Iran's foreign policy in the reformist administration towards European Union from a constructivist perspective

 
The mutual relations between Iran and Europe which results from their foreign policies, have witnessed many ups and downs after the Islamic Revolution. After victory of the Islamic Revolution, relations between Iran and Europe were strained and because of Europe's all-out support from Iraq during the eight year war between Iran and Iraq the relations were at their lowest. After the imposed war, the " constructive administration" of Hashemi Rafsanjani tried to restore Iran's foreign relations while reconstructing the widespread destructions caused by war. Within this framework, critical dialog with Europe started which was stopped after Mykonos incident and all European countries recalled their ambassadors from Iran. After the seventh  presidential elections in 23 May 1997, Seyyed Mohammad Khatami was elected as the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The significant difference in the discourse of the new reformist administration in domestic and foreign affairs and taking new policies and strategies such as détente and trust building, coalition for peace and dialog among civilizations led to improved relations between Iran and European Union. This study tried to explore and analyze the reasons behind the relative success of the reformist administration in improving relations with the European Union. To this end, constructivist theory which emphasizes on concepts such as ideas, identity, discourse, inter- subjectivity beliefs, and social and spiritual constructs of international relations, was chosen as theoretical framework of the research.
Based on the teachings of constructivist school, social and spiritual constructs of international relations played a more effective role in improving relations between Iran and Europe during the reformist administration. The reformist administration's cultural, ethical and peaceful discourse which was based on interaction, dialog, mutual respect and toleration instead of conflict and war in international arena led to the formation of an inter- subjective belief  and mutual understanding between Iran and Europe which resulted in their improved relations