Foreign policy strategy of the 14th government: transformation or evolution?

The field of politics is the field of change and transformation and at the same time the field of conservatism and gradual changes. Politics in the foreign field is also the same. It is possible to create a fundamental change and transformation in foreign policy it is also possible to conservatively prevent change and transformation in foreign policy and of course it is possible to evolve foreign policy through a gradual and forward process.

The field of politics is the field of change and transformation and, at the same time, the field of conservatism and gradual changes. Politics in the foreign field is also the same. It is possible to create a fundamental change and transformation in foreign policy, it is also possible to conservatively prevent change and transformation in foreign policy, and, of course, it is possible to evolve foreign policy through a gradual and forward process. The means of change and transformation in domestic politics are wide for politicians, but in foreign policy, the possibility of change and transformation is more limited; why?

Firstly, the freedom of action of countries in foreign policy is limited by structures at the neighborhood, regional, and international levels, which are referred to as structural determinations in international relations theories;

Secondly, part of the countries foreign policy is rooted in their geopolitics, which is unchangeable or difficult to change;

Thirdly, the foreign policy of the countries mainly has identity roots, and the change and transformation in them require identity changes that are created gradually;

Fourthly, organizational and bureaucratic trends and, in some countries, informal power centers resist changes and d transformations in foreign policy, and governments cannot bring organizational and bureaucratic trends with them in a limited period of four or eight years;

Fifthly, change and transformation in foreign policy are not necessarily desirable because the perceptions and sometimes misperceptions of international actors can turn change and transformation with the aim of promoting the country's position into a decline of the country's position in the regional and international system.

Change and transformation in the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is much more difficult. The experience of 45 years of the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran clearly shows that the governments that became the helm of the government with the slogan of change in foreign policy, in addition to legal obstacles, faced extensive structural and institutional obstacles. They only made the foreign policy costly bipolar. On the other hand, the governments that followed the strategy of evolution instead of change and transformation in foreign policy by relying on the sovereign power and with the tools of diplomacy, were able to provide many opportunities for the country, reduce threats, and state the national power in the international arena. If the elected governments in the past took only one evolutionary step in various foreign policy issues by adopting functional action, today, many foreign problems would have been solved.

An accumulation of historical and scientific experiences tells us that the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran should be the underlying promoter of the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is determined in the above documents. Discourses in the foreign policy of countries, conflicting, mutual and even non-synergistic strategies have been the sad story of the foreign policy strategies of the governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the past 45 years. Therefore, the foreign policy strategy of the 14th government should be evolutionary and based on functional action. The diplomatic apparatus of the 14th government should be the underlying foundation for governmental and non-governmental institutions that want to take one step forward in the field of security, economy, culture, and environment. There is not going to be a deep transformation. These small steps in 20 years will make the change and transformation.

The functional action of the 14th government means that the government, with idealistic realism and not wishful thinking, identifies strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats in the foreign arena, and more importantly, places at the intersection of strengths and opportunities, strengths and threats, weaknesses and opportunities, weaknesses and threats and provide a step-by-step and operational strategy so that Iran's foreign policy takes a step forward in its evolutionary path and leaves the next step of evolution to the next government, just like in cooperative athletics competitions.

Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, a senior expert at the IPIS

 (The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the IPIS)