Suchergebnisse

Reading the news about Iran today one can hardly imagine that relations between the Netherlands and Iran were excellent until 1979. Mohammed-Reza Pahlavi, the last shah of Persia, was known in The Netherlands as a visionary and reformer. Persia was represented as a mythical land with an ancient civilization. The Dutch royal family enjoyed visiting the shah, and large and small Dutch companies were successful in Iran.

When in the 1970s awareness spread about repression under the shah, the Dutch government was faced with difficult choices. How could these relations be continued, now that public opinion had turned against it? The Dutch government decided to ignore the criticisms, and firmly held on to the idea of the shah as an enlightened despot. As such, it did not see the Iranian Revolution coming, and suffered the consequences.

Written for scholars and practitioners puzzled by Iran's foreign policy choices, this book argues that Iran's foreign policy behavior is best understood in the context of the regime's foreign policy ideology, which is rooted in a conception of Iran as a nation changed by the 1979 Revolution and an example to other nations in a changing world. Maaike Warnaar is Assistant Professor at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, Netherlands.

1. The Prospects of "Constructive Engagement" -- 2. Changing the Lens: Contemporary Saudi-Iran Relations and Potential Benefits of Détente -- 3. Saudi Sectarianism in Saudi-Iranian Relations -- 4. The Hobgoblin of Little Minds: Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Sectarianism in the Gulf -- 5. Why Can't We Be Friends? Bridging the Divide Between Iran and the GCC -- 6. Perceptions toward Iran's Nuclear Program: The Case of Qatar University -- 7. Iran-GCC Relations: The Case of Oman -- 8. Conclusions