JOURNAL OF POLITICAL STUDIES
Year:2012 | Volume:4 | Issue:14|Papers Count:10

Stereotypes are frequently associated with negative emotions, beliefs and actions against some social groups with different culture, ethnicity, language or race. Stereotyping reflects certain negative feeling as weakness against not only a person but the whole group which that person belongs to. Researches on authoritarian personality show that the formation of stereotyping attitude has its root in the families with excessive emphasis on certain values and disciplines. Family tight control and overseeing of children also produce stereotyping personality. The main objective in this research was to examine the validity of above mentioned findings. So, field research was used for the collection of data on students from Tehran University as statistical population from which a sample was drawn through random sampling who then completed a questionnaire which provided the required data for analysis in mind.

Party policy making is a major issue in politics, however, it is overlooked in Islamic Republic of Iran. This problem has encountered parties with a formidable challenge which awareness of these challenges could provide parties with a better opportunities in policy formation. This paper, by applying pathological approach, focuses its attention on the behavior of Kargozaran Sazandegi party with the main purpose of proposing how this party could go a head while having a set of logical and coherent policy making defectives.

True understanding of political issues requires exact knowledge of the nature of involved political groups in a particular period of time. This paper aims to apply sociological approach to the political trend in the fourth decade of Islamic Revolution with the purpose of better understanding of political views and the stands of political parties in the Iranian political scene.

Cultural interaction with its formation of grounds based on common cultural values has the power of building convergence and unity among nations both at regional and international level. This research is an attempt to use Shahnameh as a first-hand source in reviewing the historical and cultural commonalities among Persian speaking nations and also to find out what kind of role is needed to played by Iran in creating a more cooperating spirit in cultural exchanges. Holding of yearly ceremonies and carnivals, based on the texts in Shahnameh, initiated by Iranians both in Iran and in Persian speaking nations could pose Iran as an originator and the leader of cultural interaction and cooperation among nations of this region.

Psychology, in its early stages of development, was a field of study which solely and exclusively dealt with the mental state at the individual level. However, with the passage of time, psychologists gradually found some common grounds of interest with social scientists in general and political scientists in particular. Now, a new field of study has emerged called political-psychology which is an important analytical tool of investigation of political behaviors both at individual and collective levels. Concepts such as voters' political behavior, racism, genocide, ethnicity, nationalism, political tension, extremism, war and its prevention have also become the subjects of interest to psychologists as well. Hence, based on the researches done by political psychologists so far, two sets of theories have emerged concerning political behavior, one deals with explaining political behavior at individual and the other one at collective levels. This study aims to investigate these theories fitness as proper analytical tools of explaining political behaviors.

The beginning of World War I, Miraculously Freed Iran form being divided between Russia and Britain. Unfortunately, however, the Persian Government couldn’t take the advantage of the then politically favorable atmosphere in both domestic and international spheres. The Persian Government, instead of allying itself with Britain and Russia, declared its neutrality. But this neutrality was violated by the Central Powers and the Allies. Meanwhile, the rift within the parliament deputies, the cabinet members, and the political parties-and dependence of Ahmad Shah and his principal ministers on Russia and Britain-caused more cabinets instability and extension of violence and chaos in Iran and culminated in the so called tripartite coalition of Russia-Britain-Iran (August, 1916) and protectorate Persia. It seems that the occurrence of Communist Revolution in Russia their occupation with their revolutionary problems were the miracle that prevented Iran from being divided between the two powers of Britain and Russia.

Elections, now a days, plays an important role in citizens political participation and control of official decision making process in a democratic political system. Parliament in Iran has a precedence of one century but because of some shortages, elections and parliament Organization have not been able to accomplish their main function in the best manner. In order to eliminate current shortages of congressional elections, it has been proposed to be conducted at provincial level. However, due to some reasons, it has not been fulfilled as of yet. In this research, we are going to assess substitution feasibility of this layout to current system by using a descriptive-analytical method. In other word, this research is going to answer he following questions: is it possible to change the current system of congressional election at district level? If so, what kind of challenges will be encountered? To answer these questions, authors assume that it is possible to change electorate’s border and adapt it to provincial border even in the absence of required infrastructures. Results of this study reveal that holding congressional election at provincial level could eliminate some of the present problems facing effective functioning of this institution. However, in the case of not providing required infrastructures, it could lead to the problems such as increase in election expenses, entering of rich candidates to congress, and lack of tendency on the part of representative to pay attention to the social problems, public needs and demands at local level.

Political theology is one of the areas of Islamic political thought which holds an outstanding place in Islamic thought. This area, like political jurisprudence, has been considered as one of the most important domain of Islamic political thought of Muslims which has been shaped and developed within the Islamic civilization. Political theology deals with the statement and explanation of theological ideas, views, and thoughts of Muslims concerning politics and social life. Briefly explaining political theology approach in Islamic political thought, this article aims at reidentifying the nature, methodology, features and characteristics of Islamic political theology, particularly Shia political theology.