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Political Psychology of Revisionist Behavior in World Politics : State Subjectivity, Ontological (In)Security, and Iranian Foreign Policy

Behravesh, Maysam LU (2025) In Lund Political Studies
Abstract
Driven by a core curiosity about the political psychology of change and change-seeking as opposed to continuity and status quo-keeping in world politics, this thesis undertakes to investigate the ontological dynamics and psychic drivers of revisionist behavior in International Relations (IR). Identifying with a constructivist tendency for “constitutive theorizing,” it deploys—and in so doing, theoretically develops—ontological security studies (OSS) to explore a number of significant identity dimensions like gender, and foreign policy practices such as strategic ambivalence in relation to state self-concept, collective psyche/subjectivity and (in)security of being/becoming-in-the-world. These theory development and application endeavors... (More)
Driven by a core curiosity about the political psychology of change and change-seeking as opposed to continuity and status quo-keeping in world politics, this thesis undertakes to investigate the ontological dynamics and psychic drivers of revisionist behavior in International Relations (IR). Identifying with a constructivist tendency for “constitutive theorizing,” it deploys—and in so doing, theoretically develops—ontological security studies (OSS) to explore a number of significant identity dimensions like gender, and foreign policy practices such as strategic ambivalence in relation to state self-concept, collective psyche/subjectivity and (in)security of being/becoming-in-the-world. These theory development and application endeavors are all undertaken with special reference to the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) whose selection as the study’s empirical case is guided by its characteristic strand of revisionism and ideological-geopolitical alignment with other revisionist powers such as China and Russia. Within this broad framework, Article I, titled “State Revisionism and Ontological (In)Security in International Politics: The Complicated Case of Iran and Its Nuclear Behavior,” concentrates on how a revisionist foreign policy may provide an actor with a sense of ontological security, problematizing the controversial Iranian nuclear program as an instance of state self-identity augmentation despite its attenuating material costs and consequences. Labeled “State Gender and Ontological Dislocation: Gendering Iran’s Revolutionary Identity and Nuclear Behavior,” Article II draws on Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity as well as post-structuralist critiques of masculinism and phallocentrism by feminist philosophers Luce Irigaray and Hélène Cixous to theorize state gender and ontological consequences of gender identity destabilization at the collective level before employing these propositions in a critical analysis of Iran’s masculine revisionist Self and masculinist reaction to the 2015 nuclear accord. Article III is named “Self-Harm as Desire for Ontological Security: The Lack, Trauma and Iran’s Shootdown of Civilian Flight PS752” and aspires to theorize state self-harm into the ontological (in)security framework as sacrificing the flesh to salvage a fantasized sovereign Self by invoking insights on trauma from Freudian psychoanalysis of trauma and especially Lacan’s theory of subjectivity, all of which theoretical arguments are then instantiated in the case of Iran’s deliberate downing of passenger flight PS752 in January 2022. Entitled “Strategic Ambivalence as Ontological Security: Iran and the Russia-Ukraine War,” Article IV as the final chapter of this compilation thesis delves into the sociological theory of Zygmunt Bauman as well as Kleinian-Lacanian psychoanalysis to distinguish between different types of ambivalence and to subsequently theorize strategic ambivalence as discursive strategization of affective ambivalence about a deed or event for ontological security purposes, a theoretical configuration that Iran’s engagement in the Russia-Ukraine war helps illustrate empirically. Lastly, the conceptual-theoretical thread that runs through all these works and unifies them into a coherent body of scholarship is ontological (in)security studies, theoretically developed here with a view to state revisionism and empirically demonstrated with respect to a classic and quintessential revisionist actor. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Driven av en kärnnyfikenhet på förändringens och förändringssökandets politiska psykologi i motsats till kontinuitet och status quo-upprätthållande i världspolitiken, åtar sig denna avhandling att undersöka den ontologiska dynamiken och de psykiska drivkrafterna bakom revisionistiskt beteende i internationella relationer (IR). Genom att identifiera sig med en konstruktivistisk tendens till "konstitutiv teoretisering" använder den – och utvecklar därigenom teoretiskt – ontologiska säkerhetsstudier (OSS) för att utforska ett antal betydande identitetsdimensioner som genus och utrikespolitiska praxis som strategisk ambivalens i relation till stat självuppfattning, kollektivt psyke/subjektivitet och (o)säkerhet för att vara/bli-i-världen.... (More)
