A Constructivist Interpretation of Status-seeking Cultural Diplomacy in Iran’s Foreign Policy During the Era of Khatami and Ahmadinejad, 1997 – 2013

Abstract

This thesis investigates an understudied subject in Iran’s foreign policy, namely the cultural diplomacy of Mohammad Khatami’s and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s presidencies. Rather than using the realist–materialist approach dominant in existing discussions—in which Iran’s cultural diplomacy is largely associated with power, security, and material gains—this study adheres to an alternative constructivist framework to describe how status-seeking can explain Iran’s continued maintenance of its cultural diplomacy despite the lack of material gains. I demonstrate that Iran, having a stigmatized identity due to the label of “rogue state” and “axis of evil”, nevertheless conducts cultural diplomacy to overcome this negative perception in the international society. A first case study focuses on the discourses of two Iranian presidencies with starkly different policy approaches, Khatami and Ahmadinejad, to explore how two presidential narratives shape Iran’s national identity and cultural diplomacy discourses. This thesis’ second empirical case study considers international higher education, including the cooperative activities of its members, as a subfield of cultural diplomacy to explore how the field research of Iranian and non-Iranian academics can be understood in terms of Iran’s status-seeking cultural diplomacy. The findings of the first case study demonstrate that, despite the distinct differences in foreign policy implementation between Khatami and Ahmadinejad, both presidents instrumentalised cultural diplomacy during their presidencies in similar ways by relying on parallel cultural, historical, and religious elements of national identity. The findings of the second case study show that the Iranian authorities cooperate implicitly and explicitly, albeit capriciously, to seek and preserve Iran’s status in international academic environment. Overall, this study provides insight into how Iran, stigmatised by the West, conducts cultural diplomacy to overcome the negative labels rather than in quest of realist-materialist needs.