The Islamic Republic of Iran and International and Regional Orders: A Roundtable Discussion

Recent years have seen considerable debate about the shifting contours of international order, regarding whether or not there is a Western liberal world order and the power and influence of its illiberal challengers. Indeed, the old certainties of the bipolar international system created by the Cold War are an increasingly distant memory, and the unipolar moment of unchecked US dominance is now seen as an interregnum in the seemingly inevitable move toward a multipolar future for global politics. As a country of major geostrategic importance, Iran often has been a key player in the shifts that have occurred in both regional and global geopolitics over the last hundred years. This includes being an arena for Russian tsarist, Ottoman, and British imperial competition during World War I and later being a founding member of the League of Nations. As an important oil producer and a state that saw itself as a leading postcolonial actor, Iran was also one of the founding members of OPEC and the G77. From its experience of imperial penetration by European powers in the early twentieth century to its emergence as a key Western ally and regional policeman in the Cold War era, Iran has had to engage with the shifting interests of global powers and associated notions of international order. These have had a critical influence on the development of modern Iran, shaping its politics, society, and international relations and helping to lay the foundations for opposition to the prevailing norms that governed Iran's relations with the world up until 1979.