Driven av en kärnnyfikenhet på förändringens och förändringssökandets politiska psykologi i motsats till kontinuitet och status quo-upprätthållande i världspolitiken, åtar sig denna avhandling att undersöka den ontologiska dynamiken och de psykiska drivkrafterna bakom revisionistiskt beteende i internationella relationer (IR). Genom att identifiera sig med en konstruktivistisk tendens till "konstitutiv teoretisering" använder den – och utvecklar därigenom teoretiskt – ontologiska säkerhetsstudier (OSS) för att utforska ett antal betydande identitetsdimensioner som genus och utrikespolitiska praxis som strategisk ambivalens i relation till stat självuppfattning, kollektivt psyke/subjektivitet och (o)säkerhet för att vara/bli-i-världen. Dessa teoriutvecklings- och tillämpningssträvanden genomförs alla med särskild hänvisning till den islamiska republiken Iran (IRI) vars val som studiens empiriska fall styrs av dess karakteristiska del av revisionism och ideologisk-geopolitisk anpassning till andra revisionistiska makter som Kina och Ryssland . Inom denna breda ram koncentrerar artikel I, med titeln "Statsrevisionism och ontologisk (o)säkerhet i internationell politik: Det komplicerade fallet med Iran och dess kärnkraftsbeteende", hur en revisionistisk utrikespolitik kan ge en aktör en känsla av ontologisk säkerhet , problematisera det kontroversiella iranska kärnkraftsprogrammet som ett exempel på statlig självidentitetsförstärkning trots dess försvagande materialkostnader och konsekvenser. Artikel II, märkt "State Gender and Ontological Dislocation: Gendering Iran's Revolutionary Identity and Nuclear Behavior", bygger på Judith Butlers teori om könsperformativitet såväl som poststrukturalistisk kritik av maskulinism och fallocentrism av feministiska filosofer Luce Irigaray, staten Genus och Hélorize, staten Genus och Hélorize. och ontologiska konsekvenser av kön identitetsdestabilisering på kollektiv nivå innan man använder dessa förslag i en kritisk analys av Irans maskulina revisionistiska jag och maskulinistiska reaktion på 2015 års kärnvapenavtal. Artikel III heter "Self-Harm as Desire for Ontological Security: The Lack, Trauma and Iran's Shootdown of Civilian Flight PS752" och strävar efter att teoretisera statlig självskada i den ontologiska (o)säkerhetsramen som att offra köttet för att rädda en fantiserad suveräna Jaget genom att åberopa insikter om trauma från freudiansk psykoanalys av trauma och speciellt Lacans teori om subjektivitet, varav alla teoretiska argument sedan instansieras i fallet med Irans avsiktliga nedskjutning av passagerarflyget PS752 i januari 2022. Med titeln "Strategic Ambivalence as Ontological Security: Iran and the Russia-Ukraine War", Artikel IV som sista kapitel av denna samlingsavhandling fördjupar sig i Zygmunt Baumans sociologiska teori såväl som Kleinian-Lacanisk psykoanalys för att skilja mellan olika typer av ambivalens och att därefter teoretisera strategisk ambivalens som diskursiv strategisering av affektiv ambivalens kring en gärning eller händelse i ontologiska säkerhetssyfte, en teoretisk konfiguration som Irans engagemang i kriget mellan Ryssland och Ukraina hjälper till att illustrera empiriskt. Slutligen är den begreppsteoretiska tråden som går genom alla dessa verk och förenar dem till en sammanhängande vetenskapsmassa ontologiska (o)säkerhetsstudier, teoretiskt utvecklade här med sikte på statsrevisionism och empiriskt demonstrerade med avseende på en klassisk och kvintessensen revisionist skådespelare. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
supervisor
opponent
  • Associate Professor Viera, Marco, University of Birmingham
organization
alternative title
Politisk psykologi för revisionistiskt beteende i världspolitiken : Statssubjektivitet, ontologisk (o)säkerhet, och iransk utrikespolitik
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Political Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Revisionist, State, Subjectivity, Ontological (In)Security, Foreign Policy, Iran, Gender, Self-Harm, Strategic Ambivalence
in
Lund Political Studies
issue
220
pages
200 pages
publisher
Lund University Press
defense location
