POST-REVOLUTIONARY IRAN’S FOREIGN POLICY TOWARD THE UNITED STATES: A HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF STATE TRANSFORMATION AND FOREIGN POLICY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY GÜLRİZ ŞEN IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SEPTEMBER 2013 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences ________________________ Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ________________________ Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ________________________ Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Faruk Yalvaç (METU, IR) _________________________ Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık (METU, IR) _________________________ Prof. Dr. Recep Boztemur (METU, HIST) _________________________ Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Özdalga (BİLKENT, POLS) _________________________ Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özlem Tür (METU, IR) _________________________ I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Gülriz Şen Signature: iii ABSTRACT POST-REVOLUTIONARY IRAN’S FOREIGN POLICY TOWARD THE UNITED STATES: A HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF STATE TRANSFORMATION AND FOREIGN POLICY Şen, Gülriz Ph.D., Department of International Relations Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık September 2013, 490 pages This study aspires to analyze Iran’s post-revolutionary transformation and its foreign policy toward the United States in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution. The dissertation adopts Historical Sociology (HS) as a conceptual framework and assesses its merits and likely contributions for analysis of state transformation and foreign policy. It proposes HS as a research tradition and methodology to transcend what it characterizes as the three major axes in foreign policy articulations built on the dichotomies between inside-outside, agency-structure and interest-identity. In order to develop a historical- sociological analysis of foreign policy, the dissertation underlines the need to render a historical sociological reflection of the state and the international. Such a reflection draws upon the theme of co-constitution of the international and domestic and substantiates the continuous transformation of state through formative challenges iv emanating both from its society and the international domain it is embedded in. The study conceptualizes foreign policy as the agency of the state through which it transforms its domestic and international environment. Bringing insights derived from HS, the rest of the study sheds light on the trajectory of state, state-society and state-international relations in post-revolutionary Iran through a historical, processual, multicausal and multispatial analysis. It discusses the formative role that the US has played in the transformation of modern Iran both before and after the revolution through institutions, ideology and political economy of the state; it looks into the changing patterns of relations with the revolution and scrutinizes Iran’s agency vis-à-vis the US during successive historical epochs of Revolution and War (1979- 1989); Reconstruction and Reform (1989-1997 and 1997-2005) and Confrontation (since 2005 until the second half of 2012) in the context of Iran’s post-revolutionary transformation. Keywords: Historical Sociology of foreign policy, post-revolutionary state and society in Iran, Iran-US relations, Iran’s US Policy (1979-2012). v ÖZ DEVRİM SONRASI DÖNEMDE İRAN’IN ABD POLİTİKASI: DEVLET DÖNÜŞÜMÜ VE DIŞ POLİTİKANIN TARİHSEL SOSYOLOJİK BİR ANALİZİ Şen, Gülriz Doktora, Uluslararası İlişkiler Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık Eylül 2013, 490 sayfa Bu çalışmanın amacı İran’ın devrim sonrası dönemde yaşadığı dönüşümü ve Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’ne karşı sürdürdüğü dış politikasının temel unsurlarını tahlil etmektir. Kavramsal çerçevesini Tarihsel Sosyoloji (TS) tasavvuru üzerine kuran çalışma bu yaklaşımın devlet dönüşümü ve dış politika tahlillerine sunacağı katkıları araştırmaktadır. TS, çalışmanın dış politika tahlillerinin üç temel ekseni olarak tespit ettiği iç-dış, özne-yapı ve çıkar-kimlik ikilemlerinin getirdiği kısıtları aşacak bir tasavvur biçimi ve yöntem olarak önerilmektedir. Dış politikanın tarihsel sosyolojik analizi için öncelikle devlet ve uluslararası alanın tarihsel sosyolojisinin yapılması gerektiğini savunan tez, böyle bir yaklaşımın iç ve dış’ın birbirini kurucu ve dönüştürücü rolünün anlaşılması ile mümkün olacağını iddia etmektedir. Çalışma bu bağlamda devletin yapısal olarak içkin olduğu toplum