Dr. Sara Bazoobandi

Iran and Saudi Arabia’s agreement to restore diplomatic relations is a major development at the regional and global levels.

This article seeks to identify ways in which the foreign policy power hierarchy inside the Islamic Republic of Iran can be explained. It uses high-level diplomatic meetings as observable evidence in a novel analytical framework to identify the scope of competition and hierarchies in foreign policy decision-making processes. Results reveal that diplomatic activities of key foreign policy decision makers did not noticeably diverge.

Der Artikel nimmt zunächst die tieferen Ursachen der Proteste in den Blick, um zu untersuchen, was die Proteste für die Menschen und das Regime bedeuten und welche Folgen sie innenpolitisch, regional und international haben könnten.

The demands of the protesters for regime change are a clear manifestation of the deep frustration and the loss of hope for reform among the Iranian public and seem to signal that the time is ripe for comprehensive change.