Authors : Mohammad Ali Tavana, Hamed Eslami and Tooraj Rahmani
Abstract: This study aims at the foreign policy of Ahmadinejad’s government according to the critical theory of international relations. The goal is to determine whether this policy has been different from that of the governments before and after him. The study is based on the belief that more a detailed and objective analysis of the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran during Ahmadinejad’s government can be possibly offered with reference to the critical theory of international relations. Accordingly, the main question of the article is ‘How can Ahmadinejad’s foreign policy be analyzed according to the critical theory of international relations?’. It is assumed that the critical theory of international relations has the ability to account for the issue. The policy of his government seemed to be critical of the unjust and hegemonic structure of the international system. In this case, namely in its rejecting or negative form, his foreign policy matched the critical theory of international relations to a great deal. In contrast to the critical theory which serves to rebuild the international system based on the modern rationality, it seems that the goal of Ahmadinejad’s government was to rebuild the international system based on the interests of developing countries in general and Muslim countries, especially Shias, in particular. This study is a cross-sectional study conducted for "adaption of theory with case" and "test of theory with case".
Mohammad Ali Tavana, Hamed Eslami and Tooraj Rahmani, 2016. Analysis of the Foreign Policy of Ahmadinejad’s Government According to the Critical Theory of International Relations. The Social Sciences, 11: 6465-6474.