Iran's Science Diplomacy in the South Caucasus Case Study: The Republic of Azerbaijan

During the years subsequent to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Islamic Republic of Iran has been experiencing many new opportunities and threats in its immediate neighbourhood, of which, South Caucasus is a complicated and geopolitically important part. Major transformations on the global and regional scenes have affected the ways and tools at the disposal of policymakers to realize national interests. Now it is widely acknowledged that science diplomacy can play an effective role in achieving foreign policy goals. Most of the regional and transregional rivals of Iran have made science diplomacy a part of their Caucasian policy. In the following article we will address this question: What role has been played by public diplomacy in the relations between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan & how it can contribute to this relationship in the future? Our main hypothesis is that considering the remarkable capacities of Iranian universities and research centres the science diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the South Caucasus has not been formed in an active way.