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Culture, Religion and Strategy: The ‘Islamic’ Contours of Iran’s Nuclear Thinking

Culture, Religion and Strategy: The ‘Islamic’ Contours of Iran’s Nuclear Thinking This article proposes a fresh explanation of Iran’s nuclear programme by using the framework of strategic culture. The core argument of this article is that Iran’s strategic restraint in not overtly weaponising its nuclear programme is primarily driven by its strategic culture despite the continuously deteriorating regional security situation and a deeply hostile neighbourhood. This has incentivised a ‘Shia way’ of looking at and practising a strategy that sees nuclear weapons as fundamentally un-Islamic. Instead of weaponisation, Iran has shown remarkable flexibility to accept restrictions on its nuclear programme under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Security-based realist explanations fail to account for such behaviour and can be better explained using a cultural framework. The strategic culture-based framework also explains the reasons behind Iran’s policy of nuclear hedging and its acceptability by major sections of the political elite in Iran. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs SAGE

Culture, Religion and Strategy: The ‘Islamic’ Contours of Iran’s Nuclear Thinking

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Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© 2022 SAGE Publications
ISSN
2347-7970
eISSN
2349-0039
DOI
10.1177/23477970221076715
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This article proposes a fresh explanation of Iran’s nuclear programme by using the framework of strategic culture. The core argument of this article is that Iran’s strategic restraint in not overtly weaponising its nuclear programme is primarily driven by its strategic culture despite the continuously deteriorating regional security situation and a deeply hostile neighbourhood. This has incentivised a ‘Shia way’ of looking at and practising a strategy that sees nuclear weapons as fundamentally un-Islamic. Instead of weaponisation, Iran has shown remarkable flexibility to accept restrictions on its nuclear programme under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Security-based realist explanations fail to account for such behaviour and can be better explained using a cultural framework. The strategic culture-based framework also explains the reasons behind Iran’s policy of nuclear hedging and its acceptability by major sections of the political elite in Iran.

Journal

Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs – SAGE

Published: Apr 1, 2022

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