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This dissertation is a case study of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s approach to soft power with a focus on Iran’s use of soft power in Afghanistan. This dissertation is unique as it a delves into the diverse conceptual prescriptions on soft power, especially from a non-Western perspective. Studies of soft power in the current International Relations discipline ignore the implicit widespread liberal democratic bias in the current understanding of the concept. This dissertation argues that there are certain ontological assumptions lying deep within the soft power model first proposed by Joseph Nye (1990) that make it difficult to use as a model for studying non-Western states. This stems from Nye’s consideration that sources of attraction, essential in wielding soft power, as universal and equivalent to Western liberal values. Nye does not consider how the sources of attraction that he identifies are biased towards a Western notion of values, culture, policies and institutions. This has led to a disregard of the use of soft power by non-Western states. Thus, the aim of this study is to address the western-centric limitation of Nye’s concept by offering a reconceptualization that can be applied in studying the soft power of states that do not necessarily adhere to the same universal norms. By applying Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse analysis framework, this dissertation examines Iran’s soft power strategy in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2017, in order to enhance its influence. Iran’s soft power application relies on what that the author calls ‘affinity’, whereby audience-oriented and localized resources of attraction are identified in the target population and are subsequently discursively cultivated. Attraction build through the ‘affinity’ process is different than Western states’ use of attraction and application of soft power. This dissertation highlights how Iran has created an affinity node centered on a ‘sense of brotherhood’ with its Afghanistan audience. It also shows that the strength of this narrative is in Iran’s ability to create an emotional connection that is embedded in commonalities between the two countries’ in terms of culture, historical legacy, and common language. The analysis presented shows the affinity node of brotherhood appears in over 20 speeches and statements targeted at the Afghan population by the Iranian supreme leader and successive Iranian presidents in recent decades. The notion of brotherhood provides Iran the emotional linkage, the affinity node, to connect with its Afghan audience. The affinity that Iran establishes with Afghanistan allows Iran to articulate its foreign policy objectives by showing how Iranian influence benefits the Afghan population and appeals to existing Afghan values. In addition, this dissertation finds that Iran devotes considerable resources to the development of these discourses in Afghanistan through the various institutions that in charge of Iran’s public diplomacy activities. The focus of these activities is mainly in the realm of culture, education, and language, leveraging the common ties between Iran and their Afghan audience. Lastly, the findings of this study indicate that Iran’s approach to soft power is strategically calculated. Iran makes explicit use of soft power that is different from the original notion of soft power as it was formulated by Nye. Iran’s actions show that sources of attraction do not have to be universal, attraction is contextual in its appeal, based on each target audience and can be constructed through discourses. Thus, as Laclau and Mouffe (1985) would say, Iran’s articulation of an antagonistic discourse challenges the hegemonic discourses that are associated with the Western evaluation of soft power.

Detta examensarbete utgår från det outredda faktum att den Islamiska republiken Iran (IRI) har kunnat driva fram sin agenda för självständighet och suveränitet från imperialistiskt och kolonialt ärvda dominansstrukturer. Denna agenda som är baserad på en militant diskurs om motstånd och fred har möjliggjort för IRI att exponentiellt vinna regionalt och internationellt inflytande trots sin brist på militär och ekonomisk hård makt. Genom att tillämpa diskursanalys (arkeologi och genealogi) på huvudsakligen iranska primär källor, t.ex. IRI:s konstitution och anföranden vid Förenta Nationernas generalförsamling (FNGA), syftar uppsats till att svara på frågan: vilken är den narrativa attraktionen av IRI:s utrikespolitiska diskurs, såsom den har presenterats vid FNGA:s öppningssessioner under de första 40 åren? Uppsatsen drar slutsatsen att IRI:s utrikespolitiska diskurs, inriktad på statsbaserat motstånd mot dominans, mynnar ut i ett narrativ med attraktionskraft vilket sammantaget skapar legitimitet och handlingsutrymme för IRI:s utrikespolitiska intressen. Genom en analys av IRI:s utrikespolitiska diskurs som grundar sig på en läsning av IRI:s utrikespolitik inom och genom dess egen logik, avser uppsatsen att fylla ett gap i forskningen av IRI:s utrikespolitik genom en omfattande tillämpning av primära iranska källor. / This Master Thesis departs from the puzzling fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) has been able to push forward its agenda of independence and sovereignty from imperially and colonially inherited systems of dominance, based in a militant discourse of resistance and peace, exponentially gaining regional and international influence, despite its lack of military and economic hard power. Applying discourse analysis (archaeology and genealogy) on mainly Iranian primary sources, e.g. IRI’s constitution and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) speeches, the thesis seeks to answer the question: which is the narrative attraction of IRI’s foreign policy discourse as it has been presented at the UNGA opening sessions during its first 40 years? The thesis concludes that IRI’s foreign policy discourse, which is focused on state-based resistance to domination, emanates to a narrative attraction, thus generating legitimacy and space of manoeuvre for its foreign policy interests. By analysing IRI’s foreign policy discourse based on a reading of IRI’s foreign policy within its own logics, the thesis intends to fill a gap in the research of IRI’s foreign policy through the extensive use of primary Iranian sources.

