Iran's Encounter with the West Notes
Topic: ‘Making sense of the Islamic Republic of Iran’
Summarize key ideas/ main Notes
points (Tips: Skip a space between ideas/topics and use abbreviations)
Course objectives ● Basic aspects of modern Iranian history and foreign politics
● Critical thinking about Iran and the West
● Looking to Iran from an IR perspective
The Five Republics of Iran ● One way to make sense of the Iranian republic is to study it in phases
● All the presidents of Iran have been elected for a second term so they were
in power for a total of 8 years
● Presidents can have a limit of two terms
○ 1st republic: 1979-1989
○ 2nd republic: 1989-1997
○ 3rd republic: 1997-2005
○ 4th republic: 2005-2013
○ 5th republic: 2013-now
● The hostage crisis was a diplomatic standoff between the US and Iran
Years of Radicalisation
○ 52 American diplomatic citizens were held hostage in Iran
■ The hostage crisis created a bad image of a political system
that did not respect its diplomatic agreements
■ The hostage crisis has made a huge impact on the collective
memories of the Iranians
■ Political Islam was very present and the first republic was
therefore very radical
Iran-Iraq War
● Iraq’s leader was Sadam Hussain.
○ Hussain wanted control of the waterway between Iraq and Iran
○ Iraq started the war and took Iran by surprise
● At some point during the war, Iraq actually wanted to end the war they
started but Iran was not interested in making peace any time soon
● Iran had a demographic advantage, however Iraq had better weapons
1
, ○ Iran and Iraq agreed to a peace agreement in 1998 that was written
by the United Nations
■ The conflict lasted 8 years
● The second republic were the years of reconstruction because the war had
The second republic just ended
○ In the second republic, we see for the first time political identity
being separate from religion
○ This ‘political identity’ refers more to external politics and foreign
policies and less internal policies for Iran
○ Internal and foreign policy impact each other
● The leader this year was more of a pragmatist (he was more concerned with
practicalities than ideals or values). As a result, he wanted to rebuild the
country after the 8 year long war
○ The relations with the US remain hostile but the relations with the
EU and certain Asian countries remain fine
The third republic ● The third republic has often been viewed as the ‘years of reform.’
○ During the third republic, the relations between Iran and the US start
to improve for the first time and both parties as a result become less
hostile to one another
○ The lecture mentions that during the third republic, Iran and the EU
have what is called “constructive dialogue” and I am wondering
what that means
○ The critical dialogue between Europe and Iran started in 1992 and
ended in 1996. It was a german initiative. They tried to change the
The fourth republic behavior of East Germany through cooperation. The EU wanted to
Years of backlash and increased stop working with Iran because they were attacking them.
anti-Western discourse ○ The name was changed from “critical dialogue” to “constructive
dialogue” which has a more positive
○ Meeting between the EU officials and Iranian officials
○ The real problem of Iran is the economy. The economic sanctions
really hurt Iran
● In terms of Iran’s years of backlash, I am wondering if you meant that
Iran’s relationships with Western countries worsened whereas their
relationships with non-Western countries such as Venezuela and Russia
improved
2
Topic: ‘Making sense of the Islamic Republic of Iran’
Summarize key ideas/ main Notes
points (Tips: Skip a space between ideas/topics and use abbreviations)
Course objectives ● Basic aspects of modern Iranian history and foreign politics
● Critical thinking about Iran and the West
● Looking to Iran from an IR perspective
The Five Republics of Iran ● One way to make sense of the Iranian republic is to study it in phases
● All the presidents of Iran have been elected for a second term so they were
in power for a total of 8 years
● Presidents can have a limit of two terms
○ 1st republic: 1979-1989
○ 2nd republic: 1989-1997
○ 3rd republic: 1997-2005
○ 4th republic: 2005-2013
○ 5th republic: 2013-now
● The hostage crisis was a diplomatic standoff between the US and Iran
Years of Radicalisation
○ 52 American diplomatic citizens were held hostage in Iran
■ The hostage crisis created a bad image of a political system
that did not respect its diplomatic agreements
■ The hostage crisis has made a huge impact on the collective
memories of the Iranians
■ Political Islam was very present and the first republic was
therefore very radical
Iran-Iraq War
● Iraq’s leader was Sadam Hussain.
○ Hussain wanted control of the waterway between Iraq and Iran
○ Iraq started the war and took Iran by surprise
● At some point during the war, Iraq actually wanted to end the war they
started but Iran was not interested in making peace any time soon
● Iran had a demographic advantage, however Iraq had better weapons
1
, ○ Iran and Iraq agreed to a peace agreement in 1998 that was written
by the United Nations
■ The conflict lasted 8 years
● The second republic were the years of reconstruction because the war had
The second republic just ended
○ In the second republic, we see for the first time political identity
being separate from religion
○ This ‘political identity’ refers more to external politics and foreign
policies and less internal policies for Iran
○ Internal and foreign policy impact each other
● The leader this year was more of a pragmatist (he was more concerned with
practicalities than ideals or values). As a result, he wanted to rebuild the
country after the 8 year long war
○ The relations with the US remain hostile but the relations with the
EU and certain Asian countries remain fine
The third republic ● The third republic has often been viewed as the ‘years of reform.’
○ During the third republic, the relations between Iran and the US start
to improve for the first time and both parties as a result become less
hostile to one another
○ The lecture mentions that during the third republic, Iran and the EU
have what is called “constructive dialogue” and I am wondering
what that means
○ The critical dialogue between Europe and Iran started in 1992 and
ended in 1996. It was a german initiative. They tried to change the
The fourth republic behavior of East Germany through cooperation. The EU wanted to
Years of backlash and increased stop working with Iran because they were attacking them.
anti-Western discourse ○ The name was changed from “critical dialogue” to “constructive
dialogue” which has a more positive
○ Meeting between the EU officials and Iranian officials
○ The real problem of Iran is the economy. The economic sanctions
really hurt Iran
● In terms of Iran’s years of backlash, I am wondering if you meant that
Iran’s relationships with Western countries worsened whereas their
relationships with non-Western countries such as Venezuela and Russia
improved
2
