Islam and modern international relations: The contribution and influence of Shia

The Islamic Republic of Iran has remained a puzzle in the West. Highly ideological, yet non-Western, the Republic has made a full-scale challenge to the international order. This challenge has been shaped by its Shia Islamic ideology. This dissertation considers the potential of this challenge and whether it is likely to bring about a new agenda on the international scene. Islam has its own ideology, which is more like a way of life. Shiism subscribes to Islamic ideology, yet has some unique characteristics that make it politically both militant and efficient. This dissertation is an attempt to provide a foundation for international relations as conceptualized through Shiism. It tries to present a perspective of the origin, process, and modes of thinking regarding international relations in Shiism. The Islamic tradition is explored. In this tradition sources and philosophical determinants of this conceptualization are identified. From an Islamic point of view, the divinity of the source, the existence of religiously binding rules and regulations based on a divine model, the inseparability of ethics and politics, and the relevance of theory and practice in this tradition help Islam to survive and to pursue its moral goals. These elements are, therefore, the most vital of the sources of the Shia conceptualization. Islam holds that there are some absolute truths that should be followed in one's belief and action. It has, thus, designated some permanent institutions to administer those human needs associated with its view of man's primordial nature. According to Shia belief, the only way to continue human efficiency and thus keep people's unity and faith is to constantly mold new sociopolitical realities. This belief, which is crystallized in the doctrine of Ejtehad, has enabled the institution of Shia to show the dynamism of Islam in a secular era. In this context of concepts basic to Shia, the dissertation proceeds to examine how international relations is conceived from this intellectual orientation.