The Sustainable Pattern of the Regional Policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Countries of Southwest Asia Based on the Component of Public Diplomacy on the National Power

Document Type : مقالات علمی -پژوهشی

Authors

• Mohammad Reza Mofatteh ¹
• Abdolreza Faraji Rad ²
• Ribaz Ghorbaninejad ³
• Azam Yousefi ⁴

¹ PhD Student in Political Geography, Southwest Asia Studies, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

² Associate Professor of Geopolitics,, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

³ Assistant Professor of Political Geography, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Tehran, Iran

⁴ Assistant Professor Islamic Azad University, Saveh Branch, Saveh, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22067/pg.2021.72304.1087

Abstract

Diplomacy is the most important aspects and the most objective forms of a country's foreign policy. This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive, analytical and exploratory in terms of research method. This study uses ARC GIS software to implement the leveling of national power in the target countries (in the GIS environment). It also uses the AHP model to weight the sub-components of public diplomacy. Also, in this study Moran's test has been used to spatially analyze the pattern of distribution of national power indicators, and also the Meta-SWOT method has been used to provide a stable spatial pattern, and 36 sub-components (indices) has been used for the spatial analysis and stratification of Southwest Asian countries based on the public diplomacy component. The findings shows the fact that the countries of Syria and Armenia have played a significant role in increasing the geopolitical weight of Iran and are  very important, as well as the countries of Iraq and Georgia are in a position of high importance, and the countries of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Qatar are in a position of medium importance. The UAE, Kuwait, Jordan and Cyprus are in a low-important position. According to the analysis, the results show the fact that the component of public diplomacy follows a cluster pattern. The similar political behavior of the Persian Gulf countries in relation to Iran is one of the geopolitical reasons for this cluster distribution.   By strengthening this axis (public diplomacy) the countries of Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Turkey and Qatar can also be added to the list of very important countries and by forming a very strong cluster consisting of the mentioned countries can help to increase the role of the political power of Iran in the region.  According to conducted research, the application of economic sanctions has been identified as the biggest challenges and obstacles to the application of regional policies of Iran. Placement in the security environment of Southwest Asia region and the sanctions on Iran's monetary and banking system are considered as the biggest environmental, economic and legal obstacles that require attention due to the size and the degree of influence of each.

Keywords

• Sustainable Model
• Regional Policy
• National Power
• Southwest Asia
• Iran

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