Authors
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Introduction
The victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979 on the basis of the Shiite thought, culminated in the founding of the Islamic political system. This event must be considered as a turning point for politicizing of Shiite religion in the modern era.
Political power of the Shiite leaders in Iran, and slogan for export of the revolution, culminated in the adopting of the position of anti-super powers during the cold-war period by the government of Iran, which is still continued toward United States of America so far. In contrast with, these states took their position against the state of Iran, and adopted some measures for its collapse or containment as well.
From another side, political power of the Shiite in Iran, strengthened the morale and hopefulness of the Shiite people in other countries, and encouraged them to be politicized. Because in a historical perspective they had seen themselves as a minority group and deprived and oppressed people as well. Regarding the relations between Iran and other Shiite communities, we can suppose a spatial model of Core and Periphery. That Iran is located in the core, and the other Shiite communities in the periphery, which included Shiite in Iraq, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, and etc…. So the Shiite communities in the other parts of the world can be considered as the geopolitical interests of Iran.
Methodology
This study has been based on descriptive, analytical and statistical method. The results have been analyzed by obtained information through questionnaires in addition to documentary and electronic references. The designed questionnaire contained 14 sections and has completed by 50 persons by Shiite and Sunni elites from Islamic and non-Islamic countries. Finally, the gathered information and data have been analyzed by SPSS software and have been shown in tables.
Results and Discussion
How much was geopolitical condition of Iran influenced by the Islamic revolution and politicization of Shiism, was the basic question of this paper.
Political power of the Shiite leaders in Iran, and slogan for export of the revolution, culminated in the adopting of the position of anti-super powers during the cold-war period by the government of Iran. In contrast with, these states took their position against the state of Iran, and adopted some measures for its collapse or containment as well.
From another side, political power of the Shiite in Iran, strengthened the morale and hopefulness of the Shiite people in other countries, and encouraged them to be politicized. Because in a historical perspective they had seen themselves as a minority group and deprived and oppressed people as well. Regarding the relations between Iran and other Shiite communities, we can suppose a spatial model of Core and Periphery. That Iran is located in the core, and the other Shiite communities in the periphery.
Conclusion
Islamic revolution (1979) as an important event happened in Iran, the geographical center of Shiite territories. State of Iran with Shiite nature tried to extend its role in Middle East and world. The Shiite revival in Iran after Islamic revolution has expanded Iran's influence sphere.
From geopolitical point of view, the spatial structure of Shiite in the world has been core and periphery. In this structure, Iran today forms as the core and Iraq, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Yemen as semi-periphery part and Bahrain, Afghanistan, Turkey, Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are included in the periphery part.
With respect to the size, Shiite has been minority among Muslims and geographically too, they are surrounded by Sunni-dominated region. Nevertheless, the geography of Iran and Shiite make significant opportunities for Iran particularly in cultural, religious, political, educational and other aspects based on this study results.
As the main result of this paper it should be say that the geopolitical condition of Iran was increased in Middle East after the Islamic revolution.
Keywords
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