The Impact of Elite Political Culture on the Decision-Making Process of the Nuclear Case During the Reformist (Khatami) and Justice-Oriented (Ahmadinejad) Presidencies

Abstract

In the final days of the 14th century of the Iranian calendar, Iran’s nuclear case emerged as one of the most critical and contentious issues in the country's foreign policy, intricately linked with the lives of Iranian citizens and the very existence of the political system. Given this significance, the present article investigates the effects of the political culture of decision-making and policy-making elites on the development of the nuclear case. Since the direct executors of decisions and policies have continuously changed throughout the two decades following the emergence of this controversy—and considering the diversity of discursive characteristics among these elites, particularly in the executive branch and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—it is necessary to analyze how elite political culture has influenced the trajectory of the nuclear dossier by examining the discourses and developments during the dual periods of reformism and neo-principlism. Within this framework, the main research question is: How has the political culture and discourse of political elites influenced the decision-making process in Iran’s nuclear case? To address this question, the core hypothesis posits that the differing political cultures of elites have led both to transformation and a form of continuity within the framework of a culture based on official Islamic doctrines in nuclear-related discourses. Furthermore, with the shift in foreign policy elites during each period, the tactics used to pursue Iran’s objectives in the nuclear file have also changed. Ultimately, the study’s findings indicate that the progression of the nuclear case has been directly governed by the deeply historical and entrenched political culture of Iranian elites, which has been fused with the overarching discourse of the Islamic Revolution and its hegemonic influence on foreign policy in the post-revolutionary era. This fusion has resulted in the attrition of Iran’s political, economic, and social capacity on both domestic and international levels, as the dominant discourse strategy appears to be one of maintaining the unresolved status quo, neither fully resolving the issue nor allowing it to collapse.