An Examination of Radical Islamism in Central Asia and the Caucasus and Iran's Foreign Policy

Historians have described Central Asia and the Caucasus as the boundary between the Islamic civilization and other civilizations. Under the Soviet rule, the regional nations resisted the anti-Islamist policies and succeeded in reentering the Muslim World after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, the Islamic identity in Central Asia has been moving towards radicalization within the past two decades in such a way that most of the Islamist parties in the region seek to enhance Islamic fundamentalism and radicalization. The rise of this political-security phenomenon has led researchers to study it by analyzing internal and external factors including the role played by the Islamic Republic of Iran and its foreign policy. The authors explore the causes of the rise of radical Islamism in the region and conclude that Iran’s foreign policy has never sought the growth of radical Islamism.