St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • International Relations (School of)
  • International Relations
  • International Relations Theses
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • International Relations (School of)
  • International Relations
  • International Relations Theses
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • International Relations (School of)
  • International Relations
  • International Relations Theses
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Iranian presidents and nuclear policies : decision-making from the Tehran declaration to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action

Date
01/12/2020
Author
Mehvar, Ameneh
Supervisor
Beasley, Ryan K.
Hinnebusch, Raymond A.
Ansari, Ali M.
Funder
University of St Andrews. School of International Relations
University of St Andrews
Sym Charitable Trust
Santander UK
International Studies Association
Keywords
Iran
Nuclear
Presidents
Political psychology
Foreign policy analysis
Leadership analysis
Decision-making
Metadata
Show full item record
Altmetrics Handle Statistics
Altmetrics DOI Statistics
Abstract
Iran’s nuclear program has been a central concern of the international non-proliferation agenda since 2002 and has provoked many debates in political and academic circles. This thesis explores the impact of the personality of three Iranian presidents, Mohammad Khatami, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Hassan Rouhani, on decisions made by Iran’s leadership on the nuclear issue between 2003 to 2015. A certain degree of continuity, but also change, was observed in the Islamic Republic’s decision-making throughout these 12 years. Iranian officials persistently refused to indefinitely halt fuel-cycle activities. However, they showed variable degrees of flexibility and defiance in accepting restrictions on the country’s nuclear activities. Realism, constructivism, and domestic politics – three prominent approaches to studying nuclear behaviour – cannot provide a comprehensive explanation for Iran’s nuclear decision-making. Situated within the field of political psychology, this thesis demonstrates that the variations in the personalities of the three presidents can explain certain changes in Iran’s nuclear decisions unaccounted for by other theories. Employing a mixed-method approach, this research assesses the presidents’ political beliefs regarding the nature of the political universe and the best strategy to achieve political goals, as well as their leadership styles based on their need for power, conceptual complexity, experience, and interest in foreign policy. In several ways, including by developing a software to measure the conceptual complexity of Persian-speakers, and by geographically and culturally expanding the research on the impact of individual decision-makers on policies, this study makes advances in the field of political psychology. Furthermore, by providing a nuanced analysis of the nuclear decision-making process, as well as the role of the institution of presidency more broadly and the impact of personalities more specifically, this thesis contributes to a better understanding of Iran, of interest to both scholars and policy-makers.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.17630/10023-21764
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
Rights
Embargo Date: 2025-11-12
Embargo Reason: Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 12th November 2025
Collections
  • International Relations Theses
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/21764

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter