The Iranian post-Islamic Revolution foreign politics within the context of national security and the example of Mahmud Ahmedinejad era

This study, which is called "Iranian Post-Islamic-Revolution Foreign Politics within the context of National Security and the Example of Mahmud Ahmedinejad Era", is written with the purpose of putting forth the idiocratical national security principles of Iranian foreign politics after the Islamic Revolution, structures and guidelines of decisionmaking and interpreting these in light of theoretical knowledge. In this regard, the theoretical background is formed to the accompaniment of related notions and Mahmud Ahmedinejad's presidential era is taken into consideration as an example from between periodical alterations. As building the theoretical background for this study; International Relations discipline and the theories of it, and also notions such as national interest, power, balance of power and security constitute a hypotetical basis. An inter-disciplinary approach is adopted procedurally; social sciences like Geography, Theology, Sociology, Economics, culture and Political Sciences are the key tools to consult while presenting the principles of national security. Other fundamentals; such as West opposition, interpretation of the international system and nuclear policies can be seen as additional idiosyncratic elements of Islamic Republic of Iran. Evaluating the national security with a single point of view would not be sufficient for comprehending the topic. At this point, a depth and versatile analysis on national security can be made through decisionmaking structure and its principles. The region, in which Islamic Republic of Iran is located, is in the center of global and regional power politics and international conflicts of interest. Thus, Islamic Republic of Iran cannot isolate itself from the global system and governments feel under threat in terms of national security. From this perspective, decisionmaking structure and principles give direction to this thought. Since decisionmaking structure is complex, we face the fact that political system (regime) of Iran differs from other governmental systems. The most predominant member of the decisionmaking structure is the religious leader and his sensibility on the security of the regime has an obligatory nature. Although the terms and political agents change in time, the principles of national security in Islamic Republic of Iran remain unchanged and the best example of this argument is Mahmud Ahmedinejad's presidential era. Ahmedinejad, who made radical changes towards the principles of national security, had conducted co-decision procedures with other governmental mechanisms until the end of his era. The foreign politics of Iran after the Islamic Revolution shaped around the approaches; idealism and realism. However, it is distinguished that realist/norealist and post-colonial approaches made it easier for us to see the priorities within the context of national security more clearly. This study shows that; national interest, power and balance of power are the terms which will always be evaluated parallely with security of the regime.