Iranian Scholars and Theorizing International Relations: Achievements and Challenges

Abstract

Since the emergence of the Islamic Republic in Iran, social scientists, including

international relations (IR) scholars, have been called to develop endogenous/

indigenous theories to reflect Iranian/Islamic points of view. This theorizing

has led some Iranian scholars to develop ideas about international life on

the basis of Islamic texts and teachings. Furthermore, due to an increasing

awareness of the Eurocentric nature of IR theories over the last few years,

the international community of IR scholars has become open to non-Western

IR theories. This opening has made homegrown theorizing more attractive

to Iranian IR scholars, and debates about it have become more vivid. This

article seeks to examine the attempts by the Iranian IR community to

conceptualize and theorize IR from Iranian/Islamic points of view and to show

how contextual factors have limited such attempts. The first part of the article

reviews the IR scholarship in Iran to give a portrait of Iranians’ achievements

in this regard. The second part examines contextual factors that may have

affected homegrown theorizing in Iran, including international agency, sources

of inspiration, the dynamism of the IR community, the relationship between

academia and government, and intellectual autonomy. An evaluation of this

structural context suggests that even if theorizing IR from an Iranian point

of view is both possible and preferable, this cannot be done unless certain

structural constraints are overcome.

Keywords

• International Relations,Iran,homegrown theorizing,Iranian theory of IR

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