POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE
Year:2010 | Volume:6 | Issue:1 (11)|Papers Count:7

Ethics and interest as two key controversial and basic concepts in international relations’ literature have been subject to different debates among the scholars and theorists in this filed. This article is an attempt to investigate ethics-oriented approach and Interests-oriented one trying to reveal the relationship between the two. Furthermore, it will attempt to indicate the consequences of each on international system evaluating the challenges and obstacles in the road and making international relations more ethical.

The end of cold war resulted in the emergence of a new security thinking in the west on the sources of threat to international security and the way of managing them. This is the prism through which the American and European security thinking have evolved on the Iranian nuclear issue. In this research, the development of the western security thinking on Iranian nuclear file is tackled through raising and answering the following questions: “What are the foundations of western thinking on international security after the cold war? ” and “How is Iranian nuclear issue relevant to this thinking? ” In response to these questions, the present paper argues that there is a need for combination of neo realist and constructivist theories of international relations in which both the structure of international politics as well as the constructed identities and security notion of the ruling elites should be tackled simultaneously.

Focusing on the relation between religion and state in general and between religion and politics in particular, the present article seeks to indicate that the process of the political philosophy in the west in the modern era –whose starting point according to the article is the political thought of Hobbes and Locke-is undergoing a development quite different from the ancient philosophy in essence. In other words, this article is an attempt to show that the division of the classic philosophy of the west has not merely been a matter of historical aspect. Rather, based on the reading that is presented for freedom and the relation of religion and politics in the modern philosophy, the modern state in the west is differentiated from the current of political thought and the way of its application in essence. Therefore, it seems that the process of the freedom seeking project leading to liberalism includes not only the features of freedom but modernity and secularism. Referring to the views of two classic thinkers of the west i.e. Hobbes and Locke, the present article seeks to show this link in western liberalism explaining western liberalism with its two basic principles i.e. secularism and western modernity.

There are numerous traditions in Sunni and Shiite collections of Hadith on the virtues and vices of certain cities or regions. Some of Hadith collections have devoted a chapter or more to this type of traditions. Some special works have also been authored on these traditions. By the way, Hadith experts of both schools of thought have considered a large number of these traditions fabricated. In addition to religious motives, one of the most significant causes of fabrication of these traditions is political motives. Taking a descriptive analytical method, the present article explains various political motives in fabrication of traditions of praising and dispraising territories along with a case study of certain fabricated traditions. Relying on the analytical model based on the relation of Hadith to power - motivating the audience by its spiritual influence - the authors have tried to indicate that how some of the Umayyad and Abbasid rulers have benefitted from this opportunity pursuing their political goals through fabrication of traditions.

The victory of the Islamic revolution and the establishment of the Islamic republic of Iran defined certain new responsibilities for the educational system of the country including Howza and universities. Whatever is termed in recent years as Islamization and customization of humanities is one of these issues. Some serious and essential developments are also expected in the field of political science. Since jurisprudence is the foundation of order in Islam, political jurisprudence is considered one of the necessary disciplines in the field of political science. One of the obstacles to opening this course is the faulty and incorrect conceptions concerning the issues discussed in it. It is often imagined that there are not adequate subjects to be discussed in political jurisprudence and it would be confined to the issue of guardianship of jurisprudence. However this perception is wrong in essence.This article studies political jurisprudence as a discipline towards the ways of application of religious texts to the variable facts of social and political life and the ways of reconciling between them looking at its issues in two approaches: descriptive and prescriptive. In the descriptive part, the issues of political jurisprudence in the works of some Sunni and Shiite jurisprudents are quoted. In the prescriptive part, considering present expectations of political jurisprudence, a list of the issues worthy of discussion in this discipline and of paving the way for opening it are mentioned.

Governments resort to instruments of power towards continuing and flourishing their political life seeking to guarantee their national security and interests through increasing their national power. One of the ways of acquiring power and enhancing it is convergence and creation of beyond-national institutions in one region. Taking a descriptive analytical method, the present article seeks to study and analyze convergence experiences in the Muslim world. It is an attempt to show that European Union has managed to reach most of its objectives in the light of the theories of convergence. However, Muslim countries have not been able to take an effective step towards convergence up to now. In fact, various initiatives have been made towards convergence since the establishment of the nation-state system in Muslim lands. However in practice, some of them have failed and some others have continued their activities hoping to succeed in future. This failure is due to different conditions governing Muslim countries. In fact there are great obstacles to convergence in the Muslim world many of which are not found in the free societies of the west. These obstacles are internal despotism, political differences, chauvinism, political instability, regional rivalries, colonialism and Zionism. Out of these, internal despotism and colonizers domination are among the most significant factors intervening the process of convergence of the Muslim world. As a result, the conventional theories of convergence are not enough for the realization of this goal in the Islamic countries. Muslim countries are in need of an example capable of removing these obstacles decisively. This example does not come about but in the light of the theory of Islam. Beyond the conventional theories of convergence and as the greatest unifying factor among Muslims, Islam is able to put the Muslim world in the path of unity and integrity.

Studying important definitions and conceptions of Islamic fundamentalism in the contemporary literature of the sociology of religion, the present article deals with the essential role of social changes arising from the confrontation of the Muslim society with the phenomenon of modernity and modernization taking a sociological approach a descriptive analytical method. The consequences of modernity in Muslim societies have been one of the most significant factors of the emergence of fundamentalism based on the hypothesis of this article. Some minor factors have also been involved in this process the most important of which are as follows: ethnic and Arabic attachment, lack of democracy, lack of education in classic religious studies, and certain events leading to restoration of religion in different Muslim countries. Referring to the present backgrounds of fundamentalism in the Muslim world, the article predicts continuation of such attitudes and inclinations based on historical data.