The Bases of Paradigm Shift in Iran’s Foreign Policy from Pahlavi to the Islamic Republic Era

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

researcher

Abstract

The Islamic revolution paved the way for a basic evolution in Iran’s governance and statesmanship, which has been accompanied with some serious changes in the social context. As a result of this social revolution, which has been mostly affected by Imam Khomeini’s thought, as the founder and leader of the Islamic republic of Iran, the manner of defining different issues in various fields experienced some serious evolutions. One of which took place in the foreign policy, that can be regarded as the “paradigm shift”. This study is about to investigate the bases of Iran’s foreign policy in the pre- and post- revolution eras in the Islamic republic in order to show the process, consequences and results of this evolution. According to the primary hypothesis, as a result of Iran’s Islamic revolution, the foreign policy of this nation-state observed a kind of paradigm shift which represented itself in three fields of ideology, strategy and diplomacy. Because of this paradigm shift, the consensus of the ruling elites on the foreign policy in defining and redefining the principles of this area and the manner of its interaction with the field of national belief, national security, national economy and national interests has been fundamentally affected by this change. The idea of interactionism against the dominating system, which has been presented by ayatollah Khamenei, the recent chain of the interparadigmic process, is the thought of Islamism in the foreign policy of Iran. The sub-paradigms of Iran’s foreign policy are always in the process of finding their relation with these paradigmatic sources. The idea of moderation, which has gained a hegemon place in Iran’s foreign policy since the presidential elections of 2013, is the last factor in this relation that has been trying to use the existing capacities in the idea of interactionism against the dominating system in order to improve Iran’ situation, regionally and internationally, especially through the nuclear issue.

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References

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www.khamenei.ir
Volume 5, Issue 15 - Serial Number 15
September 2015
Pages 119-145

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