Iran’s soft power in Syria after the Syrian civil war

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores Iran’s soft power strategy in Syria in recent years. It first reviews the definition of and approaches to soft power in the literature, followed by Iran’s overall soft power strategy during the past few decades. The second part of this article addresses the close relationship between Syria and Iran since the latter’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, which has developed due to shared values as well as shared threats. Thirdly, drawing on a rich array of primary source material in Persian, this article explores Tehran’s exercise of soft power in Syria in the cultural, religious, social and economic spheres. It demonstrates that Iran has invested significant resources in developing and promoting its soft power in Syria, in particular during the past few years. The article concludes that Tehran sees investment in soft power resources as imperative to the prolongation and maximization of its influence in Syria.