Table Of ContentThe Foreign Policy of Iran, 1500-1941
A Developing Notion in World Affairs
This publication is a volume m
the American Association for
Middle East Studies series.
The Foreign, Policy o f Iran
A Developing Nation in World Affairs
Rouhollah K. Ramazani
Vmoersity of Virginia
Woodrow Wilton Department of Government
and Foreign Affairs
University Press of Virginia/ Charlottesville
Copyright © 1966 by the Rector and Visitors
of the University of Virginia
The University Press of Virginia
First published 1966
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 66-12469
Printed in the United States of America
TO THE
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
IN WHOSE SERVICE FOR A DECADE
I HAVE FOUND
FREEDOM AND HAPPINESS
Foreword
W estern writers on international politics have dealt with Iran as a
pawn in the game of power politics among the great powers, and
Iranian writers have dealt with it to illustrate the immorality of those
powers. Dr. Ramazani, born in Iran but educated in the West and
now an American citizen, has traced the history of Iranian foreign
policy from 1500 to 1941 as a matter of interest in itself, and has done
it with great objectivity but due appreciation that the perceptions of
both Iranians and Westerners must be considered in deciding what
is important. He narrates the decisions and actions of the Iranian
government and the motivations and conditions accounting for them.
The “ dynamic triangular interaction " of foreign policy, internal con
ditions, and external environment is emphasized throughout the book,
providing a basis for a theory of international politics and particularly
of the foreign policy of small states, a matter of increasing importance
as empires disintegrate and the small states which emerge exert in
fluence in the United Nations.
Although in the modem world Iran has been a small state, its long
history includes periods when it was a great, if not the greatest, power,
YU
FOREWORD
and this fact has been of continuing influence. Iran has sought to
reacquire territories which were once its own and has often failed to
appreciate the gap between these objectives and the means available
for their realization.
Dr. Ramazani finds that the traditional policy of Iran has been
dominated by absolute monarchy, usually more intent on personal
pleasure than on national interests; maintenance of independence,
often precarious; irredentism seeking impossible expansions; and
unrealism, losing wars in pursuit of hopeless objectives. With a few
exceptions the Shahs did not modify these traditions until the twentieth
century, when the transitional policy of Rizä Shah (1925-41) developed
a concept of national interest; established central government, con
trolling military, religious, parliamentary, and provincial institutions ;
gave meaning to independence by establishing firm national boundaries ;
and utilized effective diplomacy rather than inadequate armed forces
to carry out reasonable foreign policies. He utilized the balancing
influence of third powers, usually the United States or Germany, to
withstand encroachments by Great Britain or the Soviet Union and
to modify earlier impositions. He pursued a policy of the good neigh
bor toward Turkey, Afghanistan, and Iraq by settling a number of
boundary and other disputes. He utilized the League of Nations for
security against aggression. His policy failed, however, in World War
II, when neutrality with a leaning toward Germany led to joint Anglo-
Soviet invasion and the end of Rizä Shah’s reign. Failure to realize
the power position and the vital national interest in preventing German
control of Iran after Hitler’s invasion of Russia led Rizä Shah to
procrastination, which was fatal. The gap between means and ends
was evident as it has been on some subsequent occasions such as the
muddle resulting from Mussadiq’s oil nationalization policy.
The internal situation of Iran-without national unity; divided
among tribes, religions, and social classes; accustomed to absolutism;
lacking in skilled diplomats ; and obsessed by a history of past great
ness-has only in recent times been moderated by the influence of
technology, communications, and education of a small elite, introducing
sentiments of nationalism, modern political institutions, an interest in
economic development, an appreciation of the importance of resources
such as oil, and an understanding of the objectives and capabilities of
Iran and other powers.
FOREWORD ix
The external conditions faced by Iran were, in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, the pressure of Turkey, then a great power, and
in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the pressures of Russia,
whether intent on territorial expansion, economic control, or Com
munist propaganda, and of Britain, generally intent on defending India
from Napoleon or the Tsar, but allied with Russia against Germany,
from 1907 to 1917 and in World War II. These periods of alliance
presented Iran with its greatest danger of dismemberment, as indicated
by Morgan Shuster, the American adviser, in his book The Strangling
of Persia (1912) and by the joint Anglo-Soviet invasion of August
1941, ousting Riga Shah.
Generally foreign policy has been more influenced by the necessities
of the external situation than by the principles and practices of the
domestic constitution, but Dr. Ramazani’s study suggests that in Iran
the opposite was true: traditional policy was generally followed and
was usually inadequate to meet the situation.
The study is a fascinating one, and Dr. Ramazani’s readable style
and full documentation from both Western and Persian sources will
please both the general reader and the specialist. In addition, theorists
of international politics will find here a wealth of empirical material
with which to test their theories.
Charlottesville, Virginia Quincy Wright
September 1,1965
