Regionalism, Iran and Central Asia

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

The author believes that the Islamic Republic of Iran, after a period of negating and rejecting international organizations, came to the understanding that these organizations, because of the new developments and new appraisal of interests, can be, first, an instrument for the preservation of the country’s rights and security, second they may help Iran to go out of isolation, and third they may support and safeguard the Islamic Republic vis-à-vis the dangers of the unipolar world. In this relation, while tending to non-Western organizations such as the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organization of Islamic Conference, Iran embarked on the initiative of creating new regional organizations. While established earlier, the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) became more active with the adhesion of members from the newly independent former Soviet Union republics. Iran’s success in regionalism may be evaluated as somehow relative and slight. The reasons accounting for this slight success can be counted as follow: the divergence of the regional countries’ strategies, certain countries’ concern about Iran particularly small countries and the Persian Gulf states, the willingness and even eagerness of these organizations’ members to work with the United States (whereas the Islamic Republic of Iran regards such organizations essentially a means for battling against the United States) and the lack of complementary character of regional economies. Nonetheless, the organizations’ success relate largely to the creation of a forum for proposing discussions and preventing tension in other areas. Furthermore, some important economic projects and linkages among the various networks of these countries make promising the prospects for future activities and probably the promotion of European status.

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