The Political Economy of the Iranian Nuclear 'Crisis' (original) (raw)

Understanding and Explaining the Iranian Nuclear 'Crisis': Theoretical Approaches, 2020

Abstract

This chapter understands the Iranian nuclear contention as situated in a larger context of global capitalism and disputes the anarchic nature of world politics presented in the chapter. Adopting a structuralist approach, this chapter focuses on the historical forces and class interests at play in the making of the nuclear dispute and in doing so locates the origins of it in a far earlier period in history than the recent decades. The chapter starts by theorizing the development of modern state apparatuses in response to an integrating and hierarchical capitalist economy centered on core and peripheral countries. Accordingly, within global capitalism governments in core countries fulfill the demands of their economic elite, whereas the ruling elite in the periphery help supply the demand for natural resources of core countries. This process includes many polito-economic antagonisms within and across countries that are often, but not always, suppressed or deferred. We then trace the expansion of the world capitalist system through the early twentieth century by the integration of Iran’s supply of energy resources. Going over the domestic politics within Iran during its inclusion in the world economic system, we highlight the antagonisms and repressions in Iran as a reflection of the workings of the world system. The Iranian revolution spelled a potential destabilizing threat to regional monarchies and a symbolic threat to global order not for realpolitik reasons but for overturning the established regional and global hierarchy. The Iranian nuclear dispute is a continuation of the attempt to isolate and punish a pariah through economic sanctions in a global economic order. In this regard, we analyze the JCPOA as an attempt by core country capital to normalize relations by importing cheap energy supplies, exporting consumer goods while at the same time limiting Iranian elite’s attempt to develop a nuclear weapon which would solidify its politomilitary status within the system. However, the JCPOA was also opposed by certain ‘fractions of capital’ in wealthy and powerful countries (and their regional allies) who did not want Iranian energy exports to reduce commodity prices, strengthen the theocratic–economic elite, and formalize relations with a pariah revolutionary regime. The chapter concludes by arguing that the continued diplomatic contention over Iran in core countries is a conflict between competing capital interests over core countries’ foreign policy

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