IRAN’S POSITION ON JOINT COMPREHENSIVE PLAN OF ACTION (JCPOA) REVIVAL 2023 BASED ON IDEATIONAL FACTORS

Abstract

This thesis explores the Islamic Republic of Iran’s position in the 2023 revival efforts of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with a focus on the ideational foundations that guide its foreign policy behavior. Departing from strategic or materialist interpretations, the analysis employs the Occidentalism Perspective, and bridges it with Jeffrey Checkel’s theory of ideational foreign policy change. This framework enables a critical reading of how Iran constructs its diplomatic identity in response to Western pressure. The study identifies four central ideational dimensions informing Iran’s JCPOA posture: decolonization of knowledge, cultural sovereignty, reversal of historical narratives, and Occidentalism as a political ideology. Through discourse analysis of leadership rhetoric, nuclear diplomacy, and Iran’s evolving international alignments, this research argues that Iran’s resistance to the JCPOA revival is not merely strategic but also discursive and ideological. The JCPOA is increasingly framed not as a neutral legal agreement but as a symbol of asymmetrical norms and epistemic domination. By using Occidentalism to analyze Iran’s civilizational stance and Checkel’s lens to trace how these ideas become embedded in policy, this thesis offers a deeper understanding of non-Western resistance to liberal internationalism. It contributes to the field of International Relations by highlighting how political identity, historical consciousness, and epistemic sovereignty shape the foreign policy choices of postcolonial states.