Holistic Constructivism: A theoretical approach to understand Iran's foreign policy

Abstract

The "Holistic Constructivist Approach" is a proper analytical framework for explaining Iranian foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Contrary to Systemic and Domestic Constructivism, Holistic Constructivism examines the effects of both domestic and systemic normative environments on states' foreign policy. The article argues that the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is driven by revolutionary values and ideological perspectives at the domestic level and confrontational or non-confrontational normative environment at the systemic level. In order to understand Iranian foreign policy behavior, one should try to understand the basic characteristics of the country's normative and discursive structures on the one hand, and the nature of international normative environment on the other hand. To this end, the article applies Holistic Constructivism as the most applicable theory for explaining the country's foreign policy behavior. This approach helps us to understand why Iranian foreign policy towards the Western countries in general and the United States in particular, even when under systemic pressure, has remained relatively unchanged.