ABSTRACT
Peripheral realism (RP) is an approach to international relations (IR) theory developed mainly in Buenos Aires during the 1990s. It features both an explicative and a normative dimension. RP draws from political realism, especially its IR version, which it purports to correct, contesting the neorealist notion that the structure of the international system is “anarchic” , and contending instead that it is an imperfect and incipient “hierarchy.” Since the Islamic Revolution, Iranian foreign policy presupposes that world order is a jungle without rules, where it is legitimate to promote a state’s interests through any means, including proxy warfare and terrorism. The proto-hierarchical character of the interstate structure can be perceived clearly in postwar Europe. The world out there is cruel and laden with double standards, which are explained by the proto-hierarchical nature of the interstate order. The list of such theoretical faux pas in mainstream Anglo-American IR theory is endless.
