American Cultural Politics towards Iran and South Africa; A Comparative Analysis

The U.S., Iran and South Africa are important countries in the world. However, while the U.S. is regarded as a global power, Iran and South Africa are considered as regional powers. With respect to energy and mineral supplies, Iran and South Africa are important and effective countries in the world. Considering the expansion of Communism threat and rich mineral resources such as huge uranium, metals and diamond mines, South African countries have gained America’s attention during the Cold War and became subject to special American cultural policies. On the other hand, while the U.S. and Iran enjoyed close bilateral ties before the Islamic revolution, this relationship changed dramatically with the advent of the Islamic Revolution, which swept Iran from 1978-1979, and altered virtually every aspect of these long established ties. This article investigates and compares American cultural policies and diplomacy in post-apartheid South Africa on one hand and post-revolutionnary Iran’s polices on the other hand and looks for American Diplomatic tools and practices in these two countries to find out the differences of U.S. public diplomacy.