Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC): More Than A Branch Of Armed Forces

This study aims at analyzing the role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) extraterritorial activities in attaining Iran’s foreign policy goals. The regime has deliberately supported several armed non-state actors to achieve the goals, particularly as seen in its relations with Lebanese Hezbollah and Shia groups in Iraq, the IRGC has served as a node in providing a broad range of state support. Although the IRGC has the characteristics of conventional armed forces, its extraterritorial activities contradict the legal frame of ‘use of military force’ and mostly fit the characteristics of ‘state sponsorship of terrorism.’ Moreover, these activities challenge international norms and provoke other regional actors. This condition creates an obstacle to Iran’s integration into the international system which is increasingly globalized and interconnected and an environment which is costly to live within and leaves it isolated. These attitudes paradoxically place Iran in a situation that challenges the goals of ‘state security and survival’ and ‘becoming the regional power’ in the long run. Thus, it is argued that the real reason behind the regime’s insistence on this strategy is preserving the current political system and the power of current ruling elites; in brief, it is labeled ‘regime survival’ in this study.

We Have Not Seen the Last of the Rogue State

Viewed at a certain angle, the rogue state seems to be in almost necessary relation with the idea of rupture. As Derrida put it in his 2002 lectures onRogues, the rogue state, état voyouinfranglaise,' “is someone who rattles, who shakes things up, who agitates.” Past and present rogue states like Iran, Iraq, Libya or North Korea, are associated with the acquisition of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), state sponsorship of terrorism and the violation of human rights. These entities pose both external threats to other states and internal threats to their own people. Today, the phrase ‘rogue state’ may seem to be past its sell-by-date. While the term was not coined by the G.W. Bush administration, during the eight years it was in power in the United States (US), the phrase became strongly associated with the Bush Doctrine, appearing in key security documents as well as speeches. Under the banner of ‘change’ President Obama, a Nobel Peace Laureate, has distanced himself from the policies of his predecessor. The phrase ‘rogue state’ has been expunged from the current National Security Strategy, for instance.