Foreign Policy and lack of stable Consensus in domestic politics: Operational coding analysis of JCPOA

Foreign policy is one of the most controversial areas of governance. The complexity,fluidity, and sensitivity of issues and multiple actors involved make it hard to createand maintain a stable consensus on foreign policy. Different models of consensusbuildinghave been applied in the different political systems. Concluding a multilateralor bilateral agreement with other countries can be a starting point for widening the gapbetween different political factions. JCPOA as a multilateral agreement between Iranand the P5 + 1 caused many debates among Iranian political elites, even some yearsafter its conclusion in 2015. The main question of the article is that whether and towhat extent Iran has been successful in consensus-building in foreign policy. Focusingon JCPOA's experience and using operational coding analysis, this article analyzes theperceptual structures of political elites about JCPOA in the pre-and post-USwithdrawal. The operational code analysis of Iran's political elites about JCPOAshowed that there is no appropriate and efficient perceptual structure for creating astable consensus on Iran’s foreign policy between the three spectrums ofinternationalist, anti-hegemonic, and swing elites.