From paradox to policy: the construction of Islam in Azerbaijan’s foreign policy discourse

Abstract

Surrounded by neighbours with close ties between religion and state, Muslim-majority Azerbaijan distinguishes itself in the region through its strong commitment to state secularism. However, despite Azerbaijan's strong commitment to secularism and its active securitization and crackdown on Islamic movements, the country incorporates Islamic discourse in its foreign policy. This study explores this apparent contradiction by examining how Islam is discursively constructed within Azerbaijan’s foreign policy between 2011 and 2020, and how these constructions contribute to shaping the country's foreign policy identity. Existing research on the role of religion in Azerbaijan’s foreign policy has mostly taken a realist approach, viewing secularism and religion as existing within a binary framework. In contrast, this research adopts a post-secular perspective, viewing religious and secular discourses as interacting in dialogue rather than existing in opposition. By applying Lene Hansen’s poststructuralist theory of foreign policy and its associated method of poststructuralist discourse analysis, this thesis then examines how Islam is represented in Azerbaijan’s foreign policy discourse and how these representations engage in a post-secular dialogue with secularist discourse to shape key aspects of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy identity. This approach reveals that Azerbaijan’s foreign policy discourse constructs Islam as a force of solidarity and as an element of national heritage. These representations feature in a post-secular identity where Islam complements secular portrayals of Azerbaijan as a nation committed to both solidarity and heritage, endowing Azerbaijan’s foreign policy identity with both religious and secular meaning. Embodying both these aspects allows Azerbaijan to claim an identity characterized by duality. By differentiating itself from Others that lack this duality, Azerbaijan constructs itself as exceptional and morally virtuous.