POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE
Year:2008 | Volume:4 | Issue:1 (7)|Papers Count:7

Outlining the concept of revival and revivalism, the present article deals with Imam Khomeini's achievements in this regard in both domestic and foreign levels. As far as foreign level is concerned, the achievements may be stated as emphasizing the presence of God and divine values in the field of rationalism, and reviving spirituality in the domain of social relations.Our discussion concerning the domestic level involves the restoration of the real spirit of religion, religious revival along with innovation of religious political aspects within the framework of the leadership of the Islamic revolution, theorizing about the revolution, and the establishment of the Islamic Republic system the notion of which was presented by Imam Khomeini in the form of the new political philosophy of "Islamic Republic" as a new definition of legitimacy and cocepts relevant to human rights in various fields.The philosophy of acceptability or legitimacy of an established system, refraining from imposition of views on people, and legitimacy of their supervision over rulers and governors are also among the rights and issues discussed in the article.Spatio-temporal requirements in the methodology of the religious authority (Idjtihad) of Imam, its presumptions and indications with reference to his doctrinse and ideas as well as commentaries of religious scholars, constitute another element of revivalism dealt with in the article.

The present article aims at explaining the logic and foundation of strategies planned by actors active in security equilibrium of the Persian Gulf for the purpose of reaching a desirable form of the future of the region's security arrangements.The actors involved in the security process of the Persian Gulf are considered to be the coastal states of the region with the triple composition of Iran, Iraq , and the member states of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council, and also the beyond regional powers including the United States, European countries, China, and Russia.The logic of the security grand strategies significant for each of the actors is analyzed in the light of three following factors:a. the principle of ever-increasing interdependence at the level of regional and geographical dependence, as well as thematic dependenceb. the rules concerning the process of globalizationc. specific polarizations present in all international systemsThe foundation of such strategies- depending on the extent of the power and objectives of each of the actors present in the region- explains the three general paradigms of international politics i.e. the foreign policy of status quo, imperialism, and prestige.Therefore, as the outcomes of the research suggest, regarding the logic and foundation of the security strategy of the actors active in the region, the most efficient security system in the Persian Gulf is one which rests on the logical principles of the theory of realism and neo- realism along with the amendments made in them.

Dealing with the concept of velvet revolutions in comparison with similar events, the present article tackles the whys and wherefores of the occurrence of velvet revolutions with regard to the six post-Soviet republics. Benefiting from the theoretical literature available, the article seeks to respond to the question in three aspects: roots, the condition of the opposition, and the condition of the government.The comparative method (convergence and divergence both) is applied in the study. We have studied Georgia, Ukraine, and Kirghizistan applying convergence method. However, divergence method is applied in case of Russia, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan.The study indicated that besides the determining role of foreign factor, such factors as participation of opposition representatives in power, enhancement of educational level, weak solidarity of police forces with the state, and lack of dependence of government economy on energy exports have also been the essential requirements of velvet revolutions.

The entrance of Iran into the new age and creation of a split in the natural current of history and tradition-accompanied by violence, foreign defeats, and colonialism– made Iran enter an age resulting in a dramatic confrontation between tradition and modernity. Tradition and modernity being in an essential conflict in terms of philosophical, political, economic, social, and cultural foundations, the conflict involved the whole society in its subjective and objective forms. One of the principal institutions that underwent this conflict was religion and clergy. The clergy, having been looked into based on religious perspective and religious readings before the age of modernity, began to face various issues which were not within religious context but beyond it, and targeted the very essence of religion and traditional beliefs.Such a conflict took a more serious form when the emergence of modernity in Iran accompanied the domination of the west, backwardness of Iranians, and their inability to react to new crises and settle new disputes.The constitutional revolution, being the starting point of Iran's entrance to the new age and the beginning of a serious and formal conflict between tradition and modernity, gave rise to a serious conflict among political authorities including the clergy in terms of the relation of tradition, modernity, and revolution.The clergy were divided into various groups out of which three are conspicuous: the religion-oriented, the justice-centered, and the religious new thinkers.The present article deals with the views and positions of all the three groups as to the challenge between tradition and modernity arising for the first time after the constitutional revolution.

Instructors of research methods courses in political science and international relations face a number of Paradoxes in the particular cultural and educational environment of Iran. Based on their perception of priorities in transmitting methodological knowledge to students, instructors usually emphasize certain material in their courses at the expense of other subjects. The main paradoxes discussed here are: (a) concentrating on epistemological issues versus teaching the actual techniques of doing scientific research, (b) teaching the fundamentals of research in lecture format versus teaching students methodological issues in a hands-on manner in the course of doing research, (c) placing maximum emphasis on being methodical versus showing a greater concern with useful content in producing scientific articles, and (d) emphasizing some established and fixed principles of scientific method versus introducing the students to the plurality of methodological approaches currently employed by practitioners. Limited teaching hours allocated to research methods courses puts further strain on all-sided teaching of methodologies in political science. Hence, many students who are close to the end of their educational program remain puzzled over usefulness and applicability of the methods they have learnt. Having discussed different strategies pursued by various professors of methods courses to address the paradoxes raised in this article; I have made some practical suggestions as a way of improving the efficacy of teaching methods courses in political science. The data forming the bases of my discussion were collected from graduate students of political science and international relations in different universities in Tehran. Course syllabi were also consulted.

Political trust is one of the various types of trust dealing with relation between the state and people. Researches carried out indicate that political trust has gone through rises and falls from the beginning of the revolution having had a descending trend most of the time.Since the efforts and muttos of post-revolution states have been satisfaction of people's expectations and wishes, it was expected that political trust have an increasing trend rather than a decreasing one. The theories studied in the research demonstrate that such factors as the extent of welfare, life satisfaction of people, basic trust, and the extent of people's piety play a big role in political trust. Likewise, their attitude towards the state including authority’s attempts to provide welfare, religious obligations of authorities, and the proper performance of the Islamic system's access points with people influence the political trust of people.Conducting a survey method with a sample of 441 Tehrani participants above the age of 20, the present article seeks to respond to the question of the extent of people's political trust, and that of the hierarchical significance of the factors influencing political trust among the participants.The outcome of the research indicates that people's political trust is average (52% of high political trust). It also suggests that trust in the political system is higher than that in political institutions and actors. Upholding most of the hypotheses raised in the research, the article come to the conclusion that among the influential factors, welfare state, life satisfaction, and people's attitude towards the government's attempts in providing sosio-economic welfare play the biggest role in political trust according to participants.

It is possible to classify the Islamic trends-established in the contemporary era in terms of relation between religion and modernity- into three types of religious new thinking, religious modernism, and religious radicalism. Taking this classification for granted, we can say religious modernity is an intellectual trend which- in the process of confrontation with modernity and in its attempt to adapt the religious intellectual tradition with modernity-makes a transition from the above- mentioned tradition with a sort of breakaway from the traditional reading of religion. Asserting the inconsistency of the traditional reading of religion with modernity along with its characteristics and requirements, and being influenced by the epistemological and methodological foundations of modernity, religious new thinkers have suggested a new reading of religion the outcome of which is transition from the religious intellectual tradition in Muslim societies. This transition rests on certain theoretical foundations which are taken into account in the present article.