ve uluslararası alanın devlet dönüşümündeki rolünü incelemekte ve dış politikayı devletin bu alanları dönüştüren özneliğinin bir parçası olarak kavramsallaştırmaktadır. vi Çalışmanın ikinci bölümü TS tasavvurundan hareketle devrim sonrası dönemde İran’da devlet içinde, devlet-toplum ve devlet-uluslararası alan ilişkilerinde yaşanan dönüşümün tarihsel, süreçsel, çok-nedenli ve çok-uzamsal bir analizini sunmaktadır. Tez modern İran’ın şekillenmesinde ABD’nin gerek devrim öncesinde gerek sonrasında devletin kurumları, ideolojisi ve siyasal iktisadı üzerinde oynadığı rolü tartışmakta, devrim ile değişen ilişkileri tahlil etmekte ve İran’ın ABD’ye karşı izlediği dış siyaseti Devrim ve Savaş (1979-1989); Yeniden Yapılanma ve Reform (1989-1997 ve 1997-2005) ve Karşılaşma Dönemi (2005’ten 2012 yılının ikinci yarısına dek) olarak adlandırdığı, birbirini izleyen tarihsel dönemlerin özgün koşulları içinde ele almaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Dış Politikanın Tarihsel Sosyoloji’si, devrim sonrası İran’da devlet ve toplum, İran-ABD ilişkileri, İran’ın ABD siyaseti (1979-2012). vii To My Beloved Parents and Sister viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of the following people to whom I owe earnest gratitude. First, I would like to thank to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık for her academic as well as personal support, insights, guidance and advice. She has been a mentor. I would also like to express my thanks to the members of the dissertation committee; Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Özdalga, Prof. Dr. Recep Boztemur, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Faruk Yalvaç and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özlem Tür for their praise as well as constructive comments and contributions to the manuscript. No proper words can express my gratefulness for the immense support and encouragement that Dr. Tür has provided throughout the process of writing. I am thankful to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sevilay Kahraman, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zana Çitak-Aytürk and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih Tayfur for their invaluable support during my undergraduate and graduate years at the International Relations Department of Middle East Technical University. My sincerest thanks are also due to my Farsi teacher Peri Naz Taheri. I would like to thank to the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) for its financial support through TÜBİTAK BİDEB-2211 National Scholarship Grant for Ph.D. students. The field research of the dissertation in Tehran and St. Andrews has been financed by BAP-07-03-2010-00-07 and BAP 07-03-2011- 113 research grants. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to my beloved friends whose presence and good wishes helped me endure the challenges of the dissertation. I am immensely grateful to Nezihe Başak Ergin and her dear parents Nurhan Ergin and Raşit Ergin for their precious lifetime support and encouragement. I am also deeply thankful to dear friends Burcu Toğral, Zeynep Baykal, Sinem Aydınlı and Esra Can for keeping my spirits high with their lovely messages and calls in those days of dissertation blues and isolation. Their presence was a source of relief and no words would be enough to ix express my gratitude. I have always felt the kind support and best wishes of my former officemates and lifetime friends Funda Hülagü, Gülşen Aydın, Ömür Atmaca and Ahu Şenses with me during the arduous times of writing. I am truly grateful for our persistent bonds which help relieve the longing for our joyous times in the office. I also wish to thank to Pınar Arıkan for her friendship and company during our fascinating field study in Tehran. I am grateful to Berna Özen, Özlem Kaplan, Özge Özyurt, Damla Gümüşkaya, Ece Solak, Melike Kara, Pınar Çakıroğlu and Esra Elif Nartok for their support, heartening words and belief in me. Last but not least, I wish to express my sincerest thanks to my family. This long and painstaking process has taught me once again how blessed I am with their precious presence. My dear parents Nermin Şen and Bekir Sadık Şen and my beloved sister Güzin Şen were always beside me. It was their labor as much as mine which has rendered this study possible. Their love, dedication and continuous support have been a compass to guide me through life. x TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM..................................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………..iv ÖZ……………………………………………………………………………………….vi DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………………viii