Foreign policy

U.S foreign policy toward Iran had been so uncertain and variable since the beginning of this relation, but alongside fluctuations, some kind of consistency is distinguishable. Until the Islamic revolution of 1979by the Iranian people, Iran was playing a major role in the U.S. anti-communist strategy in the Middle East. U.S grand strategy was based on its confrontation with USSR and Iran was the key for controlling the Middle East and process of underpinning Iran’s power as a liberal ally in the region was at the core of U.S considerations in Iran. After the 1979 revolution, Iran’s priority had changed as a regional actor and it no longer identified itself as a member in the Western coalition based on American foreign policy. On the other hand, U.S. also stopped to identify Iran as a friend and started to demonize the new role Iran was playing in the Middle East and the world. By having these trends in mind, a very fundamental, important question strikes the mind: Did U.S has a turning point in its foreign policy toward Iran after the 1979 or the principle of its foreign policy was fixed and only tactical changes occurred? In order to answer this question I’m going to examine the history of U.S foreign policy toward Iran, particularly the post-revolutionary period. This analysis will be conducted according to the Copenhagen school definition of security and concept of securitization. This theoretical frame work brought us a comprehensive understanding of security and also a relative, useful categorization of security strategy in foreign policy. Different methodological approaches could be used in these frameworks but in this research I have used the discourse analysis method to explore the subject of research. Conclusion of the research shows us that American strategy toward Iran covers both permanent and variable factors but the permanent element was the key and variable factors made changes only in tactical level. U.S foreign policy was basically directed toward securitizing Iran but the world system, regional and national events also made it more powerful. It means that after the Islamic revolution of Iran, U.S. has continuously made an attempt in persuading other actors to securitize Iran. Before the Cold War, this securitization was in a low level but after the Cold War it can be classified as a high-securitization.

This article analyze Turkey's aggressive foreign policy in the face of the Syrian crisis with an explanatory method and from the perspective of defensive realism. Therefore, the main question of the research is, why Turkey's foreign policy in the Syrian crisis is aggressive? The temporary answer is that Turkey, by perceiving the threat of extremists spilling over into its internal borders, threatening the autonomy of the Syrian Kurds, as well as Turkey's long-term geopolitical prospects, has led its aggressive foreign policy in the Syrian crisis. The findings of the study indicate that as the crisis intensifies near the Turkish border, Turkish decision-makers have increased the level of military violence in the Syrian crisis. In other words, there is a positive correlation between the extent to which Turkey receives a threat from the Syrian crisis, and the degree to which its foreign policy is becoming more aggressive. The method of data collection in this research is based on the library method which includes the simultaneous use of domestic and foreign scientific articles.

    Islamic awakening is a movement, which has exploited the Muslim nations for many years to return Islam to the social and individual life of Muslims, and in contrast to the international domination system. The evolutions have left abundant effects, and have affected the foreign policy of some countries with political and economic relations with the Middle East countries, especially the Persian Gulf. This study has investigated the role of China in the Persian Gulf with the security view of the country to the region (after the Islamic awakening evolutions). The main question in this study is: what approach was taken by China in the Persian Gulf after the Islamic Awakening evolutions? The results of this study showed that the approach of China to the evolutions of the Persian Gulf and the Middle East has faced a security perspective. The geopolitical and economic interests of China in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf have formed the behaviors of the country against such evolutions. The most important dimension of the geopolitical interests of China can be preventing the regional order in the Persian Gulf from becoming hegemonic. Also, the most underlying dimension of economic interests has can be supplying energy security. According to these interests, China got an impartial position in the Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, and Yemen crises. In the Libya crisis, China accompanied the International Community and played role in the Syria crisis in contrast to the West and Arab League. The behavior of China against the Islamic Awakening Evolutions was a gradual movement from the margins to the core of crises. China became a key activist in the later crises of the region.