The Role of Revolution in Foreign Policy Behaviour of the Islamic Republic of Iran: An Ontological Security Approach

Understanding Iran’s foreign policy since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 seemed not to be gained; unless it connected concepts of revolution and foreign policy. It realized the potential benefit of the idea of revolution in analysing, explaining, and predicting Iran’s foreign behaviour, rather than Islamism or nationalism. The concept not only has to show what went through a policy process, but it also has to do with the basic ideas that shaped the revolutionaries’ mind-set. They are the revolutionary practices that securitized the domestic situation to control the negative effects abroad. The main matter is how to preserve the revolutionary ideals, as well as to ensure survival under threat. It is called ontological security which can provide a meaningful picture of why the Iranian foreign policy is fraught with difficulties to make sense of on purpose. Without the image depicted, it cannot portray why it shows the ebb and flow in the process. In addition, the paper tries to demonstrate that there is no effective solution to socialize the revolutionary political system, and it is out of the question to give a hard and fast rule for the revolutionaries.