This study argues that security and foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is mainly driven by the main principles of the Offensive Realism theory of international relations. While the Iranian political system is considered a theocratic system, based on the Islamic Shi'a ideology, its survival is defined as the ultimate ideology-an ideology that is paramount to any other ideology. Iran's security and foreign policy is determined and shaped by its need to survive in an anarchic international system. Iran's cooperation with "two Satans", Israel and the United States, during the Iran-Iraq war demonstrates that the ultimate ideology of survival dominates over any other ideological predisposition. In addition, the lack of a supranational government and the fear about the intentions of other states make Iran aware of the need to rely on self-help. Iran has also realized that the best way to limit threats to its survival would be maximizing its relative military power and becoming a regional hegemony. Furthermore, a formidable military power would provide Iran with a new status in regional and global politics, deterrence power over any possible attack from other great powers, and bargaining power over regional and global matters. In order to enhance its military (conventional and nuclear) arsenal, Iran has established "strategic relations" with its historic enemy, Russia. In its quest to advance its military capabilities and avoid threats to its sovereignty, Iran sided with Christian states, against its Muslim brothers, during the Russia-Chechnya and Armenia-Azerbaijan conflicts. Moreover, the Islamic state is aware of the fact that its paramount goals can be achieved by relying on precise rational strategies. In order to validate these claims, this study analyzes Iran's policy during the Iran-Iraq war and Iran's policy toward Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, the Russian-Chechen conflict, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as the Pasdaran, is a unique military institution created to secure the ideals of Iran's revolution as well its territory. Since the end of the Iran-Iraq War, however, the IRGC's role in Iran's political economy has increased significantly beyond that mandate. Unfortunately, the leadership in the United States has demonstrated neither the aptitude nor the desire to understand Iran. Given the IRGC's command of Iran's nuclear development program and encroachment into its foreign policy, it is more important than ever to understand Iran's leadership structure. This study attempts to explain an important part of that structure by considering the influence of the leadership dynamics of Iran along with its economic and religious/social conditions on the IRGC's position within the state, using an historical analysis consisting of secondary sources. Accordingly, the IRGC's rise to power can be traced back to the dual sovereignty written into the constitution of the Islamic Republic. Though the divine sovereignty, embodied by the velayat-e faqih (Supreme Leader), is supposed to take precedence over popular sovereignty, embodied by the directly elected President, when the two conflict, Khomeini's successor, Khamenei, a junior cleric, was unable to manage then President Hashemi Rafsanjani. So he empowered the IRGC to compensate, but that choice set into motion a sequence of events that has enabled it to become powerful enough to be a threat to the velayat-e faqih himself.

ABSTRACT UNEASY COEXISTENCE: &ldquo / ISLAMISM VS. REPUBLICANISM&rdquo / DEBATE IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN Arikan, Pinar M. Sc., Department of International Relations Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Meliha AltuniSik December 2006, 170 pages The objective of this thesis is to analyze the Islamist and republican features of the political regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It aims to identify the relationship between Islamism and republicanism in terms of institutional and practical means throughout the period since the establishment of the Islamic Republic. It seeks an answer to the question of how the Islamist and republican orientations that built up the political regime and the system of governance in the Islamic Republic of Iran have affected the domestic political and ideological developments. For this aim, firstly, the history of ulama-state relations as well as the history of constitutional tradition in Iran is discussed. Then, the impact of Islamism and republicanism in the process of establishment of the new regime in Iran is examined. Afterwards, the emergence of Islamism and republicanism as indigenous ideological currents and the political groups that appealed to these two orientations are analyzed with special emphasis to the role of Khomeini in this process. In the remaining part, the institutional and practical implications of the coexistence of Islamist and republican orientations are scrutinized during the presidencies of Rafsanjani and Khatami respectively. Finally, this thesis is concluded with an overall assessment of Islamism vs. republicanism debate with reference to the 2005 presidential elections.

