Strategic culture and the formation of Iran’s foreign policy. In-depth analysis of Iran’s regional geo politics and their implementation of foreign policy within and beyond the region of MENA.
Since the fall 1979, Iran has become a strategic challenge for the international political community. The anti imperialist strategic culture of the Islamic revolution in Iran against the west, mainly the United States, has posed a significant political and security challenge for the international decision making liberal order. The foreign policy of the Iranian state is mainly influenced by the two major strategic cultures of exporting and interpellating the ideology of islamic revolution to other states in the region, and the employment of diplomacy and deterrence in theory and practice to maximize state’s security and stability in the region as a dominant power. The reliability of Iran on defensive realist strategies and maximization of power and security through deterrence has subsequently developed Iran’s nuclear programme and ballistic missile defensive capabilities. Withstanding, the rise of Iran as a regional power has made security dilemmas for the neighbouring countries and the United States. In the light of the above, this essay will critically analyse the strategic cultures of the Iranian state and demonstrate the implications on Iran’s foreign policy and decision making system. Furthermore, this article will portray the sets of norms and beliefs that constructed Iran’s current strategic culture and inspired Iran’s foreign policy. Respectively, this paper will argue that Iran’s anti American imperialist policies and its strategic culture for political, economic and security independence has driven the state to develop its nuclear programme and defensive capabilities as a deterrence to be used in diplomatic negotiations such as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or Iran Nuclear Deal. Lastly, this essay will elaborate on how Iran is employing ideological beliefs, authoritarian political system structure and technology development in nuclear and ballistic missiles capabilities within the discourse of foreign policy and the framework of diplomacy as a part of its strategic culture which explains Iran’s behaviour.
As an explanation for states behaviour, strategic cultures are defined as political and strategic preconceptions regarding a certain political or strategic matter; in other words, strategic culture provides pre-set solutions and responses to newly emerging challenges. Preconceptions such as ideological beliefs, geopolitical situation of the state, the level of technology development and resources, political decision making system and historical experiences may be a part of the strategic culture which shapes and forms one state’s foreign policy and its approach towards the international political order. According to Klein (1991, 9), “Strategic cultures are usually the product of a process of accretion.” they gather preconceptions from physical, political and social/cultural potential sources. Most of the strategic cultures in different states around the world consists of the three steps of political doctrine, strategic analysis and operational methods of implementation. Specific political doctrines such as authoritarianism and totalitarianism require specific sets of strategic culture to shape their foreign policies. As strategy analysis on neo classical realism suggests, neorealist states tend to employ all their potential sources of strategic culture such to comply with the essentials for security and power maximizations. Whereas offensive realist states are determined to maximize their power while defensive realist states are maximizing their security as a priority by employing specific strategic culture. This is where Taliaferro (2001, 150–1) implies that both offensive and defensive realist states are more likely to employ their strategic culture against the liberal order or a specific liberal state.
Subsequently, the Iranian state as a regional political and military hegemony has been implementing the neorealist assumptions of maximizing its power and security as a priority to deter newly emerging threats and challenges. Accordingly, Iran has formed its political strategic cultural identity as a static status quo power which also has the ability of becoming revisionist against some states. According to Wells (2014, 8–9) the fundamental theories of Islamic revolution in Iran have the potential of becoming a functional deterrence lever to be used against regional opposing states such as Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain. The exportation of revolutionary beliefs and ideologies to other states can be considered as Iran’s strategic culture to disrupt its potential threats and challenges in the region. Furthermore, Taremi (2014, 15–6) suggests that Iran’s revolutionary ideological beliefs are components to its strategic culture which respectively influence the state’s attitude and behaviour in foreign policy and using political or physical violence against other states. Moreover, Ayatollah Khomeini’s interpretation of Shiite Islam within the discourse of revolutionary ideas has made the grounds and provided the potentials for this specific political strategic culture to be implemented against regional threats and potential challenges. In the same context, Grove (2015, 554) also argues that revolutionary shi’ism has formed the identity of the Iranian state’s strategic culture and it is influencing the state’s foreign policy specifically against the west and its allies.
