چکیده:
Democratic governments tend to cooperate with each other positively. By establishing a framework، democracy controls politicians' behavior، preventing them from pursuing imbalanced and improper policies. Popular revolutions in the Middle East have overthrown a number of authoritarian regimes allied with the United States. With the independent democratic governments being formed، we see Iran's regional and transregional rivals and adversaries challenged. Making efforts to promote democracy in the Middle East can serve as an important factor in strengthening Iran's influence in the region. Therefore، given that the rule of the game in the Middle East is one of zero-sum، the Islamic republic of Iran should reinforce its national security level and enlarge its national security realm by explicitly supporting and articulating the demands of the regional nations. Also، the presence of the Shi'a in government is closely related to the promotion of democratic trends، support for the democracy-seeking wave in the Middle East.
خلاصه ماشینی:
Most of the autocratic Arab rulers did not tolerate even superficial show-like controlled elections with the excuse of the Islamist rise to power and security conflict and problems with Israel, convincing political analysts that democracy will never be established in the Middle East.
Now, considering how the rules of the game in the Middle East and North Africa are generally that of zero-sum, this research seeks to answer the question "What impact will the spread of democracy and rise of democratic states to power have on Iran’s national interests?", examining the effects of the Islamic Awakening on Iran’s regional and transregional rivals.
Drawing upon Kant’s democratic peace theory and Karl Deutsch’s security communities theory as the conceptual framework, the hypothesis of the research will be: Support for the democratic wave in the Middle East and the rise of democratic governments can pave the way for Iran’s enhanced regional influence, contributing to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s national security level and securing of its national interests.
The reason is simple, today most of the Middle Eastern and Arab peoples regard the United States as the main enemy of freedom and democracy, opposing their national interests" (Chomsky, 2011).
There is no doubt that the rise of a democratic independent government in Saudi Arabia would serve the national interests of regional players including Iran and the Western states in the long run.
If the trend of developments in the Arab World moves towards the establishment of democracy, certainly Iran’s regional role and influence will increase, promoting Iranian national security.