Politics Foreign Pol of Iran

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

The purpose of this course is to explain and analyse the political history and the international behaviour of Iran from the Islamic Revolution in 1979 until the second term of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. The course attempts to explain the origins of the Islamic Revolution and its internal and international impact, as well as the operation of diverse religious and political personalities and factions in the intra-elite power struggle throughout the 33 years of republican history. Through the analysis of the individual and collective political behaviour, the composition of the decision making unit will be determined, in order to analyse the internal and foreign policy outputs. A detailed description of the institutional and factional framework will be provided, and special emphasis will have the electoral processes, mainly presidential ones, due to the unexpected results and internal and external consequences. Due to the strong regional influence of Iran since the revolution, the outputs of the Iranian Foreign Policy towards United States, Iraq and GCC countries will have specific seminar sessions, as well as different periods such as Khomeini’s exportation of the Revolution, Iran-Iraq war and Khatami’s Dialogue of Civilizations.