چكيده لاتين :
1. Introduction
Geography has always played an important role in human affairs. It has shaped or
hindered the identity, nature, and history of national governments, helped or hindered
their social, political, and economic development, and played an important role in
their international relations. As such, political entities have a special status in terms
of their natural and human geographical features and characteristics which, in terms
of their role in the international system, interact with other countries, especially with
world powers positively or negatively. Paying attention to the characteristics and
factors of geopolitics will make politicians aware of their weaknesses and strengths
and their national power in general. They will have the necessary goals in adopting
political and international policies, and pursue interests in accordance with their
capabilities, role, and position in the international arena. The important thing is that
decision-makers in foreign policy, with complete and accurate knowledge of
geopolitical factors, make the best possible decision, take full advantage of the
positive factors in order to realize the national interests and minimize the adverse
effects of the negative geopolitical factorsAccordingly, the present study, derived
from a doctoral thesis, seeks to answer the question of what the geopolitical factors
influence foreign policy.
2. Review of Literature
There has been a lot of work done on the geopolitical factors influencing foreign
policy, and each has developed its own perspective. Some of these are as follows:
Hafeznia et al. (2011) have made a good relation between politics and space. In this
book, the basic concepts of politics and space has been stated, as well as the
interaction of politics and geographical space. In other words, understanding the
processes and quality of geographical space formation under the influence of
political ideas and decisions, the effect of space requirements on policy formation has expressed. Etaat (2006) has devided the geopolitical factors affecting the foreign
policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran into two general parts: fixed factors (position,
size, topography, shape of the country) and variable factors (humans, population,
resources, political and social context, the characteristics of the international system
(transformation of the centers of world power)), the requirements of these factors in
the direction of the country's foreign policy has take into account. Iran's foreign
policy during the First and Second World Wars was explored from a geopolitical
perspective. Navazani (2012), referred to the relations between Iran and the United
States, and discussed the behaviors of the United States before and after the Islamic
Revolution. He provided a comprehensive overview of US behavior, but pays little
attention to Iran's geopolitical capabilities and does not explain the impact of these
capabilities on US behavior with Iran.
3. Method
The present study, as a basic research, attempted to identify the geopolitical factors
affecting foreign policy using a descriptive-analytical method. Data was collected
through the use of expert opinions through reference books, articles, and websites.
Then effective geopolitical factors in foreign policy were identified and introduced.
4. Results and Discussion
The regulation and direction of foreign policy of countries involve various factors
and variables that are undoubtedly useful for understanding what is going on in a
country's machine and policy making system (Kazemi, 1999). Among these
influential factors, geopolitical factors are of high importance. A look at these factors
indicates that they are incomplete. To attain the geopolitical factors influencing
foreign policy, related theories and perspectives were thoroughly explored and some
factors were added by the researcheres. These geopolitical factors comprise 56
factors that, for better understanding, are divided into seven sections: geographic
factors, demographic factors, economic factors, political factors, defense-security
factors, regional, and global factors, and scientific program factors.
5. Conclusion
The changes and alternation that have taken place in the world over the last
decades in various forms have given rise to the increasing dependence of countries
on each other. This dependence is to the extent that it is impossible to achieve
national interests and national security without active and powerful role-playing in
preventing effective and realistic foreign policy in the regional and global arena. In
order to have an effective foreign policy, it is important to identify the factors that
influence foreign policy and strive to strengthen these factors to achieve national
goals. Among the factors affecting the foreign policy of countries, geopolitical
factors are among the most important ones. According to the increasing importance
of geopolitical factors influencing foreign policy, there has been no adequate
scientific research in this area that can fully recognize and explain the geopolitical
factors influencing foreign policy in the context of new developments and provide
a model of the factors affecting foreign policy. Therefore, in order to achieve this model, the present study has attempted to study the geopolitical factors influencing
the foreign policy of countries according to developments in recent decades by
examining the theories and work done in this field and present it in a new
segmentation format. The geopolitical factors affecting foreign policy obtained
through this include 56 factors that are outlined in the following seven sections for
better understanding: geographical factors; demographic factors; economic factors;
political factors; defense- security factors; regional and global factors.
Overall, developments in the global arena have significantly increased the status
and impact of geopolitical factors on countries’ foreign policy. As the surveys
show, to the extent possible that realistic and effective foreign policy prevention is
in line with geopolitical factors, achieving national goals and interests at regional
and global levels will be easier.
