جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « looking to the east » در نشریات گروه « علوم سیاسی »

in this article, an attempt is made to explain Iran's foreign policy by emphasizing some variables of James Rosena, such as the government, society and the structure of the international system. In addition, its evaluation should be paid during the period (about 1.5 years) of the Rasis's state. The question of this article is: What changes has Iran's foreign policy undergone in the light of the demands, values and norms of the groups and middle classes of the society, the foreign tendencies of the government and the relationship with the great powers? The explanation to be proven is: the identity and value distinction of the 13th state with groups and the middle class, especially women and young people, is going on at different levels and dimensions, especially in the field of foreign policy. The similarity of identity between these groups with culture The West has caused America and Western European countries to align with them. On the other hand, the Rasis’s state is trying to confront the West, especially the United States, by strengthening its view of the East and trying to establish a strategic relationship with China and Russia. The findings of the research indicate that the variables of the state and the international system have the greatest impact, and the variables of the society, especially the values, norms and demands of the middle class, play a marginal role in the direction of the Rasis's foreign policy

The Ukrainecrisis turned into a warin February 2021 after the escalation of conflicts. What sets this event apart from its 2014 record is the breadth, depth, subject matter, and sides of the conflict. In the third decade of the twenty-first millennium, a security-military crisis broke out again and geopolitical differences between the powers led to a massive conflict in the territory of a weak neighbor. Moscow's stance is that the expansionism of its Western rivals through the eastward expansion of NATO is a military preparation of Russian geography and the direct threat against it. Theoretically, the war in Ukraine is reminiscent ofthe concept of “indirect balance of power” which is defined as the competition of great powers over a small or weak country and their conflict on its territory. The war in Ukraine has shown the breadth and depth of the offensive / defensive power on both sides, forcing others to support one side against the other. Iran, which previously pursued balance in its foreign policy based on the “Looking to the East” policy and promoted its strategic relations with Moscow, has taken a position based onits grand strategy. Since the war in Ukraine has gained international dimensions, any stance Iran takes on international structural disputes and subject to sanctions, will affect the country’s foreign policy.

Research question: 

what effects do the Ukraine war have on Iran's balancing foreign policy and does it lead to a balanced foreign policy?

Research hypothesis: 

The war in Ukraine has made Iran increase the geographical scope of its balancing measures and promote the “Looking to the East” Policy at divided (bilateral) levels; combined (trilateral); institutionalized (multilateral) and “regional politics” in the framework of restoration diplomacy.

Methodology and theoretical framework: 

The purpose of the article is to analyze the impact of the Ukrainian war on Iran's balancing foreign policy to show the process of continuity and change, outline the perspective of this policy and evaluate its results. Also, the goal is to critically analyze Iran’s balancing policy in the context of war. In this article, the trend Impact Analysis (TIA) method is used as a qualitative research method based on descriptive-analytical approach. TIA is a method for analyzing consecutive events in a given period to formulate trends by extracting data. Accordingly, events that shape or fluctuate a trend are selected as independent variables. Therefore, trends are the result of successive events as turning points. Understanding events allows analysts interested in tracking a particular trend to systematically examine the effects of current and future significantevents. TIA considers events as data and reflects trends by examining the relationship between them. Trends are identified with events and are defined as the result of successive events over time periods. The war in Ukraine has affected the balancing processof Iran's foreign policy in aseries of events that show the conflict between the interests of Russia and the West. Therefore, TIA is suitable for analyzing Iran's foreign policy and uses two theories; The theory of “balancing as a model of foreign policy” to explain Iran's foreign policy, which aims to prevent a great powerfrom attaining a dominant position or to counter such a position through alliances with rival powers, and the new theory of “balance of relation” which includes the concept of “balanced foreign policy” criticizes Iran's balancing foreign policy.

The main subject of the article is to explain the impact of the war in Ukraine on Iran's balancing foreign policy. While inspired by the concept of balanced foreign policy in the post-Cold War era, balancing foreign policy was theoretically formulated within realism concept as a behavioral model of the Cold War era. To explain Iran's behavior towards the war, the foreign balancing theorized by Waltz and Morgenthau was mentioned. Studies show that Iran's balancing foreign policy within the framework “Looking to the East” has been revived after the withdrawal of U.S. from the JCPOA and expanded with the warbetween Russia and Ukraine. From Iran’s point of view, the anti-hegemonic nature of the war and the prospect of continued conflict between the West is based on its foreign policy. Iran has expanded its relations with rising powers in the framework of the “Looking tothe east again” policy, through which Russia is military-security ally and China is an economic-trade partner. Furthermore, Iran seeks to form a strategic triangle including Tehran-Moscow-Beijing. Also, Iran’s diplomatic actions, including membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS and the creation of economic blocks for Asia, show that it considers the war as an institutionalized way toadjustits “Looking to the East” policy and expand its balancing foreign policy. Finally, Iran has expanded balancing and has undertaken diplomacyto rebuild the region.

