VELOCITY OR STASIS? IRAN IN CENTRAL ASIA, BETWEEN DIPLOMACY REALIGNMENT AND NEW STRATEGIC REFERENCES
VELOCITY OR STASIS? IRAN IN CENTRAL ASIA, BETWEEN DIPLOMACY REALIGNMENT AND NEW STRATEGIC REFERENCES

Summary/Abstract: The paper aims to conceive a transversal and cross-disciplinary demarche, with explorative references, on Central Asia at the start of the 21st century, on Iran’s velocity in adapting foreign approach, diplomacy and in redefining its strategic interests within a region of global strategic relevance, susceptible to perpetual geopolitical maneuvers. It encompasses core elements of foreign policy analysis, geopolitics intermingled with elements of international relations theories, and it refers to primary and secondary sources. The article, therefore, is a statement on how Iran was directly influenced by the emergence of the post-1990 political overture and how it had to react towards the sudden vacuum of power and quest for recognition in Central Asia. The systemic changes challenged it by the elusiveness of the socialist systems and the hardline jockeying of the Western powers, thereby Iran’s geopolitical relevance decreased and enhanced its vulnerability within the International System. The direct interplay between Iran and the US under the dynamics of Central Asia and the New Great Game constitutes an adamant parameter by which Iran must fold on its own policies, but also a geopolitical determinant which stimulated partnerships with the old regional enmities – Russia and Turkey, and the newcomers, like China and India.

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