The Role of Political Elite Advocacy Coalitions in the Continuity and Change of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Regional Economic Policy: A Study Based on Sabatier’s Advocacy Coalition Framework (2005–2024)

Dehghani Firouz Abadi, Seyed Jalal; Movahedi, Samaneh

doi:10.22059/jppolicy.2026.423587.2977

The Role of Political Elite Advocacy Coalitions in the Continuity and Change of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Regional Economic Policy: A Study Based on Sabatier’s Advocacy Coalition Framework (2005–2024)

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Seyed Jalal Dehghani Firouz Abadi ¹

Samaneh Movahedi ²

¹ Professor, Department of International Relations, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran.

² PhD student, Department of International Relations, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran

10.22059/jppolicy.2026.423587.2977

Abstract

The oscillation of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s regional economic policy between a drive for independence and a push for engagement raises a significant question regarding the mechanisms of policy change in this domain. Employing Sabatier’s Advocacy Coalition Framework, this study examines the role of political elite coalitions in the continuity and transformation of this policy across the administrations of Ahmadinejad, Rouhani, and Raisi (2005–2024). Through a qualitative approach and thematic analysis of elite discourse, two rival coalitions were identified: the "Resistance-Principlist" coalition and the "Engagement-Moderate" coalition. The findings reveal that while these coalitions share a core belief—national independence—they differ in their policy beliefs; furthermore, exogenous events such as the JCPOA (2015) and the US withdrawal from it (2018) served as the primary drivers behind the shifts in dominance between these coalitions.

Keywords

Advocacy Coalition Framework

Sabatier

regional economic policy

political elites

Islamic Republic of Iran

Subjects