Paradiplomacy New Method for Iran’s Deal with the Kurds

پژوهش نامه ایرانی سیاست بین الملل

Article 3, Volume 8, Issue 1, September 2019, Pages 49-76   

Document Type: مقالات

DOI: 10.22067/ijip.v8i1.73132

Authors

Saeed Shokoohi^{* 1}; Asqar Safari²

¹Allameh Tabataba'i University

²Guilan University

Abstract

Abstract
The 2017 Iraqi Kurdistan’s independence referendum and its results demonstrated that independence and secessionist Kurdish movements in the region would be a persistent political issue in the coming decades. Since their desire to become an independent country in geared in the fundamental right of Self-Determination, it is quite foreseeable that the countries which have considerable Kurdish minorities within their borders would encounter critical challenges on how to deal with their nationalist and secessionist desires. Iran is one of these countries. But the tendency among Iran’s Kurds to be an independent nation is quite lower than in other countries. The present paper seeks to answer this question: what’s the role of Paradiplomacy in dealing with the Kurds for Iran’s government. The findings of the article demonstrate that by boosting the role of sub-national identities, such as Kurds, and their participation in low-politics, Paradiplomacy can strengthen the social cohesion and social cohesion, in its turn, is one of the main impediments on the way of secessionism. At the same time, Kurds can help the Iranian government to reset its relations with the Kurdish population in the region.

Keywords

Kurds; Iran; Self-determination; Paradiplomacy; Secessionism

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