Political Elements of Soft Power of Islamic Republic of Iran

The change in the concept of power that some describe as “Soft Power”¡ is used as a method of analysis in international politics and as an instrument of utilizing foreign policy of states. Soft Power is a new model based on synonymous concepts like influence¡ authority and legitimacy. This type of power is the power of conducting¡ attracting¡ persuading and framing agenda. Today using the soft power in domestic and foreign policy has been emphasized more than the past. Earlier conceptualizations about soft power were based on elements such as culture¡ political values and popular foreign policy. Author analyzes the political elements of soft power in Islamic Republic of Iran from a descriptive-analytical approach. Findings of the research show that having popular political values (such as divineness¡ morality and justice)¡ charismatic leadership¡ political legitimacy on the basis of religious democracy model and popular foreign policy on the basis of antihegemonic discourse together with an effective diplomacy¡ Islamic Republic of Iran has high potentials of political elements of soft power in the regional level and Islamic World.