International Order and its Discontents: Russia, Iran, and the Struggles for Recognition

About

Speaker: Nicole Grajewski, Research Fellow, International Security Program

Russia's relationship with Iran illustrates how normative expectations, power aspirations, and shared experiences of denigration can regulate, transform, and structure relations over time. Despite the areas of tension and the mistrust endemic to the relationship, Russia and Iran have exhibited synergies in their approaches to international order as shared experiences of discontent have further galvanized these countries to coalesce around the contestation of the so-called "Western"-led international order.

This seminar will examine the nature of the Russia-Iran relationship, drawing on research of Moscow and Tehran's domestic foreign policy debates, archival documents, and elite interviews. It offers a framework that accounts for multiple expressions of power and the norms, ideas, values, and solidaristic bonds inherent in the evolution of the Russia-Iran relationship.  The broader implications of this case illustrate how power inequalities and, by extension, the unequal distribution of legitimacy and authority can form a basis of solidarity between states and invite contestation over the rights, rules, and institutions of international society.

Everyone is welcome to join us via Zoom! Please register before the event:
https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUpduispzgsEtK5f7O-Ro6HT-HNvlfeklJz 

Contact

For more information, email the International Security Program Assistant at susan_lynch@harvard.edu.