Foreign Cultural Policy of Modern Iran: Russian Vector

Abstract

The article considers Iran’s foreign cultural policy after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The authors emphasize the main stages of the development of its ideological foundations and focus on its modernization in the early 21st century. Special attention is paid to the analysis of substantive foundations of the foreign cultural policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in particular, to how its basic ideas, directions and forms have evolved since the 80-s of 20th century, when the highest spiritual leader of Iran was Musavi Khomeini, and till present day. The article explores the concept of the “Dialogue of cultures and civilizations” proposed by the President Mohammad Khatami at the cusp of the 20th–21st centuries as an Iranian invariant of the Anglo-Saxon concept of soft power, as well as a phenomenon of scientific-and-technological and cultural jihad, announced in 2010 by the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The authors conclude that in the early 2000-s Iran’s foreign cultural policy underwent a major transformation, passing from the “cultural struggle against Western influence” to the development of a “dialogue of cultures and civilizations.” The foreign cultural policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is developing in many directions, analyzed by the authors of the article, namely: classical and modern literature, filmmaking, classical and modern music, science and education. Considerable attention is paid to the promotion of the Persian language and development of tourism. The main directions of Iran’s external cultural policy are also examined in detail on the example of cooperation with Russia and its individual regions. IRI successfully implements various projects in Russia, in which the main goals and directions of its foreign cultural policy, rich historical traditions of the country and its new achievements are reflected.