Iran’s soft power in Venezuela

Abstract

This article explores Iran’s soft power strategies in Venezuela in the past two decades. It first reviews the definition of soft power in the literature, followed by Iran’s overall soft power strategy. Then, the article addresses the broader relationship between Iran and Venezuela since 2001. The reasons why the Tehran–Caracas relationship has significantly strengthened during the past two decades will also be analysed in this section. Drawing on a rich array of primary source material in Persian, the main section of the article explores Tehran’s exercise of soft power in Venezuela in four spheres: education, culture, religion/ideology and social services. The article demonstrates that despite certain shortcomings arising from the significant distance and religious and cultural differences between Iran and Venezuela, Tehran has made a significant investment in resources that promote its soft power in Venezuela. This helps Iran to prolong and maximise its influence in a country located in an area that is traditionally considered to be the United States’ backyard.