On December 11, 2023, Master Luiza Delaflora Cassol, member of the coordination and researcher of the Study Group on State Capacity, Security and Defense (GECAP) of the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), made the defense of her dissertation entitled “Bringing Leaders’ Threat Perceptions Back In: The United States Balancing Policy Towards Iran’s Nuclear Program (2009-2020)”. The evaluation committee was composed by Professors Júlio César Cossio Rodriguez (UFSM), as advisor; Igor Castellano da Silva (UFSM), as co-advisor; Andrés Malamud (University of Lisbon); and Peter Vale (University of Pretoria) as external evaluators.
The thesis developed by the researcher was indebted in two articles, the first, of theoretical character, entitled as “Bringing the Leaders’ (Threat Perceptions) Back In: A Realist Theoretical Assessment”, sought to reflect the intra-realistic debate by making a contribution to the long-standing division between foreign policy theories and theories of international politics.
The second article, empirical, entitled “From U.S. to Iran: Balancing Threat Perceptions of the Iranian Nuclear Program (2009-2020)”, reflects on the empirical contributions of applying the threat perception assessment model to understand the balancing behavior in the United States’ (US) policy towards Iran.
In her work, the researcher argues that the assumptions of neoclassical realism can effectively explain state behavior, especially when related to the understanding of balancing behavior due to the perception of threat between the US and Iran, in which to test such contributions, she assesses the connection between “(1) threat levels of Iran’s nuclear and missile program; (2) threat perception of the ruling elites; and (3) balancing strategies”. In methodological terms, Cassol used content analysis, exploring comparatively the statements of decision-makers of the administrations of Barack Obama (2009-2017) and Donald Trump (2017-2020) to elucidate the Iranian threat perception and the preferred balancing strategies embodied by each administration.
Por, Guilherme Schmeling; e João Paulo Valcanover
The work will soon be available in full on Manancial – Repositório Digital da UFSM.
To follow the researcher’s previous work, click here.
