The Role of Identity in the Relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia From 2005 to 2018 with emphasis on constructivism theory

Subject Areas :

Mehdi Shirazian ¹ (Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch)
Garineh Keshishyan Siraki ² (Department of Political Science, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran)

Received: 2019-12-08 Accepted : 2020-01-30 Published : 2019-12-22

Keywords: Saudi Arabia, Structuralism, Identity, Shia, Keywords: Iran, Wahhabism,

Abstract :

The Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia are important countries in the turbulent Middle East region. The fields of conflict and conflict in the two countries' relations go back to the past decades. But in the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution, and especially in the last decade, the pattern of identity-based conflict has been ruled by the two countries. The critical centers of crisis in the two countries' relations lie in the conservative Wahhabi-Salafi-Arab conservative identity on the one hand and Iran's revolutionary-Shiite identity on the other. Identity has shaped the interests and security structure of the two countries in relation to each other. In Iranian-Saudi relations, along with other subjective factors such as culture, ideology, and objective factors such as geopolitical competition, energy, and identity, it is important. The role of the structure of the international system and the policies of the great powers in intensifying the identity conflicts between the two countries are also prominent. The research method in this study is qualitative in nature and in terms of fundamental and descriptive methods. This study, with the theoretical framework of constructivism, shows that the lack of a shared identity as a critical focus of the crisis lies in the two countries' relations and is an identity conflict that exacerbates and perpetuates other sources of tension and inequality between the two countries.