The Riddle of Economic Diplomacy in the Foreign Policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Abstract

Bill Clinton, the ex-president of the United States of America at the end of his two presidency period stated that one of his most important successes was the link between internal economy and the foreign policy of the country. Some general conclusions can be derived from this statement, which include the following and which make the hypotheses of this article: 1- Economic relations are necessary conditions for the political relations, 2- The powerful economic relations have influenced political relations, 3- Economic relations can synchronize political and foreign relations and in one way or another process the policies related to production, exchange of goods, services, and investments, 4- Economic diplomacy uses the economic resources to organize relations and changes in the behavior of countries in a wide range. These new economic performances in the domain of foreign policy are the outcomes of International and local developments during the last two decades which has prioritized economic policies over other diplomacies. Economic diplomacy is the observant of two fundamental developments related to mentioned basic developments. First, these governments are no longer the only actors in the field of diplomacy, but rather other supra and super national and transnational organizations enter the global domain more powerfully and day by day. Second, changes in the traditional performances and constructs of governments are unavoidable for preserving physical and psychological security of the citizens and preservation of the independence and integrity of governments. The questions raised by the researcher is that whether the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been able to make use of great economic capacities of the country along with preservation, empowering and expansion of national security and national interests of the country with updating the policies, guidelines, and operationalizing them, according to international changes and developments.