RESEARCH LETTER OF POLITICAL SCIENSE
Year:2010 | Volume:5 | Issue:2 (18)|Papers Count:7

It has been argued that political science in Iran is far from practice, has not yet been localized and not found its appropriate status. Apparently, lack of serious attention to criticism is the reason for weakness of political science research in Iran. The objective of this research is to study the status of criticism in political science research in Iran and in this regard, specialized political science journals have been examined in a field study. For this purpose, various types of criticism have been categorized and the number and content of works subject to criticism, compared to the total works, has been evaluated via a quantitative study. For a better recognition of the status of criticism in political science research, findings related to critical subjects in specialized political science journals have been compared to similar findings in some selected journals in the field of literature (which is counted as a local field with a long-lived tradition of criticism flowing in it). Figures show that %8.2 of titles and %4.5 of contents of articles published in specialized political science journals are critical and this is slightly more favorable than the similar figures in Persian literature journals, yet reveals the weakness of criticism tradition in political science research in Iran. Moreover, studying various types of criticism in political science research, shows that %91 of numbers and %89 of contents of critical articles are “book reviews”. Similar figures in the field of literature clears that journals inthis field pay more attention to other types of criticism than political science journals.

Human thinking is the base of all civilizations, and methodology and epistemology that have emerged as one of the main characteristics of modern science is the base of new civilization. Accordingly, we need an epistemological approach based upon new methodologies in order to understand new sociological developments especially the contemporary political sociology. The main assumption of this article is based on this principle that developments in Humanities are in complete relation with methodological and epistemological paradigmatic developments. Therefore a logical relation can be seen between the passage from different levels of individual, group and structural political sociological analysis, to global analysis level, and from different levels of sociological analysis of causal-oriented and hermeneutical oriented theories, to integrative theories and different levels of pre-modern, modern, postmodern and post-post-modern epistemology. There is no doubt that nowadays, a deep understanding of scientific disciplines especially in political sociology, would be impossible, without an epistemological approach. And unquestionably, any improvement in the situation of political research and education depends on such an understanding. 

It is now more than a century that International Relations (IR), mainly as a subfield of Political Science, is being taught in Iran. However, there is almost no research about how IR is taught in Iran. Using survey method, based on questioning, survey via questionnaires and interviews, this paper seeks to answer the following questions: 1) what are the main IR theories taught in the Iranian universities, 2) which texts (Persian and English) are basically being used in teaching IR in Iran, and 3) what are the main ways IR is taught by the Iranian professors. By answering these questions, we can find out if other theories/approaches than the mainstream IR theories are being taught in the Iranian universities, what are the main challenges IR teaching in Iran is dealing with, and what are the prospects for IR teaching in Iran to contribute the strengthening nonwestern theories of international relations. This paper is based on a preliminary research which may open a new door to future researches in this regard.

There are different and contradictory approaches and views over the possibility/impossibility of an Islamic theory of international relations. This divergence of views is a result of possible relationship between religion and science and consequently different expectations from Islam in social arenas and in the field of sciences. Therefore, in spite of huge intellectual endeavors, no logical and coherent Islamic international theory has been developed so far. This article argues that it is possible to develop an Islamic theory of international relations based on presumptions logically derived from Islamic teachings. Such a theory has an explanatory, normative, constitutive and critical nature and its objective is to describe, illuminate, realize and interpret the existing international relations and explain how it is generated and changed and prescribe the favorable international order. 

A lack of empirical studies in researching political science in Iran is obvious, particularly if compared to other social science disciplines such as sociology, psychology and education. Major published articles in political science in Iran are not based on primary empirical data collected by the author (s) and rely mainly on the existing secondary data. Library researches and, to a smaller extent, document studies constitute the main method of collecting data for producing scientific articles in this discipline. In spite of growing number of published papers based on empirical data in recent years in Iranian political science journals, there has not yet been sufficient development in empirical researches among Iranian political scientists. Empirical studies in the field of political science are for the most part, carried out in the form of mainly funded quantitative/statistical research projects. However, even their findings are rarely available to other researchers and usually filed as confidential. The main consequence of this situation in the field of political science researches is the paucity of empirical data available to researchers for secondary analyses and limited accumulation of knowledge over behaviors of various political actors, whether individual or institutional. This article discusses factors and reasons behind the apparent shortage of empirical researches in Iranian political science and advances the argument that, aside from some structural and institutional factors such as the lack of sufficient financial supports by academic and scientific institutions and difficulties in collecting empirical data in the country, misconceptions over empirical methods and its requisites account for part of the prevalent inattentions to these types of researches. Changing such perceptions, particularly regarding the split between quantitative and qualitative methods, may help researchers to expand empirical researches. 

Establishing appropriate relationship between theory and research is an important factor in development of scientific disciplines and production of knowledge in different disciplines including social science and in particular, International Relations. The PhD dissertations, where the main objective is to reach to appropriate scientific outcomes, constitute one arena of producing knowledge in all countries. Therefore, existence of an appropriate relation between theoretical frameworks and empirical studies of PhD dissertations is considered as one of the conditions of success in knowledge production. The reason for this research, as a probing and describing research, is to attain a general picture of the state of relationship between theory and research in international relations PhD dissertations in three major Iranian state universities which have PhD program in this discipline. Our research findings show serious difficulties in understanding and practical establishment of relationship between theory and research. These findings show also that research is not directly relied on propositions and hypothesis of theories, not any attempt has been made to improve theories, theories have not been verified, testing particular theories and propositions are not considered and no grounded theory (reaching a theory through empirical studies) is offered.

Rapid developments in the contemporary world and extremely increasing needs of scientific and administrative circles for a better and more realistic understanding of the global phenomena, processes and developments have rapidly changed the academic education system in many countries accordingly. Considering such presupposition, it is obvious that the Iranian education system needs to be dynamic, adaptive and responsive in this extremely changing modern world. Many of the course syllabi in Bachelor’s Degree Program in political science, which have been sketched in the atmosphere of early years of Islamic Revolution of Iran, also need to be revised, in order to be more in line with the current realities and demands. Therefore, in this article, we seek to offer some suggestions for revision of the syllabus of one of the BA courses in political science-foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. To gather our data, we used survey method. Our research population consisted of 223 BA students of political science from five universities and 11 university professors, who have had a long experience of teaching in this course. We found that the revision of the syllabus of this course is a must, regarding the domestic, regional and international changes, and in accordance to demands of the academic community. Also, this article highlights the weaknesses of the existing syllabi, and offers some recommendations for their improvement.