Factors Affecting the Pursuit of Looking East in the Foreign Policy of Ebrahim Raisi Administration

پژوهش نامه ایرانی سیاست بین الملل

Volume 13, Issue 1 - Serial Number 25, January 2025, Pages 125-101   

Document Type: Original Article

DOI: 10.22067/irlip.2024.80298.1350

Authors

Ali Bagheri Dolatabadi^{* 1}; Rahman Taghvaeipoor²

¹Department of political science

²M.A Student, Yasouj University

Abstract

One of the prominent axes of the Raisi administration's foreign policy is the pursuit of looking east approach. Both the president and other Iranian officials have continuously emphasized the importance of these relations and their expansion. The government's will to develop relations with China and Russia arises this question: which factors were effective in choosing the policy of looking east by the Raisi administration? The hypothesis of the research considers the Iranian president's belonging to the fundamentalist faction and systemic support for him to be effective in pursuing the approach of looking to the east. To answer the main question, coherence theory of James Rosenau and the causal method have been used. Also, research data were collected through a library method. The findings of the research showed that the approach of looking to the east was a choice by the Raisi administration and it’s not a coercion arising from the international system. The belonging of Ebrahim Raisi and his cabinet members to the fundamentalist faction, the preference of this faction to develop relations with the East and highlight the conflict with the West, systemic support of the looking to the East approach, and the presentation of Raisi as a revolutionary person, supporter of Islamic norms, a supporter of Velayat al-Faqih and an anti-Western president by advocators have been effective in the formation of this foreign policy.

Keywords

Raisi; Looking East' China; Russia; Sanctions

References

 

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