Foreign Policy and lack of stable Consensus in domestic politics: Operational coding analysis of JCPOA
Volume 23, Issue 4, Winter 2021, Pages 175-224
Heidarali Masoudi, Mehran Sharafi Sadrababi
Abstract Foreign policy is one of the most controversial areas of governance. The complexity,
fluidity, and sensitivity of issues and multiple actors involved make it hard to create
and maintain a stable consensus on foreign policy. Different models of consensusbuilding
have been applied in the different political systems. Concluding a multilateral
or bilateral agreement with other countries can be a starting point for widening the gap
between different political factions. JCPOA as a multilateral agreement between Iran
and the P5 + 1 caused many debates among Iranian political elites, even some years
after its conclusion in 2015. The main question of the article is that whether and to
what extent Iran has been successful in consensus-building in foreign policy. Focusing
on JCPOA's experience and using operational coding analysis, this article analyzes the
perceptual structures of political elites about JCPOA in the pre-and post-US
withdrawal. The operational code analysis of Iran's political elites about JCPOA
showed that there is no appropriate and efficient perceptual structure for creating a
stable consensus on Iran’s foreign policy between the three spectrums of
internationalist, anti-hegemonic, and swing elites.