Gamla Kökets hörsal, Allhelgona kyrkogata 8, Lund
defense date
2025-02-24 10:15:00
ISSN
0460-0037
ISBN
978-91-8104-355-6
978-91-8104-353-2
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3bf77dec-41fd-437e-941e-9ad42226a822
date added to LUP
2024-12-19 15:15:02
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:05:13
@phdthesis{3bf77dec-41fd-437e-941e-9ad42226a822,
  abstract     = {{Driven by a core curiosity about the political psychology of change and change-seeking as opposed to continuity and status quo-keeping in world politics, this thesis undertakes to investigate the ontological dynamics and psychic drivers of revisionist behavior in International Relations (IR). Identifying with a constructivist tendency for “constitutive theorizing,” it deploys—and in so doing, theoretically develops—ontological security studies (OSS) to explore a number of significant identity dimensions like gender, and foreign policy practices such as strategic ambivalence in relation to state self-concept, collective psyche/subjectivity and (in)security of being/becoming-in-the-world. These theory development and application endeavors are all undertaken with special reference to the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) whose selection as the study’s empirical case is guided by its characteristic strand of revisionism and ideological-geopolitical alignment with other revisionist powers such as China and Russia. Within this broad framework, Article I, titled “State Revisionism and Ontological (In)Security in International Politics: The Complicated Case of Iran and Its Nuclear Behavior,” concentrates on how a revisionist foreign policy may provide an actor with a sense of ontological security, problematizing the controversial Iranian nuclear program as an instance of state self-identity augmentation despite its attenuating material costs and consequences. Labeled “State Gender and Ontological Dislocation: Gendering Iran’s Revolutionary Identity and Nuclear Behavior,” Article II draws on Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity as well as post-structuralist critiques of masculinism and phallocentrism by feminist philosophers Luce Irigaray and Hélène Cixous to theorize state gender and ontological consequences of gender identity destabilization at the collective level before employing these propositions in a critical analysis of Iran’s masculine revisionist Self and masculinist reaction to the 2015 nuclear accord. Article III is named “Self-Harm as Desire for Ontological Security: The Lack, Trauma and Iran’s Shootdown of Civilian Flight PS752” and aspires to theorize state self-harm into the ontological (in)security framework as sacrificing the flesh to salvage a fantasized sovereign Self by invoking insights on trauma from Freudian psychoanalysis of trauma and especially Lacan’s theory of subjectivity, all of which theoretical arguments are then instantiated in the case of Iran’s deliberate downing of passenger flight PS752 in January 2022. Entitled “Strategic Ambivalence as Ontological Security: Iran and the Russia-Ukraine War,” Article IV as the final chapter of this compilation thesis delves into the sociological theory of Zygmunt Bauman as well as Kleinian-Lacanian psychoanalysis to distinguish between different types of ambivalence and to subsequently theorize strategic ambivalence as discursive strategization of affective ambivalence about a deed or event for ontological security purposes, a theoretical configuration that Iran’s engagement in the Russia-Ukraine war helps illustrate empirically. Lastly, the conceptual-theoretical thread that runs through all these works and unifies them into a coherent body of scholarship is ontological (in)security studies, theoretically developed here with a view to state revisionism and empirically demonstrated with respect to a classic and quintessential revisionist actor.}},
  author       = {{Behravesh, Maysam}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-8104-355-6}},
  issn         = {{0460-0037}},
  keywords     = {{Political Psychology; Psychoanalysis; Revisionist; State; Subjectivity; Ontological (In)Security; Foreign Policy; Iran; Gender; Self-Harm; Strategic Ambivalence}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{220}},
  publisher    = {{Lund University Press}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  series       = {{Lund Political Studies}},
  title        = {{Political Psychology of Revisionist Behavior in World Politics : State Subjectivity, Ontological (In)Security, and Iranian Foreign Policy}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/206781963/Political_Psychology_of_Revisionist_Behavior.pdf}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}