The Impact of Regional Preferences and Geopolitical Views on Forming Regional Organisations (the Case Study of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation)

Regionalism is regarded as paying special attention to a defined geographicalregion. Therefore, for the membership and formation of regional organizations,countries should consider regions to which they have the most important economic,political, security and cultural connections. Governments, in fact, choose regionalorganizations on the basis of their regional preferences and geopolitical views. Inthis study, applying the spatial structure of the theory of the world geopoliticalsystem, the place of Iran and Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states inthe geo-strategic realm and the geopolitics of regions is explored, and theirgeographical features and regional preferences are identified. Using analytical–descriptive methods, this study also evaluates the geopolitical views of China andRussia, as the two main powers in the organization, as well as those of Iran. It isconcluded that while for Russia and China, the formation and membership in thisorganization is in accord with their regional preferences and geopolitical views,Iran’s membership is not in conformity with its regional preferences andgeopolitical identity.