JOURNAL OF POLITICAL STUDIES
Year:2008 | Volume:1 | Issue:2|Papers Count:8

In the course of  change in the meaning of the concepts and the types of arguments presented in the field of human sciences, including political science, have been of translational nature and less of critical evaluation of thought and hence, as such, irrelevant to Iranian socio-political context. Thus, present literature in these intellectual fields is not founded on intellectually valid and reliable grounds. The trend still continues to be so. Science production and the imperative of theorization are considered as the strategic goals of political system. The necessity of political deliberation and methodological reflection on the fundamentals issues of political science based on sound and relevant contextual situation of present Islamic society of Iran is a task to be carried out by the politically well trained intellectuals.

United Nations, as a world player, has influential role to play in the foreign policy formation of its members and the diplomacy carried out by its regional international organizations. Hence, it is useful to learn about position, actions and ways and means this institution uses in its campaign against the phenomena of terrorism. According to the findings in this research, there are two main orientations in the official and non-official views of member nations in the definition of the concept of terrorism. First definitional orientation, which is also prevailing one, and is posed by western scholars, tries to classify any violent movement against the political systems of western nations as acts of terrorism and therefore unacceptable irrespective of their underlying causes, motivations, and beliefs. The second definitional orientation, in contrast, differentiates independent movements, struggle against foreign occupation and racial discrimination from that of terrorist movements. This latter position is assumed mainly by southern nations in general and by the members of Islamic Conference Organization in particular.

Despite of the women low profile in official politics and also the imposed limitations on the role played by women as political office holders, political activities of women in unofficial political scenes and their attempt to form organizations and political parties in pursuing their specific goals can be seen from the time of late Qajar dynasty up to Islamic Revolution and even thereafter. On this basis, the main question to be answered in this research is as follow: were the women's organization and parties, formed prior to Islamic Revolution, independent nongovernmental organization or not. Proposed hypothesis in this research claims that women's organizations and parties were nongovernmental institutions, however, they continuously faced governmental interference and censorship if they entered certain political zone considered by the regimes "forbidden territory". The historical method is used in testing the proposed hypotheses. Political activities of two important women organizations namely women's Center and women's Organizations during the Pahlavi era are the subjects of scrutiny in this paper.

There are ambiguities surrounding the relationship of Islam to that of democracy. Hence, the main objective in this research is to explore this relationship free of all preferential treatment and solely on the basis of principles involved in Islam and democracy. Religion, in its narrower sense, involves specific rules and beliefs which ought to be compared to those of democracy, If democracy is viewed as a form of government with certain clear rules and regulations such as citizen's equality, majority rule, popular acceptance and separation of power, then these principles does not seem to be inconsistent with that of Islamic rules and beliefs.

This is a critical evaluation and conceptual analysis of electoral behavior with the purpose of learning which one of the three approaches of sociology, political economy and political psychology explains best the electoral behavior. Hypothesis in this research emphasizes that the electoral behavior is a function of time, context and place, thus, we can not reach a universal grand theory with the explanatory power of electoral behavior in all nations and even in all precincts in a particular geographical unit.

Choosing the strategy of preemptive attack and/or preventive war by Bush administration have brought about new order in the international system concerning Middle East region and Persian Gulf. The consequences and effects of choosing new military strategy by Bush administration in foreign policy are: Breaking international rights, ignoring the role of Security Council, multilateralism, neglect of  the international stability, nation's sovereignty and non interference as the basic rules of modern international system. Bush's strategy has caused disproportionate act of retribution on the part of terrorists and invaders, leading great powers to take and announce preemptive war and/or preventive attack strategies, etc. Criticisms of foreign policy, based on American’s preventive war strategy, can be addressed in terms of legal, political, military and economic dimensions.

After the passage of three decades from Islamic Revolution the question of Islamic Revolution innovations, origins and uniqueness becomes relevant for the third generation in particular. It is intended in this research, with reference to cultural approach and Khomeini's thought, to test the hypotheses that the innovations and uniqueness of Islamic Revolution are rooted in its cultural context. To verify this claim and proposed hypothesis, free of preferential treatment and prejudices, Islamic Revolution with its similarities and dissimilarities to that of French and Russian revolutions are compared.

This paper aims to study the structural process of international system in twenty first century. It is an endeavor to explore the American policy in the Middle East with respect to the strategy of the world new order in three areas of containing energy of Persian Gulf, security of Israel, and prevention of the growth of Islamism in the Middle East.