POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE
Year:2011 | Volume:7 | Issue:1 (13)|Papers Count:8

One way to adjust the humanities to our culture is the recognition of scientific and intellectual potential of the texts written by Iranian and Islamic scholars from ancient times. This plays a significant role in acquainting today’s generation of thinkers with their scientific heritage. The article follows this aim by bringing one of the genuine fields of political reflections in Iranian history in the first centuries of Islamic era into focus. Suluki thought is one of the ancient available resources containing political reflections upon both pre and post- Islamic Iran. It has various dimensions to be explored, but the basic question is; “What were the foundations of the total concept of power in Suluki thought? ” The article tries to explain the issue by adopting the historical/analytical method and direct reference to the remaining Suluki texts and political literature.

Some proponents of western culture and politics have time and again expressed their disapproval of the involvement of religious principles or scholars in social and political affairs. Because of the importance of the principle of velayat-e faqih in Islam and its special role in advancing the major goals of the Islamic society, we can understand the reasons behind all the sensitivities of its proponents and opponents. That is why the Shia jurists have on various occasions brought up the subject in their books of jurisprudence for more analysis. Among these we can point out the much debated ideas of Akhund Khorasani. This paper has tried to scrutinize the scattered opinions of his together with various interpretations of them as regards the legitimacy of government at the time of the Absence of the Infallible Imam, the rational arguments to prove the necessity of government under the supervision of faqih, and the scope of faqih’s authority. The article concludes by stating Akhound’s view of the political authority of the faqih (the jurist).

Before the Islamic Revolution of Iran, the traditional Bazar was acting as an influential element in the civil society and could in collaboration with the clergy play an important role in putting the Pahlavi’s regime under pressure and bringing victory to the Islamic Revolution. In the post-Revolution era, however, the relation between Bazar and the State changed dramatically. To study this change, the hypothesis of this article has been made. This is a time when the traditional Bazar formally got engaged in politics and took up positions, hence losing some of its previous status in the civil society. After presenting some evidence through the historical research method, it seems the hypothesis can explain the realities of Bazar after the Revolution. The research results show that in the first decade after the Revolution we witness the formation of two different social and political sections in Iran’s Bazar, each having its own specific function.

Freedom and security are the two main desires of all societies. Therefore, providing security necessitates a powerful and centralized government. Such a powerful system needs to be monitored and reviewed; otherwise it will lead to despotism.Hence people will tend to have freedom and that will cause different social movements. It is important to remember that liberal societies need to have people who take responsibilities, are well-informed and shape an organized community. If these things do not happen, they will face chaos.In this article the author has masterminded a new model for analyzing the developments of contemporary political history of Iran based on freedom and security demands. This is named a “Pendular Model” which intends to answer this question: “What is the meaning of freedom and security? And how these phenomena have influenced the developments in the contemporary political history of Iran? ” As an answer to this question, the author has come up with the hypothesis mentioned below and analyzes it with a descriptive and explanatory approach.The hypothesis: Freedom and security have the fundamental role in the development of contemporary political history and the Islamic Revolution of Iran and will influence the future of Iran.

The present article is the product of a cognitive research. It has focused on the conceptual exploration of “tradition”, its reconsideration and dimensions.Therefore, different interpretations about tradition have been investigated.There has been an examination of the cognitive concept of tradition in comparison with its similar and contrasting concepts under western theories.Also, in addition to posing a few conceptual questions, the capability of this concept for illuminating the theoretical mechanism and intellectual system of theoreticians have been questioned. In the end, having established a certain kind of connection between the necessity of tradition and the preliminaries to its conceptualization, and also in regard to various theories such as modernism, postmodernism and communitarianism, under which tradition has been discussed, it has been emphasized through an inductive reasoning that tradition, as an inexorable concept, consists of four components: In the first place, it articulates and strengthens those assumptions which people utilize unquestionably in leading their everyday lives. In the second place, it presents an understanding and explanation of the world and in the third, in its Weberian interpretation, tradition is considered to be a resource for legitimizing the authority which is exerted and which leads to traditional power. And finally, through transmitting values, beliefs and behavior from the past to the present, it is regarded as a source of identification.

The aim of this essay is to analyze the behavior of great states towards Iran during Reza Shah’s rule. With this aim in mind, the two main hypotheses of this essay are: 1- Colonialist policies and pressures and continued interference of Russian and British states in Iran made Reza Shah’s government consider these two great powers as ‘enemies’ and decide to replace them with a ‘third power’.2- German army’s advance on western front and finally its invasion of the Soviet Union made Britain and the Soviet Union to reconsider their view of Germans as their ally and see it as their enemy. In its turn, Iran’s tendency towards Germany became intolerable for them which led them to decide to occupy Iran.After the introduction and mentioning of the research background, we have explained the application of Constructivism theory in the study of states’ foreign policies and international relations. Next we expound on different issues regarding the relations between Iran and the Allies, especially the reason and the nature of the Allies’ confrontation with Iran. In the end, conclusions derived from the analysis will be presented.

International terrorism can be explained through international system's developments. This article is to study the new world development in the context of globalization and its influences on the formation of New Terrorism. The main question of this article is: "What are the main influential factors in the creation and expansion of New Terrorism? " To respond to this question we should consider that systematically, elements of globalization, some of which would cause the proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and a resort to ideology as an emancipation factor from frustration and identity crisis are the principal causes of the formation of New Terrorism. Globalization process has some important implications such as the rise of new non-governmental actors, increase of failed transitional governments, increase of organized crimes and immigration, widening of the gap between different racial groups, advanced technologies and WMDs. These elements are the underlying causes of the formation of the New Terrorism. This article is to offer an analytical model to theorize about and explain the causes of New Terrorism in the international system.