Explaining Iran’s Foreign Policy towards Latin American Countries With an Emphasis on the Presidential Term of Rouhani
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Article Type:
Research/Original Article (دارای رتبه معتبر)
Abstract:
INTRODUCTION
Under President Ahmadinejad (2005-2013) and the dominance of following the revisionism and justice-seeking discourses in his foreign policy, Iran tended to unify and coalesce with ultra-leftist Latin American leaders with whom the sitting President shared discursive principles However, as Hassan Rouhani took office in 2013, Iran decreased interest in coalition with Latin American countries. The reason why during President Hassan Rouhani’s terms the Islamic Republic of Iran turned away from Ahmadinejad’s approach regarding Latin American countries in favor of digression and lack of relationship is a question that the present paper seek to answer through an explanatory method. Therefore, it is hypothesized that transformation at the level of policymaking resulted in the reduction of Islamic Republic of Iran's relations with countries of this region which in turn has changed and transformed the available sub-discourses in the arena of foreign policy. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: In the present study, an analytical model of structure-agent is used to explain Rouhani’s foreign policy towards Latin American countries. It should be clarified that, the focus is on internal structures and agent factor as well as the role they play in determining the foreign policy. The analytical model is used to identify the influence of agent factor on Iran’s foreign policy.
METHODOLOGY
The present study applied the explanatory method. In order to gather data, the researchers use books, articles, and authentic websites.
RESULTS & DISCUSSION
Research findings indicate that structural factor has more influential power in comparison to human and agent factor in Iran’s foreign policy. If changes and developments do not intervene and contrast with the grand discourse of the Islamic Revolution, governmental agents can play their roles more creatively, and therefore, enter their believes and values into the policy making and decision making processes. CONCLUSION & SUGGESTION: The present paper aims at explaining the factors that made Iran turn from Latin American countries. It hypothesizes that under Hassan Rouhani as the new president of Iran, which subsequently led to the transformation of available sub-discourses, Iran paid more attention to Latin America than the Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tended to establish relations with Latin American countries following his revisionist approach to the international politics. This tendency, however, became less important in Iran's foreign policy under Hassan Rouhani while détente subdiscourses and constructive engagement with the world are dominant. Contrary to his predecessors, Rouhani does not tend to unite with Latin American. Rather, he establishes relations with neighboring countries, favors détente policy with the west, particularly the U.S, and constructive engagement with the international community. With the rule of moderation discourse, he seeks to put an end to a decade of stagnation and radicalism in Iran's foreign policy. He believes that as a result of close relations with and extremist tendencies toward Latin American countries and paying less attention to neighboring countries in order to serve national interests and security during the past two years of presidency, Iran's foreign policy stayed away from moderation,. Therefore, efforts should be taken into account as soon as possible to eliminate such deficiency in Iran's foreign policy. According to president Rouhani, an appropriate policy is the one that serves national interests and security. He also states that if foreign policy guarantees the national interests and leads the nation to development and growth, or in other words, reduces the costs and increases the benefits, then this type of foreign policy will be suitable. Meanwhile, since the U.S. keeps a close eye on the Latin American developments, it is a bad idea for Iran to get involved in this region. Otherwise, Iran’s national interest and security may be threatened by new U.S. sanctions. Thus, once Rouhani took office, he sought to reduce tensions and increase constructive engagement with the world and he also tried shift attention from Latin America to the Middle East and Central Asia.
Language:
Persian
Published:
Iranian Research Letter of International Politics, Volume:5 Issue: 2, 2017
Pages:
144 to 164
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