Abstract
Contrary to the expectation of some Western observers,1 the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is still strongly advocated by third world countries in general, and by Iran, in particular, in the post-Cold War period. Even during the Cold War, non-alignment was not just about rejecting the superpowers in a bipolar structure. It was really about providing policy options and a sense of independence for third world states soon after the decolonisation process. Since the demise of the Soviet Union, third world leaders, especially the Iranian political elite, still support a non-aligned policy and the Non-Aligned Movement in a world with only one superpower. This is evident by statements of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani2 and the newly elected President Khatami.3 Despite his accommodating statements regarding the general context of US-Iran relations in a January 1998 interview with CNN,4 President Khatami stood strong in expressing the independent, antihegemonic, and non-aligned foreign policy of the Islamic Republic.5 The fascination with non-alignment as a foreign policy strategy goes back to the early days of the Iranian Revolution, a turning point for Iranian foreign relations which shifted drastically from a close alliance with the United States to a non-aligned stance.
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© 2001 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Sadri, H.A. (2001). An Islamic Perspective on Non-Alignment: Iranian Foreign Policy in Theory and Practice. In: Chan, S., Mandaville, P., Bleiker, R. (eds) The Zen of International Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230286429_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230286429_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-40097-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-28642-9
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