Why does the small state disengage from the superpower alliance? analyse of Iraq, Egypt, Iran during cold war

The Alliance is one of the important concepts of the International Relations discipline. Alliance literature is dominantly influenced by realist and neo-realist approaches. For this reason, in many studies, it is suggested that the international system and the distribution of power in the system, which are the elements outside the state, should be taken into account for explanations about the factors that shape the alliance relations. From this point of view, it was expected that states were expected not to leave their existing alliance relations while the structure of the system did not change during the Cold War. But the experiences showed the opposite. For this reason, this point of view is insufficient to understand the process of shaping the alliance relationship of states. At this point, the point of view of neo-classical realism that incorporates the unit-level variables of the state into evaluations provides a broader perspective to understand the factors affecting state behavior. In addition, while the literature focuses largely on the formation and maintenance of alliances, alliance disengagement has been ignored. In this study, it is aimed to reveal the economic and political reasons of alliance disengagement at the state level. For this reason, in this study the alliance disengagement experienced by Iraq, Egypt and Iran during the Cold War were analyzed. As a result of this study, it has been determined that regime change, leader change, the existence of traumatic event, capacity increase and legitimacy crisis have shaped the decision of the alliance disengagement of state.