The goal of Iran's balancing foreign policy isto reduce structural pressures by expanding relations with the emerging powers, reducing the consensus of great powers and the ability of the United States to delegitimize Iran at the international level. The “Looking to the East” approach is based on the balance of power during the Cold War. Today, countries act based on a different logic of balancing and adaption to international power dynamics. The logic is based on the balance of relations, diversifyingpartners from the different poles of power, avoiding alliances with one power against another and focusing on balance in interaction with great powers, whether old / new or West / East. Therefore, although in the dominant discourse of Iran's foreign policy, the classical balancing act originating from the cold war era is strategically necessary, but it lacks strategic sufficiency; because it does not include the diversity of orientation in geographical and thematic areas and therefore does not lead to a balanced foreign policy. The countries strategy in the balanced foreign policy is aimed at achieving interests in various subject areas through communication with a wide range of great powers without conflict, while this strategy has no place in Iran's foreign policy.

​The Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia, as two main and effective regional players, have played and will continue to play an influential role in the relations and geopolitical developments of the Persian Gulf. In the last decade and due to many political developments, the relations between these two actors faced serious challenges and the tensions between them have played a destructive role in the region.The foreign policy discourse of the Islamic Republic of Iran, despite elements such as: culture of resistance, rejection of dominance, religious democracy and the spirit of martyrdom in its discourse, succeeded in bringing Saudi Arabia to the negotiating table and after nearly seven years of breaking relations and The pervasive and escalating tension will re-establish relations between the two regional powers.Using the method of discourse analysis and extraction of existing elements, in the foreign policy discourse of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the role of the aforementioned discourse in re-establishing the relationship between the two countries is investigated.

There is a close connection between domestic policy and foreign policy in the contemporary world. Meanwhile, the expansion and strengthening of the middle class and increasing its role as the driver of the development of societies is influenced by the governments' foreign policy. In this regard, the aim of this research is to explain the consequences of Iran's foreign policy on the position and fate of the middle class. The main question is: What effect has Iran's foreign policy approaches had on the middle class? Have these approaches led to the strengthening or weakening of the middle class? The hypothesis of the research is that "Iran's foreign policy strategy is based on the priority of security issues over economic development, and this has caused neglect of economic goals, and as a result, the position of the middle class in Iran has been weakened." The theoretical framework of the research is a free use of the literature of development-oriented foreign policy. The article deals with this issue with a qualitative approach and using the method of analyzing events. This study is a library-documentary research. The findings of the research indicate that this activist class has lost its social, economic, political and cultural dignity in the last two decades and this situation is the result of foreign policy and its impact on the economic conditions of the country and on the fate of the middle class as the drivers of changes and the dynamics of society

One of the priorities of Iran’s foreign policy according to the 20-year vision plan is to achieve regional superiority. In spite of the potentials that have made achieving this goal possible, there are some limitations to obtain it. One of these challenging barriers is the structure of the international system and the regional sub-systems that the Islamic Republic of Iran needs to achieve in order to attain this superior position. The geopolitical genome as a geopolitical map of politics is based on the geography of a country and its ability to influence other countries foreign policy. Geopolitics evaluates the global and regional power base on natural geography, in other words on the geographic plan of interaction and in the policy field. It establishes a relationship between power and goals. The geopolitical genome is a geographic map of the country’s politics that has a significant impact on the behavior of political systems in the international system. Just as humans operate in accordance with their genetic mapping, they also direct genetic codes to other countries. If the geopolitical genome is able to be related to the national interests of a country with the geographical advantages of other countries, it is interdependence. The philosophy of international engagement, development and evolution of global system which allows politicians to take advantage of geographical location of the land, the strategic sensitivities of the sea, land and scarce economic, energy and water resources make regional and global political dominance of power, workable. Iran has a remarkable position with 15 neighboring countries in this geostrategic region. The country is potentially one of the most influential and powerful countries in the world. As foreign policy and government performance are affected by the geopolitical environment and requires the establishment of interaction in a set of spatial and temporal behaviors, the Islamic Republic of Iran, despite having a unique strategic position, lacks a desirable position in international system and is facing increasing external threats. This research aims to study geopolitical factors influencing the change in Iran’s foreign policy from the west to the east with an emphasis on Russia. The author, using a descriptive-analytical method, is trying to answer this question that what geopolitical factors have changed Iran's foreign policy perspectives from the west to the east especially in relation between Iran and Russia during 1991 to 2016? The hypothesis of the research is: the geopolitical factors of Iran, the structure of the international system, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the change of Iran’s position in the region, the discourses of Iran’s foreign policy, the logic of politics and the pressure of Western sanctions in various fields against Iran have changed the attitude of foreign policy discourses of Iran from the west to the east between 1991 and 2016 which resulted in establishment of special ties between Iran and Russia. In spite of some different interests, relations with Russia became one of the most important foreign policy aspects of Iran at three levels: bilateral, regional and international.