<p>The Islamic Republic of Iran‟s alleged pursuit of nuclear missile capabilities is proving in-creasingly problematic for the international community, which places the country in a sig-nificant position in world politics. In turn, the world‟s attention towards the thirty-year-old Republic established by the late Ayatollah Khomeini has resurged. The Republic of Iran based on Ayatollah Khomeini‟s interpretation of Islam has long stood in the spotlight of both public and scholastic scrutiny, particularly due to its perceivably radical manoeuvres on the international stage. However, as the focus of these scrutinizing views has been the Iranian unwillingness to subdue and conform to western norms, the issue of the „<em>Islamicness‟ </em>of the Republic has been overlooked.</p><p>Hence, this thesis seeks to draw further attention to this question - whether Iran can truly be regarded as an Islamic State - in order to ensure a deeper and more accurate under-standing of the Republic of Iran. The purpose of this paper is thus to investigate and re-flect on the theory of Islamic governance promoted by Ayatollah Khomeini and the politi-cal system of the Islamic Republic through the prism of Islamic history. The theory of the Islamic State and the Shia Islamic leadership has been and continues to be central in Aya-tollah Khomeini‟s and the Islamic Republic‟s official rhetoric, being claimed as the sole foundation of the „new‟ Iranian system. In consequence, this paper delves into the Islamic theory of State and the concept of the Imamate in order to critically analyze Ayatollah Khomeini‟s theory and the Islamic Republic. This is aimed at yielding a conclusion whether Iran is justly labeled an Islamic State.</p><p>By performing this norm-fulfilling analysis of the subject in question reliant on a qualitative data collection, the thesis has found that the correlation between the two theories of Islam-ic governance is one of considerable disputability. The paper has, based on the investigated material, been able to conclude that the Islamic Republic of Iran holds a political structure lent from non-Islamic sources, but that its personnel and political field of contest can still be considered Islamic. What the paper has thus revealed is that Khomeini‟s reasoning con-stitutes a novel and unique form of Islamic fundamentalism formed in conjuncture with political ideas of modern and non-Islamic nature. Hence, the results of the study suggests that the <em>Islamic </em>Republic of Iran is in need of serious reconsideration as the Iranian model of Islamic governance remains a source of contention because of the significant deviations from what it claims as its sole basis.</p> / <p>Den Islamiska Republiken Irans påstådda strävan att uppnå kärnvapen kapacitet har visat sig vara ett stort problem för det internationella samfundet, vilket har gett landet en bety-dande position i världspolitiken. Detta har i sin tur medfört att Iran återigen har fått värl-dens uppmärksamhet riktat mot sig, endast trettio år efter Ayatollah Khomeinis upprättan-de av den Islamiska Republiken. Irans statsskick, som uteslutet bygger på Ayatollah Kho-meinis egen tolkning av Islam, har länge stått i fokus för både offentlig och akademisk granskning, i synnerhet på grund av dess tillsynes radikala manövrar på den internationella scenen. Men eftersom fokuset för denna granskning har varit Irans ovilja att rätta sig efter västerländska normer så har frågan om Irans Islamiska natur förbisetts.</p><p>Utifrån detta så ämnar denna uppsats att uppmärksamma och belysa frågan om Iran verkli-gen kan betraktas som en islamisk stat, vilken är en nödvändighet för en djupare och mer korrekt förståelse av landet. Syftet med denna studie är således att undersöka och reflektera över teorin om Islamiskt styre som Ayatollah Khomeini främjar och hans senare republik genom att jämföra dessa med deras påstådda grundpelare: Islamisk statsteori och dess le-darskap. Islamisk statsteori och det shia Islamska ledarskapet har alltid varit centralt i Aya-tollah Khomeinis och den Islamiska Republikens officiella retorik, där de hävdas vara den enda inspirationen för Irans statsskick. Detta är dock något som denna uppsats ifrågasätter, och den har därav undersökt Islamisk statsteori och dess ledarskap för att i sin tur kritiskt granska Ayatollah Khomeinis teori och den Islamska Republiken Iran. Denna studie har därav gett upphov till en slutsats om Iran är rättvist märkt ‟en Islamisk stat‟.</p><p>Denna studie har genom att utföra en norm-uppfyllande analys av ämnet i fråga, vilande på en kvalitativ datainsamling, funnit endast en vag korrelation mellan de två modellerna för Islamiskt styre. Baserat på det undersökta materialet så har studien kunnat konstatera att Iran har en politisk struktur som lånats från icke-islamiska källor, men att dess aktörer och politiska ‟spel‟ trots det är av en islamisk natur. Vad som därav har påvisats i denna uppsats är att Ayatollah Khomeinis teori och stat utgör en ny och unik form av Islamisk fundamen-talism som skapats i konjunktur med moderna och icke-islamiska idéer. Resultaten av den-na undersökning indikerar på så vis att den Islamiska Republiken Iran är i behov av en om-prövning i förhållande till dess Islamiska natur, vilket är speciellt tydligt då Iran visar prov på betydande avvikelser från dess påstådda grundpelare.</p>

