POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE
Year:2008 | Volume:3 | Issue:6|Papers Count:9

The Islamic revolution is considered a turning point in the history of Iran, incorporating new concepts in the discourse field of Iran. The political thought of the Shiite school underlying it, this revolution has pursued up to now a peculiar theory on justice based on Shiite teachings. This reality is quite evident in the thoughts of Imam Khomeini and the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamanei.However, the Shiite concept of justice – maintaining its originality – has found various readings based on the requirements of each government and as far as its application is concerned. During the reins of Mahdi Bazargan, a minimalist government was deemed as a necessary factor toward the application of justice. The government of Muhammad Ali Rajai undergoing the conditions of the war between Iraq and Iran interpreted justice so as to be in line with confronting the enemy and conducted a sort of equity in his policies.The government of Mir Hussein Musavi introduced social justice and concern for the down-trodden classes as the principal instances of Shiite justice. However, Hashimi Rafsinjani considered development as the principal factor necessary for administration of justice.Sayyid Muhammad Khatami contemplated justice in the light of a more significant concern, i.e. political development. Finally, in Ahmadi Nizhad government, the concept of justice found a revolutionary and religious redefinition based on the Islamic Law (Shariah).In spite of the development in the concept of Shiite justice in different governments, the preservation of the Shiite foundations of the concept of justice in the Islamic Republic of Iran suggests a theory par excellence in the field of the political thought of the Islamic Republic.

Having its origins in the developments of the 15th and 16th centuries, state, in its modern sense, is not such an old phenomenon. States, the only institutions of legitimate control of power, were able to consolidate the foundations of their governments with the passage of time. Domestic security and protection of the state against foreign invasions were among the first mottos of nation-states. The French revolution and the liberty-seeking revolutions of 1930s represented a new landmark for transition from autocratic states to legitimate ones. The ratification of constitutions and establishment of legislative assemblies gave rise to a new stage of state building. Thus autocratic states turned into legal and legitimate or democratic ones.The industrial revolution and its consequences particularly the capitalist economy made it inevitable for the state to intervene towards supporting the deprived and down- trodden classes.Due to the demands of various classes of people and the advent of socialist thoughts and governments, states had no choice but ratify social laws, support the deprived, and pay subsidies. Thus social- service states or in other words "welfare states" came into being and the concept of state entered a new stage.Now after almost five decades of practicing social policies and state interventions, social service states are subject to serious challenges and different crises. The present article surveys these challenges and analyzes the last solutions proposed by researchers in this field.

Surveying chapter 5 from the second Treatise of Government, the present article aims at indicating the fact why and how this chapter from Two Treatises of Government forms the main axis of economic liberalism in a capitalistic system. In other words, referring in this chapter to the ownership of work and presenting an ethical justification of the possession of lands in African colonies, John Locke puts an end to the disputes of colonialism and proposes a mechanism to the British politicians of the 19th century. This mechanism saved England from social, political, and economic collapse.In other words, establishing a rational and rather ethical mechanism, Locke attempts to prove firstly how and why the large domain of colonies in North America is permissible or legitimate, and secondly with respect to the influence of European rivals, it is considered something practical and rational. Analyzing these arguments and the economic crises of England, the present article seeks to reveal and interpret the internal logic of Locke,s economic theory based on the approach taken by those who have broken the mould of the ethical theory of Locke in the last decades of the 20th century.

The study of strategic plans towards world order suggests the centrality of the position of the Middle East in all these plans. The analysis of the whys and wherefores of this issue is to a large extent relevant to the geopolitics of the Middle East, an issue having long been the concern of political researchers and statesmen and finding new dimensions today. The authors of the present article seek to study the relation of the strategic indices of the Middle East and the defined and executed policies of the great powers. Thus they reach a new image of the Middle East as a principal region in international order.Taking the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and its subsequent developments into consideration, and noting the central role of the United States in this new round, the authors seek to identify, analyze, and introduce the new strategic equations of the region. Studies indicate that regional rivalries would be so tight due to the influential presence of the United States. Thus we would witness an essential change in the new geopolitics of the region.

One of the significant phenomena having long been a big concern of circles and societies opposing Islam is producing a tarnished image of this religion. Being termed as Islamophobia today, its creation and strengthening after September 11th event, has gained much higher priority and significance for the western bloc particularly the United States.The present article deals with Islamophobia in Europe responding the question why this phenomenon arose in Europe and aggravated there in recent years. Historical, cultural, and political factors are taken into account towards studying this issue. We would first study the conception and implications of Islamophobia and then have a cursive look at the situation of European countries in this regard. The outcome of these studies suggests that the normalization of Islamophobia has turned into a strategic goal for the western society towards the hegemonization of the liberal political pattern.

Relations between religion and state that has become a controversial topic in recent years can be studied from three aspects: historical study of societies, analysis of religious teachings and, intellectual deliberation on the necessities of religion and state. Following the third course, we have shown that the only intellectual relation between them is ‘positive correlation’ that has come into existence in the light of connecting each of them with human and his social life. The review of the necessities of religion and state in an independent manner is also indicative of the reciprocal need each of them the other. This can be obtained through studying the needs of each state for a philosophy of being and integrative orientation. And for the religion also, through showing the necessity to fulfill aims i.e. in plain terms: ‘impact on life and human conduct’.

Muhammad Taqi Bahar is known as the master of the kingdom of speech. He is a great man of letters who truly represents the old poetry. He was not merely a man of letters or poetry, but he made numerous political and social attempts. His fluctuating life-time is termed to be as the transitional period from traditionalism to modernity. Not as a political thinker, but as one striving in the field of politics, Malik al-Shuara has made mention of and has advocated the theory of the establishment of an authoritarian state, a centralistic powerful government and a benevolent dictatorship combining the fist and justice.The author seeks to respond to the question why an eloquent man of letters – who is supposed to deal with comfort, kindness, affection, silk and perfume in his prose and poetry –begins to talk about fist, authoritarian leader, iron unity, centralistic order, and establishment of a central force while dealing with politics. It is possible to refer to the evident incomparability of the two fields of literature and politics. However, a more profound contemplation indicates that his avocation of an authoritative state is the outcome of historical background in which extreme disorder of Iranian community – originating from the constitutional revolution – provoked his mind, language, and pen towards the patriotic myth of his mother – land. His attempt was not avocation of a particular individual or progeny, but support of the perseverance of Iranian nation and nationality towards territorial and civilization dynamism of Iranian community.