Iran's Nuclear Diplomacy: Power politics and conflict resolution

This book examines the dynamics of relations and the substance of the negotiations between the international community and Iran over the latter's nuclear programme . Iran's nuclear program and the alleged threat to international peace and security remains one of the most important issues in US as well as in European foreign affairs. In the United States, Iran has dominated the political discourse for over three decades. In Europe, the so-called EU-3 has spent considerable political capital in finding a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear ambitions. Tehran's nuclear program, role and clout in the region, continues to rank high on the West's foreign policy agenda and dominated the foreign policy debate of the US 2012 presidential elections. While relations between both states remain subject to mutual hostility, the EU remains a channel of communication and since 2003 has maintained a multilateral negotiation framework. By and large, the narrative on the nuclear negotiations is dominated by constructivist literature, providing insight into the nature of bilateral relations, domestic decision making, ideological determinants as well as realist accounts, portraying relations between the U.S. and Iran as a prolonged struggle for regional influence. Embedded within conflict resolution and diplomatic theory, this work attempts to bridge this gap. Providing a theoretical approach, the book approaches the P5+1 talks with Iran and respective diplomatic initiatives through a structural negotiations analysis. Drawing on primary documents and interviews, the text analyses negotiation behaviour, strategies and tools of statecraft. As diplomacy has oscillated between conflict resolution initiatives and outright coercive diplomacy, the concept of power and its application before and during negotiations constitutes an important variable in my research. As such, the author's research goes beyond the sanctions literature and analyses technical aspects of initiatives concerning the nuclear program as well as negotiation strategies. Moreover, the fallout of the 2011 'Arab Spring' and its impact on Iran's political scene and the international relations of the Persian Gulf constitute a vital variable influencing regional security and Iran's foreign relations. This book will be of much interest to students of nuclear proliferation, international diplomacy, Middle Eastern politics, Security Studies and IR in general.