Realism and Un-realism in the Iranian Diplomacy during the Qajar Era (Case Study: The Iranian delegation's activism at the Paris Peace Conference 1919)

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of History PhD student in History of the Republic of Türkiye, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Türkiye

2 Department of Political geography, Research Institute of geographical policing, Security Sciences and Social Studies Research Institute, Tehran, Iran.

10.22108/jhr.2026.148274.2905

Abstract

Iranian diplomacy from the rising of the modern era to the present day has been damaged by unrealism and unrealistic thinking due to several factors such as lack of proper understanding of global politics, The shadow of history, and idealism and ideologicalism. Realism implies the proportionality between goals and strategies, resources and capabilities, and acting based on them in the era of foreign diplomacy, and unrealism implies the separation and lack of proportionality between goals and strategies in diplomacy. Therefore, Iran government by forming the Aspirations Committee, despite not being invited to this conference, sent a delegation to the Paris Peace Conference to turn this conference into its field of diplomatic activism. By using the method of historical analysis, this article aims to examine the question of how the Iranian delegation's activism at the Peace Conference can be analyzed from the perspective of realism and unrealism, and how can its achievements be evaluated from this perspective? The research findings indicate that the Iranian delegation's presence at the conference was not without achievements, contrary to the claims of many researchers. Attending the conference paved the way for Iran to join the League of Nations. The country's national sovereignty and independence were recognized by international institutions and countries around the world. However, there was unrealistic optimism regarding the conference and emerging powers, and territorial restitution and border changes stemmed from Iranian idealism.

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Historical Researches

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 14 June 2026

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