The Transnational Investment Block in U.S.-Persian Gulf Relations and U.S. Sanctions Policy Toward Iran

Authors

Mazaher Koruzhde, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Major/Program

International Relations

First Advisor's Name

Mohiaddin Mesbahi

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee chair

Second Advisor's Name

Ronald Cox

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Co-Commitee Chair

Third Advisor's Name

John Oates

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Kevin Evans

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Fifth Advisor's Name

Benjamin Smith

Fifth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Keywords

Transnational Investment Bloc, Corporate power, U.S. Foreign Policy, Political Economy, Persian Gulf, Iran

Date of Defense

7-29-2022

Abstract

What shapes U.S. foreign policy in the Persian Gulf, particularly toward Iran and Saudi Arabia? The existing literature approaches this question through the prism of geopolitics and state-centered theories. Drawing on society-centered scholarship, in its first part, this dissertation develops a critical political economy framework as an alternative approach to interpret, analyze, and explain U.S. foreign policy in the Persian Gulf. In this framework, U.S. Persian Gulf policy can best be understood as protecting a transnational capitalist investment bloc that links U.S. investors with investment partners in the Persian Gulf, especially in military, energy, and financial sectors that derive steady profits from their ties to the region. In the second part, the dissertation examines U.S. sanctions policies toward Iran within this framework. It explores how a bloc of transnational investors has contributed to the “language of securitization” about Iran within the last four decades to counter the purported threat that Iran has posed to the American-led neoliberal system in the Persian Gulf based on petrodollar interdependence. Overall, this study incorporates a wide range of actors from different business sectors and U.S. institutional structure- that are left out, minimized, or distorted in other approaches- to make a better sense of U.S. militarization of the Persian Gulf and the enduring Iran sanctions policies.

Identifier

FIDC010990

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2235-661X

Recommended Citation

Koruzhde, Mazaher, "The Transnational Investment Block in U.S.-Persian Gulf Relations and U.S. Sanctions Policy Toward Iran" (2022). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5230.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/5230