Islamic Consultative Assembly and Foreign Relations

Abstract

The legislative power in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran is based on three bodies: Majlis(Islamic Consultative Assembly), the Guardian Council and the Nation's Exigency Council. The Islamic Consultative Assembly has two fundamental functions: legislation and supervision over the power structure. When we speak about the nature and quality of the role of Majlis in Iran's foreign relations, there are two points: the conceptual separation between foreign relations and foreign policy; the triangle of the process of decision-making, decision-taking and the state's passive acceptance of decisions. Generally it seems the Islamic Republic of Iran has foreign relations, not foreign policy in the international system. So there is a state of passive compliance with the political decisions of other states. Iran has little active and offensive participation in the field of foreign relations. This general characteristic in the system of the constitutional law of Iran has given rise to the emergence of passive, inoffensive, disfunctional, and unequal functions for Majlis in the atmosphere of Iran's foreign relations. Since "foreign relations" is a complex entity interlocked with security indices, Islamic Consultative Assembly has not been able to depart from its generalistic role and proceed to a specific one , thus not having an important part in the field of decision making in foreign relations. Adopting a passive position, Majlis has acquired five roles and functions in Iran's foreign relations: justification, acceptance, ratification, postponement, and acceleration of the decisions of other institutions.

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