Over the few years that led to the creation of the constitutional law of the Islamic republic of Iran, I (the author) noticed a series of ambiguous and often contradictory points in its contents. Discovering the roots and the causes of such contradictions became my priority. After the Iranian Revolution (1979) intellectuals were confronted with very new experiences. For example, Shi'ah has always been a minority in the history of Islam. Therefore, Shi 'ah Fuqaha never experienced direct rule over people. Direct pressures from this new experience brought about the desire and the need for a shift in certain interpretations of the Shi'ah tradition. It became evident that religious laws did not have in them the power and the wisdom to provide answers to the issues and dilemmas of the modern times, hence the need for a fresh approach. One such issue was the discussion of legitimacy of power. 18 years on, the heated debate is still ongoing. Traditional Shi'ah theorists believed that all rulers are illegitimate except the one that represents the 12th Imam who has been absent for the last 1000 years. According to Shi'ah, this representation can only be made by elite clergy who have the ability to understand, fully, the history of Islam and Shi'ah. They also claim that Shari 'ah laws must be implemented in their entirety and according to the teachings of Qur'an and the 12 Infallible Imam. They further argue that the people as a whole have no role in determining the legitimacy of the ruler, as He has been appointed to implement divine laws and people must obey. With time, though, such attitudes were modified. Especially after the Islamic revolution in Iran (1979), new interpretations began to surface. Discussion of three fundamental elements relating to the shift of the Islamic viewpoints during the last 100 years and in particular after the Iranian revolution (1979) forms the main body of this thesis. These are: " Divine law " Divine Ruler " Role of the People The hypothesis of the thesis is that fundamental philosophical positions on all of the above three issues have been the subject of change and modification, to some extent and according to "time" and "place". This change does not reflect the abandoning of the Islamic faith by Muslims, but rather indicates the ability of this dynamic religion to modify itself with time'. These changes have also been associated with varying degrees of ambiguity and contradiction, which will be the subject of detailed discussions in this work. Viewpoints of other outstanding scholars who tried to address these issues will also be presented. Two theories have been expressed in relation to the shift in the Shi'ah political thinking; " Islam's ability to adapt with "time" and "place" and new issues " "Change", in itself, defies the very existence of religion Both theories have been the subject of extensive debates. Traditional Muslims and Non-Muslims criticise Islam for supporting the latter view, whereas revivalists sympathise with the former. It must be mentioned also that reference throughout 1 Iqbal. Enayat. Lambton II this work is only made to those scholars who have used Islamic sources for their reasoning, i. e., not to many others who have engaged in these discussions as independent figures. Also discussed- will be the traditional Islam represented by the majority of the Assembly of the Islamic Experts (Majles-i Khobregan) which in effect was the main creator of the Iranian Constitution. / Ministry of Culture and Higher Education of Iran

There are several studies on the video game industry in Iran, and most of them are primarily focused on state-funded organizations which produce politically motivated games to push the geopolitical and domestic goals of the government. However, there is a lot more to the Iranian video game industry, one of which is the dichotomic nature of the private enterprises and their contrast with the mentioned state-funded products. To contextualize, we require the expression of concrete historical and cultural elements while exploring this dichotomic nature alongside many other paradoxical factors that shape the modern video game industry in Iran. The purpose of this paper is to, for the first time, shed light on the history and the current state of the video game industry in the Islamic Republic of Iran. I’ve used an ethnographic approach in my paper by doing numerous interviews to get a clear picture of cultural narratives and cultural responses that correspond and result in creating art. This digital ethnography could be of help to many to seek knowledge on the mentioned topics.

The theme of this research is smart power in Iran’s foreign policy toward Arab national security in the Middle East [Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen]. This important and influential topic was explained and analyzed on the regional and international political scene. Also, it highlighted how the IRI managed in employing this type of power in its foreign policy with the purpose to penetrate Arab national security and exporting its Islamic revolution to the Arab surrounding, and the gains it had made, in accordance with the directives of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, and in line with what is stipulated in the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran 1979. The study examined the case studies of Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen during the time period (2003- 2015), where 2003 witnessed a significant turning point that contributed to reviving Iran’s dual-strategy to expand in the Arab world and reshaping its map and regimes in preparation for exporting its Islamic revolution to it and extending its control over it, relying on its hard and soft power instruments on the one hand, and taking advantage of some regional and international shifts that turned the balance of power in favor of Iran - such as the US-led occupation of Iraq, the strategic buffer for the Arab region, in addition to the outbreak of the Arab Spring in late 2010, which crowned in the Iranian-backed Houthis group’s seizure of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in late 2014- that made the Middle East a fertile soil and conducive atmosphere to the implementation of Iranian agendas on the other hand. The research depended on Nay’s smart power model and Waltz’s neo-realism theory, as exclusive analytical frameworks. As well an interpretive case study was utilized as the main research method whose findings were derived from primary and secondary databases. The research concluded that the IRI had succeeded in employing smart power in its foreign policy, enabling it to occupy three Arab countries, which are considered fundamental pillars of Arab national security. This, in turn, has proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that the IRI poses an existential danger and a serious threat to the Arab nation and its national security, as evidenced by the research databases.