The strategic culture of the Iranian state has shaped the state’s identity in foreign policy. Based on the ideologically constructed foreign policy, the state has pre-set responses and solutions to potential challenges that may occur in the future. The strategic culture in Iran is acting as a rationale for its foreign policy decision making system which subsequently explains the state’s behavior within the international community. Barry and Akbarzadeh (2016, 614) argue that “Iran is pursuing an ideologically driven agenda”; although the implication of policies may defer during different presidencies. Hardliner policies such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration had implemented a more radical strategic culture where a more moderate president such as President Khatami or the current President Rouhani will employ a more temperate and moderate sets of policies to be implemented in their foreign policy. Despite Iran’s multi-faceted identity in foreign policy, the ideological foreign policy of the Islamic revolution and Iran Supreme Leaders’ political agenda is still the core unit of Iran’s strategic culture in foreign policy. To expand on that, Parasiliti (2009, 10), states that although Iran has always been acting as a politically rogue actor towards the west, but the Iranian state has never closed the doors for diplomacy which illustrates Iran’s intentions for employing the strategic culture of deterrence and diplomacy in its foreign policy. Thus, Iran needs a physical potential source of strategic culture to be able to perform deterrence and diplomacy in its foreign policy; therefore developments in nuclear programme will be able to give Iran its deterrence capabilities against the west.
The Iranian approach towards deterrence as one of the state’s strategic cultures is mainly focused on the development of nuclear programmes and improvements in defensive ballistic missiles capabilities. Although the state argues that with respect to the defensive realist perspective of maximization of security, these technologies and military developments are mainly designed to be capable of defensive actions. But the phenomenon of security dilemma has raised the awareness of the neighbouring states and US allies in the region. The structure of the security dilemma caused by Iran’s technological and military developments is giving Iran the potential of employing this phenomenon as a deterrence for its foreign policy implications. According to Freedman (2017, 402) Iran’s multidimensional deterrence is the major strategic culture of the state to be used in three different concepts; 1) Negotiations, 2) Prevention of international conflicts 3) Driving ideological political agendas into its foreign policy by using violence indirectly. To expand on that, Freedman (2017, 402–3) also suggests that by employing the doctrine of deterrence, the Iranian state is eliminating the potential of any external threats with its strategic culture which subsequently reduces the probability for any potential political or military contest. To get a better understanding, Freedman (2017, 402) has provided the below diagram to support his argument:
Being surrounded by potential external threats has made the state to be more cautious on its foreign policy. Implementing defensive strategic culture such as the notion of deterrence assists the state to be more strategically agile in dealing with foreign policy challenges and security threats.
The technology and military deterrence of the Iranian state can be summed up as the combination of nuclear programme development and ballistic missile defensive capabilities. Although Iran is still committed to the JCPOA agreement of 2015, due to the United States’ withdrawal from the deal and the other 5+1 states being unable to comply with their commitments, Iranians have already detected the potential threat and started the process of enrichment under the circumstances of the nuclear deal. According to Bell (2019, 18), developed nuclear capabilities are a perfect opportunity for states to employ the development as a deterrence to drive their political, ideological or military agenda while preventing any conflict or physical contest. The mentioned technological and military source of strategic culture for the Iranians, enabled the state to bring 5+1 powers into negotiation grounds and provide potential opportunity for any further actions towards normalization of their international relations. The above mentioned nuclear agreement of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA-2015) has resulted the UNSC to pass the resolution 2231 which enables Iran to open up its banking system, to the international banking order, resume its normal trading relations with international states and maintain its political and military presence more feely and less costly in the region. Therefore, as Bell (2017, 22) also states, the notion of nuclear opportunism as a deterrence lever for the Iranian state’s strategic culture has allowed Iran to strengthen its foreign policy in their phase of diplomacy with the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
The Iranian nuclear power development progress has broadened the state’s strategic culture to deter against any potential threat or emerging challenges within the international community. On the other hand this paper also argues that the ideological beliefs and norms of the Islamic revolution has given the grounds to the state to develop its nuclear capabilities. In other words, shared beliefs and norms and on the other hand the nuclear development programme are complementary notions which strategically complete each other to form a singular foreign policy. According to Knepper (2008, 458), the deterrence strategic culture in Iran has been established and provides pre-set responses to support four political strategic agendas; 1) preserving the regime’s political legitimacy, 2) developing a broad sense of nationalism within the population, 3) protecting the state from internal and external vulnerability, and 4) protecting the state from a potential threat from the United States and its allies. Based on the above mentioned defensive neorealist assumptions, the Iranian regime has been implementing the deterrence strategic culture to preserve its ideological agendas and political manoeuvres in the region as a regional hegemon. To expand on that, Ogilvie-White (2010, 121), suggests that because of the above mentioned defensive strategic culture implemented by the Iranian state, the international community has realized that the rise of any tensions against the Iranian state can provoke and escalate an unwanted conflict which may result in a nuclear confrontation. Thus, based on defensive neorealist theory and the policies of maximizing security, the Iranian state’s defensive strategic culture has politically placed Iran in a safe zone and prevents any potential conflicts. Therefore, this paper can suggest that the deterrence strategy by Iran has majorly influenced Iranians foreign policy.
