Middle powers in the context of international security: A study on Iran

ABSTRACT PhD Thesis MIDDLE POWERS IN THE CONTEXT OF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY: A STUDY ON IRAN Özkan AYIK Malatya-2026 Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Fikret BİRDİŞLİ It is a common approach to define states according to their military and economic capacity, to call some of them great powers, and to explain realpolitik by competition among these powers and by their responsibilities regarding the international order in international politics. This approach began to be partially abandoned in the post-1990 period, with a separation of powers between all states based on their capacities coming to the forefront. Because, by the end of the bipolar system, the gap between the countries in the center and the periphery began to close; relations among countries outside the great powers with each other and with different centers entered a process of development, and these states began to assume new responsibilities in realpolitik. This situation has been seen as the rise of middle powers in international politics and has given way to the distinction between classical and neo-middle powers in the literature. While the relationship between powers in realpolitik is generally examined through the lens of military and economic capacity, an attempt to explain these relationships from a security-focused perspective was made by Barry Buzan and his colleagues. However, it is problematic to reconcile the middle powers theory with some states that we might call "security-oriented" states, both in terms of their capacity and the new responsibilities they have undertaken in international politics. This thesis aims to identify the problems in this area, develop a new definition of "middle powers," and establish a new typology from the perspective of "security states"; Iran has been chosen as a case study for this purpose. In this context, the study first examines the historical development of the definition of Middle Powers and then attempts to reconcile theory and reality by analyzing Iran's role in international politics. Therefore, the contribution of this study to the field has been to refine the definitions of classical and neo-middle powers and to develop a typology for states that are seen as rising middle powers but do not fit the classical definition in terms of their essential qualities according to security theory. Key Words: International Security, Security States, Middle Powers