‘THE AXIS OF RESISTANCE’: THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN IRANIAN FOREIGN POLICY by EZGİ UZUN Submitted to the Institute of Social Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Sabancı University July 2018 © Ezgi Uzun 2018 All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT ‘THE AXIS OF RESISTANCE’: THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN IRANIAN FOREIGN POLICY EZGİ UZUN PhD Dissertation, July 2018 Dissertation Supervisor: Prof. Meltem Müftüler-Baç Keywords: Religion and International Relations, Iran’s Foreign Policy, Axis of Resistance, Transnational Shia Politics, Ideological Armies Scholarship on Iran’s foreign policy has been primarily interested in Iran’s nuclear program in the recent years. Rouhani Administration’s historic nuclear negotiations with the international community have led many to conclude that Iran pursues an increasingly moderate and pragmatist foreign policy. However, the nuclear rapprochement happened in synchrony with an equally important phenomenon in Iran’s foreign policy – Iran’s increased engagement with the Shiites in the Middle East. This study examines the ‘Axis of Resistance,’ a dense Iran-led alliance network of state and non-state actors covering a wide range of Shia mobilization across the Middle East. Why does Iran pursue a foreign policy with distinct religious and ideological contours in the post-2003 Middle East, despite the observed pragmatism and rationalism in relations with the West during the same period? What role does religion play in Iran’s ‘Axis of Resistance’ policy? This study theoretically subscribes to an emerging research program which seeks to merge the study of religion into International Relations. The study first examines the role of religion in Iran’s foreign policy by historically tracing transnational politically activist Shiism and its implications on the Islamic Republic after 1979. The following chapter examines Iran’s foreign policy in Middle East after 2003 with a focus on Shia mobilization across Iraq and Syria. The last chapter examines the Iranian political elites’ discourses on the transformations of the region after 2003. This research is based on multiple qualitative methodologies including field research in Iran, elite interviews, process-tracing, and discourse analysis. iv ÖZET ‘DİRENİŞ EKSENİ’: İRAN’IN DIŞ POLİTİKASINDA DİNİN ROLÜ EZGİ UZUN Doktora Tezi, Temmuz 2018 Tez Danışmanı: Prof. Dr. Meltem Müftüler-Baç Anahtar Kelimeler: Din ve Uluslararası İlişkiler, İran’ın Dış Politikası, Direniş Ekseni, Uluslar Ötesi Şii Siyaset, İdeolojik Ordular Son yıllarda İran’ın dış politikası üzerine yapılan çalışmalar çoğunlukla İran’ın nükleer programına odaklanmıştır. Hasan Ruhani hükümetinin uluslararası camia ile vardığı tarihi nükleer uzlaşma, İran rejiminin gitgide daha ılımlı ve pragmatist bir dış politikaya doğru evrildiği yönünde genel bir kanıya yol açmıştır. Öte yandan, İran’ın nükleer müzakereleri, eşit derecede öneme sahip başka bir dış politika olgusuyla eş zamanlı olarak gerçekleşmektedir: İran’ın Ortadoğu’daki Şiilerle giderek artan ilişkileri. Bu çalışma, Ortadoğu’da geniş bir yelpazede seyreden Şii hareketliliğini kapsayan, İran’ın başını çektiği, devlet ile devlet dışı pek çok aktörden oluşan ve ‘Direniş Ekseni’ adı verilen yoğun ittifak ağını incelemektedir. İran, aynı dönemde Batı ile ilişkilerinde gözlemlenen pragmatizm ve rasyonalizm yönelimine rağmen, neden 2003 sonrası dönemde Ortadoğu’da belirgin bir dini ve ideolojik dış politika izlemektedir? Din, İran’ın ‘Direniş Ekseni’ politikasında nasıl bir rol oynamaktadır? Bu çalışma, din olgusunu Uluslararası İlişkiler literatürüne entegre eden ve son dönemde yükselmekte olan bir araştırma programına kuramsal katkıda bulunmayı amaçlamıştır. Çalışma ilk olarak ulus ötesi Şii siyasi hareketler ile bunun 1979 sonrası İran İslam Cumhuriyeti üzerindeki etkilerinin tarihsel bir izlemesini yaparak dinin İran’ın dış politikasındaki rolünü incelemektedir. Tezin bir sonraki bölümü Irak ve Suriye’deki Şii hareketlere odaklanarak İran’ın 2003 sonrası Ortadoğu politikasını ele almaktadır. Çalışmanın son bölümü ise İran siyasi elitlerinin 2003 sonrası dönemde Ortadoğu’daki dönüşümlere ilişkin söylemlerini incelemektedir. Bu araştırma, İran’da gerçekleştirilen saha çalışmaları, elitlerle yapılan mülakatlar, süreç izleme ve söylem analizi gibi birden fazla ve çeşitli nitel araştırma metoduna dayanmaktadır. