American power. Since 2011, the “Arab Spring” uprisings have revealed a conservative by instinct and a cautious in its execution Russian policy, made of maneuvers and compromises if necessary and favoring tactic partnerships to constraining alliances
42
Nel, Coligny. "United States policy and nuclear non-proliferation: a preliminary comparison of the Bush and Obama administrations' approaches." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/4129.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (MA (Political Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The United States of America (USA) has a new president in the White House - a president whose rhetoric appears to distance himself from the policies of the previous administration. This also appears to hold true for his approach with regard to nuclear nonproliferation. The overarching research aim of this study is to explore whether the Obama administration’s policy with regard to nuclear non-proliferation will differ significantly from that of the Bush administration. The broader subject of nuclear non-proliferation will be subdivided into three themes, namely: disarmament, proliferation by non-nuclear states and nuclear terrorism. In order to sketch the international context within which the USA’s policy must be viewed, an overview of the nuclear non-proliferation regime is provided. This will be followed by an exploration of disarmament, proliferation by nonnuclear states (with Iran and North Korea as case studies) and nuclear terrorism. In each case, a comparison between the Bush administration and the Obama administration’s policies will be done. Finally, an analysis will be done of the main similarities and differences between the two administrations’ approaches, with a focus on the use of hard, soft and smart power. The study concludes that the primary difference between the Bush and Obama administration’s approaches is that Bush pursued only one policy option (hard power) at a time, while Obama intends to use many different policy options (smart power) at the same time, with a focus on increasing the use of soft power. This sort of pragmatism may just be what the USA needs right now in order to address the problem of nuclear proliferation.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Verenigte State van Amerika (VSA) het ‘n nuwe president in die Withuis – ‘n president wie se uitsprake hom van die beleide van die vorige administrasie blyk te distansieer. Dit wil ook voorkom asof dit van toepassing is op sy benadering tot kernwapen versperring. Die oorhoofse navorsingsdoelwit van hierdie studie is om te ondersoek of die Obama administrasie se beleid ten opsigte van kernwapen versperring aansienlik van die van die Bush administrasie gaan verskil. Die breër onderwerp van kernwapen versperring kan in drie temas opgedeel word, naamlik: ontwapening, proliferasie deur nie-kernwapenstate, en kernwapen terrorisme. Ten einde die internasionale konteks te skets waarin die VSA se beleid moet geskied, begin die studie met ‘n oorsig van die kernwapen versperring regime. Dit word gevolg deur ‘n ondersoek van onderskeidelik ontwapening, proliferasie deur nie-kernwapenstate (met Iran en Noord-Korea as gevallestudies) en kernwapen terrorisme. By elkeen van die drie temas word ‘n vergelyking tussen die Bush administrasie en die Obama adminstrasie se beleide getref. Laastens word ‘n analise van die hoof verskille en ooreenkomste tussen die twee administrasies se benaderings onderneem, met die klem op die gebruik van harde, sagte en slim mag. Die bevinding van die studie is dat die hoof verskille tussen die Bush en Obama administrasies se benaderings behels dat Bush slegs een beleidsopsie (harde mag) op ‘n slag nagevolg het, terwyl Obama beoog om terselfdertyd van verskillende beleidsopsies (slim mag) gebruik te maak, met veral ‘n fokus op ‘n toename in die gebruik van sagte mag. Die soort pragmatisme mag dalk net wees wat die VSA tans nodig het om die probleem van kernwapen proliferasie aan te spreek.
43
Sadoon, Hajar Bashir Kalari. "From foreign relation to foreign policy : transformation of the Kurdish de facto state into an independent foreign policy actor." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/32229.
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In 1991, following its defeat in the Second Gulf War and as a response to the international humanitarian protectionist umbrella provided to the three Kurdish-population governorates in Northern Iraq, the Government of Iraq (GOI) under Saddam Hussein centrally seceded from the area. The vacuum that ensued was soon filled by the leadership of the Iraqi Kurdistan Front (KNA) and soon a de facto state resurrected from the ashes of destruction besieging Iraqi Kurdistan for many decades. Hence, the precarious existence of what came to be known as the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) in a highly challenging geopolitical environment and the strategic imperative of preserving the de facto independence of the entity forced the Kurdish leadership to give high priority to building foreign relations and pursuit of foreign policy. Foreign policy as a political activity is of paramount importance to all actors including sovereign states to preserve and promote their national interests. The practice of foreign policy, however, is particularly acute for de facto states. As internationally non-recognized entities, the international system of sovereign states is often skeptical if not hostile to engage in foreign relations with de facto states. Yet, projection of foreign policy and building foreign relations is extremely vital for the continued survival and consolidation of de facto states. By exploring the case of the KRI as a case of de facto statehood, this research argues that, mutatis mutandis, de facto states can pursue independent foreign policies. By identifying major transitions in the KRI, this thesis seeks to better explain foreign policy determinants, objectives and instruments of implementation of foreign policies of the KRI. In doing so, this thesis further seeks to contribute to the analysis of de facto statehood in general, and to contribute to the study of the KRI as the case of de facto statehood in the Middle East region.
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Anlar, Aslihan. "Russian Foreign Policy Towards Iraq In The Post-cold War Era." Master's thesis, METU, 2003. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12607149/index.pdf.
