A State Under Siege: Iran’s Survival Through Alter-Globalization and the Third Way

Abstract

Alter-globalization comprises a set of civil society organizations that refute the methods and consequences of liberal globalization or globalized capitalism. At the same time, these organizations hope to achieve a different form of globalization or global economy than the existing ones. This article intends to shed light on Iran’s foreign and economic policies, which were established on the basis of the non-aligned state ideology. This ideology forced Iran to find a third way that was neither capitalist like the West nor socialist like the East, which allowed Iran’s domestic economic powers not only to concentrate on the main power but also to interfere less in foreign policy affairs. Based on Shia Islamic sources and interpretations, Iran’s unique ideology had to find a way to adopt globalized approaches vis-a-vis internal and regional turmoil. This article concludes that Iran created its own path based on this Islamic interpretation and involved domestic forces committed to the revolution’s ideological path, which, nevertheless, found detours that would let it take part in the globalized economy and, in the end, categorize Iran as an alter-globalized state.