ABSTRACT
The third analysis chapter explores Iran's resistance to sanctions and how this resistance is steeped in concerns of identity. The efficacy of sanctions is hotly debated even within the Western cohort, 1 but often considerations of identity fall by the wayside in these debates. The Islamic Republic has been a target of Western sanctions since the hostage crisis, but their ability to change Iranian foreign policy has been limited. This chapter argues that the continuation of sanctions during the Ahmadinejad presidency led to a stagnation in relations with the West. Western paradigms of state rationality dictate that the debilitating economic effects of sanctions create an economic imperative for target states to change their policies. However, as is the case with Iran, the resistance to the hierarchical imposition of sanctions by the West is more of a priority than traditional notions of national interest. The failure of sanctions according to the non-Western cohort is placed in identity and culture, as opposed to “pragmatism” and “rationality.” The adoption of resistance as a core part of Iran's identity since the revolution has made it a national imperative to resist economic coercion, bolstered by the anti-Western platform of the principlists and messianic narratives.