The Islamic Republic of Iran‟s alleged pursuit of nuclear missile capabilities is proving in-creasingly problematic for the international community, which places the country in a sig-nificant position in world politics. In turn, the world‟s attention towards the thirty-year-old Republic established by the late Ayatollah Khomeini has resurged. The Republic of Iran based on Ayatollah Khomeini‟s interpretation of Islam has long stood in the spotlight of both public and scholastic scrutiny, particularly due to its perceivably radical manoeuvres on the international stage. However, as the focus of these scrutinizing views has been the Iranian unwillingness to subdue and conform to western norms, the issue of the „Islamicness‟ of the Republic has been overlooked. Hence, this thesis seeks to draw further attention to this question - whether Iran can truly be regarded as an Islamic State - in order to ensure a deeper and more accurate under-standing of the Republic of Iran. The purpose of this paper is thus to investigate and re-flect on the theory of Islamic governance promoted by Ayatollah Khomeini and the politi-cal system of the Islamic Republic through the prism of Islamic history. The theory of the Islamic State and the Shia Islamic leadership has been and continues to be central in Aya-tollah Khomeini‟s and the Islamic Republic‟s official rhetoric, being claimed as the sole foundation of the „new‟ Iranian system. In consequence, this paper delves into the Islamic theory of State and the concept of the Imamate in order to critically analyze Ayatollah Khomeini‟s theory and the Islamic Republic. This is aimed at yielding a conclusion whether Iran is justly labeled an Islamic State. By performing this norm-fulfilling analysis of the subject in question reliant on a qualitative data collection, the thesis has found that the correlation between the two theories of Islam-ic governance is one of considerable disputability. The paper has, based on the investigated material, been able to conclude that the Islamic Republic of Iran holds a political structure lent from non-Islamic sources, but that its personnel and political field of contest can still be considered Islamic. What the paper has thus revealed is that Khomeini‟s reasoning con-stitutes a novel and unique form of Islamic fundamentalism formed in conjuncture with political ideas of modern and non-Islamic nature. Hence, the results of the study suggests that the Islamic Republic of Iran is in need of serious reconsideration as the Iranian model of Islamic governance remains a source of contention because of the significant deviations from what it claims as its sole basis. / Den Islamiska Republiken Irans påstådda strävan att uppnå kärnvapen kapacitet har visat sig vara ett stort problem för det internationella samfundet, vilket har gett landet en bety-dande position i världspolitiken. Detta har i sin tur medfört att Iran återigen har fått värl-dens uppmärksamhet riktat mot sig, endast trettio år efter Ayatollah Khomeinis upprättan-de av den Islamiska Republiken. Irans statsskick, som uteslutet bygger på Ayatollah Kho-meinis egen tolkning av Islam, har länge stått i fokus för både offentlig och akademisk granskning, i synnerhet på grund av dess tillsynes radikala manövrar på den internationella scenen. Men eftersom fokuset för denna granskning har varit Irans ovilja att rätta sig efter västerländska normer så har frågan om Irans Islamiska natur förbisetts. Utifrån detta så ämnar denna uppsats att uppmärksamma och belysa frågan om Iran verkli-gen kan betraktas som en islamisk stat, vilken är en nödvändighet för en djupare och mer korrekt förståelse av landet. Syftet med denna studie är således att undersöka och reflektera över teorin om Islamiskt styre som Ayatollah Khomeini främjar och hans senare republik genom att jämföra dessa med deras påstådda grundpelare: Islamisk statsteori och dess le-darskap. Islamisk statsteori och det shia Islamska ledarskapet har alltid varit centralt i Aya-tollah Khomeinis och den Islamiska Republikens officiella retorik, där de hävdas vara den enda inspirationen för Irans statsskick. Detta är dock något som denna uppsats ifrågasätter, och den har därav undersökt Islamisk statsteori och dess ledarskap för att i sin tur kritiskt granska Ayatollah Khomeinis teori och den Islamska Republiken Iran. Denna studie har därav gett upphov till en slutsats om Iran är rättvist märkt ‟en Islamisk stat‟. Denna studie har genom att utföra en norm-uppfyllande analys av ämnet i fråga, vilande på en kvalitativ datainsamling, funnit endast en vag korrelation mellan de två modellerna för Islamiskt styre. Baserat på det undersökta materialet så har studien kunnat konstatera att Iran har en politisk struktur som lånats från icke-islamiska källor, men att dess aktörer och politiska ‟spel‟ trots det är av en islamisk natur. Vad som därav har påvisats i denna uppsats är att Ayatollah Khomeinis teori och stat utgör en ny och unik form av Islamisk fundamen-talism som skapats i konjunktur med moderna och icke-islamiska idéer. Resultaten av den-na undersökning indikerar på så vis att den Islamiska Republiken Iran är i behov av en om-prövning i förhållande till dess Islamiska natur, vilket är speciellt tydligt då Iran visar prov på betydande avvikelser från dess påstådda grundpelare.