The Motivations And Prospects Of Iran Joining Shanghai Cooperation Organization

Regional public goods theory considers that regions include many countries,where they have many common demands and interests,while there also exists differences among these interests.When the global public goods are in short or failing to meet the demands of these countries,they will join up,and conceive a set of mechanism or systems to share the cost,so as to meet these individual demands.Based on this,on the basis of regional public goods theory,from the perspective of "demand-supply",this article will explain why Iran seeks to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization(SCO),and analyze its prospects.This article contends that there are three reasons of Iran joining the SCO: Iran's demands,the SCO's supplies and the correlation between demands and supplies.Firstly,Iran's demands.From the perspective of demand,based on Iran's special geopolitical position and national comprehensive power,its "existence demand" has been satisfied,but "relationship demand" and "development demand" have not been satisfied yet.Secondly,the SCO's supplies.From the perspective of supply,the attraction of the SCO mainly contains three aspects: supply details(public interest of economy-security),characters(non-military alliance)and functions(identity symbol).Finally,the correlation between Iran's demands and the supplies of SCO.From this perspective,based on principles of correspondence and subsidiarity,Iran's demands considerably accord with SCO supplies.In addition to the analysis above,from the perspective of "demand-supply" with other influencing factors,this article will also predict the prospects of Iran joining the SCO.This article argues that the prospects of Iran joining the SCO will be influenced by three factors: U.S.-Iran relation,the SCO and its member states' attitudes,situation of the Middle East.Among them,the development and changes of U.S.-Iran relation will have an impact on Iran's demands.After enlarged,the SCO's development will directly influence the supplies of the SCO.The chaos of the situation of Middle East is another uncertain or instable factor.Overall,unless U.S.-Iran relation changes significantly,the motivation of Iran seeking to join the SCO will not be abated;Iran joining the SCO still has some uncertainties in the short-term.In the long run,on the basis of support from SCO members,as long as Iran is not under the United Nations security council sanctions,the prospect of Iran joining SCO is possible or at least can be worth expecting.