Research in Theoretical Politics
Year:2013 | Volume:NEW | Issue:13|Papers Count:7

The gravity point of Institutional analysis is emphasizing on the role of institutions as an independent variable in forming procedures and outcomes of individual and collective actions and social and political phenomena. Contemporary social sciences, due to the dominance of background-based approaches (in Sociology and Political Sciences) and quantity-based approaches (in Economics), didn’t give due attention to the analysis of institution variable status in forming social, economic and political phenomena. This article, first, attempts to introduce the institutional perspective in social and political analysis, and then introduces the internal reformations and varieties of this approach. The second purpose of this article is to show that historical institutionalism as a kind of neo-Institutionalism can develop an appropriate framework in integrating the Institutionalism and background-based approaches in political analysis, due to its dynamic viewpoint on the category of institutional change. According to this view, although different forms of institutions should be seen as independent variables in forming the social and political actors’ behaviors, these institutions are developed phenomena in the context of social and political historical disputes.

Pluralist radical democracy of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe is a way to end any kind of innate thought about political life, a way in which sporadic powers, parallel hegemonies and as a result various discourses are formed. Discourses whose predicates’ capacities to satiation and saturating can turn them to hegemonic discourse, but something which seems very important in this radical democracy is that as a result of cultural development due to postmodernism and language games, otherness and plurality in society must be reserved in contest form. Authors believe that against the real world, this kind of contest can be applied in virtual space, hence we call it radical virtual democracy, a radical democracy which has great abilities to affect social and political life, therefore, the main question of this article which we try to answer is that, how is the formation and realization of radical virtual democracy caused by Internet? The hypothesis of the current writing is that the virtual space of Internet with its unique features like hypertext, hypernetwork, interactional action and the decentralization of medium power which is assured by two features of access possibility to virtual identity and technical and non-exclusive skilled facilities, has the ability to form radical virtual democracy.

Power, its distribution, and the quality of government relation with citizens and groups and the amount of their influence on the political decision-making processes are of the most fundamental questions encountering politics researchers. The aim of pluralism in status of a theoretical approach toward politics is specification and measurement of these issues, therefore, it defines politics as the arena of competition for different groups who have access to different sources, as a result, no single group can dominate others completely, and political decisions were seen as the outcomes of balance among forces and an open process. After specifying this approach in association with the democratic thought and the comparison of previous and recent conclusions of it, this article reviews its concrete implications in political order so as to assess the accuracy of its analyses in practice, therefore, in answering to this question that do the available political reality assert the theoretical hypotheses of the pluralist approach, it takes an intermediate status (depending on the kind of conclusion from pluralism).

In recent years, due to evolutions like globalization, expansion of communication, and the formation of new social movements, classic concepts of political sociology like state, ideology, power, groups and social system, class and so on undergone deep changes, so that is seems Marxist theories, positivism and behaviorism theories, Weberian analysis of society and state, elitism, functionalism, pluralism and corporatism all seem to be unable to analyze the contemporary societies. In recent years, the discourse theory could make connections between elements like power, ideology and culture and found many applications in different areas of humanities especially political sciences. It is attempted in this article, after comprehending the discourse theory, the nature of state, the base of social groups’ formation, power, culture, “new social movements” and kinds of discourses quarrel in social area to turn into the hegemonic discourse, to review and analyze the role of subject in political struggles and “status of state” from the perspective political sociology. Some of the most significant results of this study include: the outweighing of culture as the arena of struggle and encounters, attending to “representations”, the plurality of views and interests, desegregation of different areas of society and bringing the power conflict into society and “street” spaces and so on.

Against predictions and despite the progressive developments in communication technologies, not only contemporary human societies are not becoming completely homogeneous, but also the identities, different life styles and also ethical and religious minorities which were up to some decades ago in danger of extinction and losing their identities forever, they are raising again using today facilities and technologies and attempt to express their modes of distinction for others and hence, they can preserve their right to protect their traditions and act based on them for themselves. In this arena, the quality of interactions and mutual and just relations between identities, cultures, minorities and majorities with each other is an issue for which different theories are provided, most of which are taken from the liberal culture and their normative dimensions is related to society and culture. The current article attempts to understand this issue that which of these theories have more theoretical possibilities to become operational in multi-cultural societies? In this comparative and critical review of the most significant approaches and theories of cultural variety like liberal, post liberal, relativism, and Communitarianism, it seems that Communitarianism approach may have more theoretical possibilities to become operational in multi-cultural societies. The current research applied the descriptive and analytic method and library resources to answer its question.

The Concept of Soft Power introduced by Joseph Nye in late eighties has comprised most parts of works related to immaterial approach toward power (especially in relation to USA). The significant point is that the exclusive position of this kind of “Nye-Based attitude” which caused other ideas and comments related to explicating quality of soft application of power to be neglected and forgotten though they have high priorities in foreign policy (like the theory of just war, the conclusion of democratic peace, Post- Grameci interpretation of Dominance and so on). This study, based on the explication of software dimension along with the Nye ideas, attempts to emphasize this meaning that along the process of theorizing international relations, Nye’s view is just one of the theories which emphasize the soft mode of power and we must follow an Ultra-Nye sample.