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The seven-year-long PhD part of my life has taught me that a PhD is not an individual but a collective endeavor, embellished and woven with the valuable support, encouragement, and contributions of many individuals and institutions that have vested their belief in me and my dreams along the way. Therefore, it is both an honor and a debt to extend my sincere appreciations to those esteemed individuals and institutions that have contributed to my PhD. I would like to extend my most sincere gratitude to my dissertation supervisor Prof. Dr. Meltem Müftüler-Baç for her constant belief in me, patient guidance, and unfailing support during my PhD. She has been more than a supervisor to me – a confidant, a great teacher, a role-model of a strong woman - who taught me with wisdom, empathy, and experience. I also owe special thanks to the esteemed members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Ateş Altınordu, Dr. Hakan Erdem, Prof. Dr. Mustafa Kibaroğlu, and Prof. Dr. Mitat Çelikpala, for their meticulous examination, detailed comments, and constructive feedback on my research. I would also like to thank the administrative staff of Sabanci University, most notably Ayşe Ötenoğlu and Sumru Küçüka, for their constant assistance and facilitation in running the related formal processes. I describe my admission to graduate studies in Political Science at Sabanci University in 2009 as a fateful moment. That moment not only defined my transition from a previous area of study to a new one, but also proved to be the best place to teach me the intricacies of this new profession. Sabanci University is where I learnt academic research and teaching in Political Science. I am thankful to Sabanci University for funding me and to all my professors for their contributions to the completion of my doctoral studies. I am also grateful to Columbia University Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies for hosting me as a visiting research scholar for nine months. My stay at Columbia University would not have been possible without the prestigious TÜBITAK - BİDEB funding I received for my studies abroad. I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Jack Lewis Snyder for hosting me at Columbia University, his insightful comments on my research, and for our fruitful discussions. I would also like to thank Global Relations Forum in Turkey, which generated a great vi intellectual environment to evaluate an early version of my research. I am especially thankful to Memduh Karakullukçu, Selin Uğurtaş, Burcu Baran, Sönmez Köksal and Selim Karaosmanoğlu for their meticulous reading of and constructive comments on my research. Iran has been more than an academic area of study for me since the very beginning. Iran is a most significant turning point on my personal path, an inexplicable source of inspiration, and a nodus in my personal narrative yet to be resolved. Therefore, I owe special thanks to my Iranian teachers, colleagues, and friends, who have supported me tremendously on this transformative yet challenging path. I would like to thank Dehkhoda Lexicon Institute and Shahid Beheshti University as well as my teachers Abdollah Dodangeh, Kamyar Abedi, and Negar Ilghami for earning me Persian language skills. I am thankful to Vali Golmohammadi for his unfailing support and assistance during my field research and his companionship in Iran. I am indebted to my esteemed interviewees at Center for Strategic Research, Center for Islamic Research, ANA News Agency, Center for Middle East Strategic Studies, Shahid Beheshti University, Tarbiat-e Modarres University, and Imam Hossein University, who have kindly spared long hours to our meetings and have taught me about Iran with great patience and empathy. I thank Razie Rafiei, Leila Hagighi, Ali Ansari, Kaveh Rahimzadeh Berenji, Ali Azarnoosh, and Sakineh Hosseinimanesh for accompanying me on my years-long journey on Iran. A PhD cannot be completed without a strong support network. A lucky PhD candidate is one with friends to turn to in times of conflicting emotions - of ups and downs, self-confidence and self-doubts, give-ups and hang-ons. Selda Sonuşen, Senem Avaz Seven, Utku Seven, and Raghu Sharma Mokkapati were life’s treasures I found on my path to PhD. They taught me how to be a good friend and to belong to a community by being always on my side. I am thankful to Seydem Yeşilada for her unfailing true friendship for thirty years. She has taught me how to welcome any opportunity and difficulty in PhD with a fresh mind and a joyful outlook on life. I am also indebted to Özden Tüfekçioğlu for encouraging me for all my endeavors. Sinem Pirinçci was there when my journey on Iran started years ago and she has since been there, watching the mystery unfold. Some individuals have been angelic collaborators. I extend my gratitude to Gözde Korkmaz, Seydem Yeşilada, İsmet Yeşilada, Cansu vii Gedik, Nilay Iğdır, Senem Avaz Seven, and Baran Uzun, those meticulous and ambitious friends and family members of mine, who have helped me edit my work. I also thank Gökşin Liu and Samia Siddqui for helping me prepare for the PhD defense. Finally, I am grateful to my family, Abdullah Uzun, Ülkü Uzun, and Baran