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Copyright of Journal of Middle Eastern Studies / Ortadoğu Etütleri is the property of Turkmen Cooperation & Cultural Foundation Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article analyses Iran’s efforts to maintain the balance of power in the region within the context of the developments in the Iraqi Kurdish region after the Arab Spring. Iran’s strategies to maintain this balance have shown similarities with the assumptions of balancing, which is a sub-element of the balance of power theory. In addition to these assumptions, the motivational aspect of balancing significantly resembles the circumstances that urge Iran’s balancing strategies in Iraq. This study utilizes various conceptualizations of the balance of power to emphasize that balancing is a foreign policy strategy. This emphasis it argues that Iran’s relations with the Iraqi Kurds are an example of ensuring balance of power via balancing. To clarify this argument, case study methodology is used mainly for examining the political developments after 2011. The most important of these was the rivalry between the Kurdish parties after the Arab Spring. Another was the ISIS attacks on Kurdish regions and lastly, the northern Iraqi independence referendum September 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]