Over the few years that led to the creation of the constitutional law of the Islamic republic of Iran, I (the author) noticed a series of ambiguous and often contradictory points in its contents. Discovering the roots and the causes of such contradictions became my priority. After the Iranian Revolution (1979) intellectuals were confronted with very new experiences. For example, Shi'ah has always been a minority in the history of Islam. Therefore, Shi 'ah Fuqaha never experienced direct rule over people. Direct pressures from this new experience brought about the desire and the need for a shift in certain interpretations of the Shi'ah tradition. It became evident that religious laws did not have in them the power and the wisdom to provide answers to the issues and dilemmas of the modern times, hence the need for a fresh approach. One such issue was the discussion of legitimacy of power. 18 years on, the heated debate is still ongoing. Traditional Shi'ah theorists believed that all rulers are illegitimate except the one that represents the 12th Imam who has been absent for the last 1000 years. According to Shi'ah, this representation can only be made by elite clergy who have the ability to understand, fully, the history of Islam and Shi'ah. They also claim that Shari 'ah laws must be implemented in their entirety and according to the teachings of Qur'an and the 12 Infallible Imam. They further argue that the people as a whole have no role in determining the legitimacy of the ruler, as He has been appointed to implement divine laws and people must obey. With time, though, such attitudes were modified. Especially after the Islamic revolution in Iran (1979), new interpretations began to surface. Discussion of three fundamental elements relating to the shift of the Islamic viewpoints during the last 100 years and in particular after the Iranian revolution (1979) forms the main body of this thesis. These are: " Divine law " Divine Ruler " Role of the People The hypothesis of the thesis is that fundamental philosophical positions on all of the above three issues have been the subject of change and modification, to some extent and according to "time" and "place". This change does not reflect the abandoning of the Islamic faith by Muslims, but rather indicates the ability of this dynamic religion to modify itself with time'. These changes have also been associated with varying degrees of ambiguity and contradiction, which will be the subject of detailed discussions in this work. Viewpoints of other outstanding scholars who tried to address these issues will also be presented. Two theories have been expressed in relation to the shift in the Shi'ah political thinking; " Islam's ability to adapt with "time" and "place" and new issues " "Change", in itself, defies the very existence of religion Both theories have been the subject of extensive debates. Traditional Muslims and Non-Muslims criticise Islam for supporting the latter view, whereas revivalists sympathise with the former. It must be mentioned also that reference throughout 1 Iqbal. Enayat. Lambton II this work is only made to those scholars who have used Islamic sources for their reasoning, i. e., not to many others who have engaged in these discussions as independent figures. Also discussed- will be the traditional Islam represented by the majority of the Assembly of the Islamic Experts (Majles-i Khobregan) which in effect was the main creator of the Iranian Constitution.

The thesis focuses on the Islamic Revolution of Iran by a comparative analysis of the monarchy regimes before and after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Although there is little doubt that the transformation of Imperial Iran to the Islamic Republic has played a vital catalyst in redrawing the "greater" Middle Eastern geopolitics ever since this thesis aims to compare the historical development of Iran during the monarchy and the effect of the revolutionary institutions brought on the Iranian society. Despite the extensive amount of resources used in this thesis being both from Iran and abroad, the author has made every effort to reduce the effects of the influences whether from the overzealous defenders of monarchy or the die-hard revolutionaries to a bare minimum and allow the facts on their own to project the picture through an objective lens. The goal of the thesis is for the objective research and comparison to try and provide a factual answer to the million-dollar question, whether the revolution was for better or for worse.

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The struggle of the Kurdish nation in Iran entered a new phase of modern nationalist movement since World War II, especially since the establishment of the Society for the Revival of Kurdistan (J.K.) in 1942. The J.K. was then transformed into the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which later changed its name to the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) in 1945. This dissertation addresses a major gap in the existing research about the study of Iranian Kurdish nationalism spearheaded by the PDKI. Offering a historical sociology, the dissertation argues that this movement should be understood within the context of the state-building process in Iran and nationalist and national liberation movements in the world. It offers, for the first time and in any language, the most extensively researched and detailed history of the PDKI, its struggles for Kurdish national rights, its programs, organizational structure, political strategies, achievements, internal conflicts, numerous splits and unifications, women’s status within it, and its relations with other parties. It critically analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the PDKI. The methodological components include: literature review, discourse analysis, content analysis, snowball sampling, in-depth, open-ended interviews with 29 high-ranking activists, archival research, fieldwork conducted in the Iraqi Kurdistan and in Europe, Internet research, and statistical data. Sources used were in English, Persian, Kurdish, and Turkish. While the PDKI has championed a democratic Kurdish nationalist movement, it has heavily undermined the democratic principles within and outside the party and underestimated women’s potential within the movement. In order for the PDKI to re-emerge as a party in sync with our times, it needs to undergo a radical reform and democratize its internal and external relations. / Graduate / 2023-08-22