Iran and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Ideology and Realpolitik in Iranian Foreign Policy

Abstract

The Islamic Republic of Iran has pursued full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). In doing so, Iran has appeared to be unfazed by the prospect of allying with Russia and China, two countries which have systematically suppressed their Muslim minorities for decades. Similarly, the SCO's Central Asian member states are led by individual leaders who are generally believed to rule in spite of their populations. As a result, Iran's eagerness to join the SCO may appear to contradict its self-promoted image as the champion of Muslim interests, but in reality it sits nicely within its overarching enmity for the USA. Indeed, the SCO is seen as a geopolitical counterweight to the USA. For Iran, this geopolitical opportunity overrides ideological imperatives, with the gap between ideology and geopolitics most evident under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

伊朗伊斯兰共和国一直在努力成为上合组织的正式成员。它并不介意与俄罗斯和中国站在统一战线，而这两个国家在过去几十年里对穆斯林少数群体实施了系统的压制。同样，上合组织的中亚成员国的领导也被世人看做与人民离心离德的孤家寡人。这样，伊朗要加入上合组织的急切心情就显得与其穆斯林利益守护人的自我形象南辕北辙，倒是与其反美立场如出一辙。对于伊朗来说，地缘政治的机会要大于意识形态的诉求。在伊朗，意识形态与地缘政治的分裂莫过于内贾德政府时期。

Keywords:

• anti-Americanism
• Iran foreign policy
• Islamism
• Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

Notes

1. This article was made possible with the generous support of the Australian Research Council (FT120100032) and the research assistance of Dara Conduit and Fatemeh Nejati.

2. For an insightful assessment of this period, see Anoushirvan Ehteshami (2002).

3. Zogby Research Services traces the rise and fall of Iran's image on the Arab streets based on public opinion surveys in 20 Arab and Muslim states, and argues that the recent spike in sectarianism has seriously undermined Iran's appeal.

4. For a careful discussion of identity in Iran's foreign policy choices, see Suzanne Maloney (2008).

5. Contrast this with President John F. Kennedy's famous declaration ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’, delivered in Berlin on June 26, 1963.

6. In 2006, for example, the speaker of the majlis presented bilateral relations with Cambodia in terms of Iran's ‘Look to the East’ policy. See ‘Haddad-Adel Stresses Bolstering’ (2006).