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The aim of this thesis is to examine the nature of Russian foreign policy towards Iraq in the post-Soviet era. This thesis argues that the Russian foreign policy towards Iraq in the post-Soviet era has been primarily determined by Russia&rsquos self-interests which are mainly defined in economic terms. The thesis follows the realist approach to international relations. It also emphasizes the importane of economic factors in foreign policy making process. The thesis consists of five chapters: In Chapter 1, the thesis is introduced. Chapter 2 explains the Soviet-Iraqi relations from a historical perspective. This is followed by Chapter 3 where Russian foreign policy towards Iraq under Boris Yeltsin is examined. Next, Chapter 4 discusses the Russian foreign policy towards Iraq under Vladimir Putin. Then, Chapter 5 assesses the economic factors, socio-political factors and international factors affecting Russian foreign policy makers in the post-Soviet era. The last chapter concludes the thesis.
45
Gasimova, Esmira. "La politique étrangère de l'Azerbaïdjan entre grandes puissances et puissances régionales (1993-2003)." Thesis, Strasbourg, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015STRAG014.
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La présente étude est consacrée à la politique étrangère de l'Azerbaïdjan entre grandes puissances et puissances régionales. Ce pays du Caucase du Sud accédant à l'indépendance en 1991 affirme sa singularité, entre confrontation et coopération avec ses voisins proches ou lointains. La question centrale est donc de savoir comment l'Azerbaïdjan peut justifier et éventuellement renforcer sa présence sur l'échiquier international alors qu'il se trouve au cœur des grands enjeux géopolitiques et économiques. Sa position le place au centre des rivalités entre des puissances telles que la Russie, l'Iran et la Turquie et, au-delà de son voisinage immédiat les États-Unis et l'Union européenne. Le pays est contraint à une politique étrangère équilibrée afin de ne pas s'aliéner les partenaires de l'ouest comme de l'est. Il tente également de tirer profit de l'exploitation des hydrocarbures de la Caspienne en vue de résoudre la question cruciale du conflit du Haut-KarabakhThis thesis deals with the Azerbaijan policy between great powers and regional powers. Since its independence in 1991 the country of South Caucasus asserted its singularity. It sometimes confronts, sometimes cooperates with its neighbors. The key question is, therefore, how Azerbaijan can justify and possibly strengthen its presence on the international stage as it stands at the heart of great geopolitical and economic issues. Because of its location it is the center of rivalries between powers such as Russia, Iran and Turkey or the United States and the European Union. The country is compelled to a balanced foreign policy not to lose the support of either western or eastern partners. Baku also attempts to use the exploitation of Caspian oil in order resolve the crucial issue of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh
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Koszel, Bodgan. "Polens Engagement in der euroatlantischen Zone nach dem Irak-Krieg." Universität Potsdam, 2003. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2006/962/.
Full textAbstract:
In this issue, we continue and complete the debate on the future of the transatlantic
relationship and of world order after the Iraq war. The debate was initiated by an
article by Thomas Risse (Freie Universität Berlin) in WeltTrends 39, which has
provoked a remarkable reaction within the German academic community, as
documented in WeltTrends 40. This issue features additional comments and the
rebuttal by Thomas Risse. Most authors believe that the transatlantic partnership is in a serious crisis, but claim that it remains without an alternative for both sides of the Atlantic.
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Teklegiorgis, Gedion T. "U.S. victory in the first Gulf War : implication for the future of United States foreign policy." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Naval Postgraduate School, 2008. http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/theses/2008/Dec/08Dec%5FTeklegiorgis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Middle East, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa))--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2008.Thesis Advisor(s): Kadhim, Abbas K. ; Looney, Robert. "December 2008." Description based on title screen as viewed on February 2, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-68). Also available in print.
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Risse, Thomas. "Die unipolare Weltordnung - Ein soziales Konstrukt : ein Kommentar zu den Kommentaren." Universität Potsdam, 2003. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2006/963/.
Full textAbstract:
In this issue, we continue and complete the debate on the future of the transatlantic
relationship and of world order after the Iraq war. The debate was initiated by an
article by Thomas Risse (Freie Universität Berlin) in WeltTrends 39, which has
provoked a remarkable reaction within the German academic community, as
documented in WeltTrends 40. This issue features additional comments and the
rebuttal by Thomas Risse. Most authors believe that the transatlantic partnership is in a serious crisis, but claim that it remains without an alternative for both sides of the Atlantic.
49
LaCoco, Kimberly. "British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Decision to Go to War in Iraq: An Evaluation of Motivating Factors." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2009. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc9842/.
Full textAbstract:
Blair sent British troops to join U.S. forces in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 at great political cost to himself. What motivated him to take this step? Sources for this work include: autobiographies and biographies of individuals close to Blair; journal and newspaper articles and monographs on this topic; Prime Minister's speeches and press conferences. Part one is comprised of five chapters including the Introduction; Blair's years at school; Blair's early political career; and From Parliament to Prime Minister. Part two includes four chapters that analyze motivating factors such as, Anglo-American Relations; Blair's personality, faith, and his relationship with Gordon Brown; and finally, Blair's perception of Britain's Manifest Destiny. All of these factors played a role in Blair's decision.
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McFall, Shawn. "Foreign Policy by Fiat: An Examination of the United States Decision Making Process on Iraq from 1990-1998." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2018. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1906.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis explores how the United States identified Iraq as a threat to its national interest from 1990 to 1998. The international relations literature is heavily skewed toward exploring the question of why states engage in conflict and neglecting how a country identifies a threat. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the threat identification policy process. This thesis examines two security moves – the Gulf War and the Iraq Liberation Act – and uses primary documents to reveal how the foreign policy apparatus concluded that Iraq was a threat. Through the two cases, I found that foreign policy decisions were made on an ad-hoc basis and government officials were much more likely to inflate the Iraqi threat. Future international relation scholars can use my thesis as a guideline when constructing studies on the threat identification process.