FOREIGN RELATIONS
Year:2012 | Volume:4 | Issue:1 (13)|Papers Count:9

Developments in Islamic societies and countries have always attracted the attention of different governments in the United States. Today, Political Islam has substituted Communism as the main rival and enemy of the West and America. Following the September 11 events. the Bush administration' s approach towards the Islamic world provoked harsh criticism. With the coming to power of Barack Obama, it was expected that we would witness serious changes in the U.S. approach towards the Islamic world, based on his promises during the electoral campaigns. This article tries to answer the question of whether Obama's policies towards the Islamic world have realized the expectations of Muslims. The author believes that Obama's policy towards the Islamic world has not been effective due to the continuation of the pro-Israel lobby's influence and America’s contradictory behavior; ultimately leading to a failure to boost the United States’ profile among Muslims. Therefore, we witness continuity rather than change in the U.S policy towards the Islamic world under the Obama administration.

Despite theoretical elaborations on hegemony and hegemonic power and the ways in which it plays the role of protector of the status quo in the international system, little has been said about its relations with revolutionary states challenging the existing order. This article seeks to analyze the relations of hegemonic power with revolutionary states and the mechanisms through which the former seeks to influence the latter. The case study of choice is U.S. -Iran relations. “Pressure diplomacy” is observed as the major means through which the hegemon seeks to affect the behavior of the revolutionary state. The case study shows how the hegemon acts more on the basis of its perception, rather than actual behavior, of a revolutionary state, which leads to continuity in its general approach toward it. It also shows that the slight changes in the hegemon’s policies are mostly due to domestic factors.

This article studies the theoretical aspects of the disintegration in relations between Iran and the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council, without putting an emphasis on a given period. The main question is why such ties have moved towards disintegration, despite the many common grounds for integration between the two sides. The author’s hypothesis is that the disintegration of ties between Iran and GCC members is due to the existing state of the international system as well as lack of common norms. Due to this latter factor, the author argues that there is no ground for creating a common identity; thus leading to the existing rivalry as well as lack of confidence and regional awareness between the two sides. Because of the impact of these factors, there has been no amelioration in bilateral relations during the ninth and tenth Iranian governments. Instead, the disintegration of ties has been aggravated. The author concludes that due to the impact of these variables, integration between Iran and GCC states is a difficult task. Then, the author presents some options that will facilitate a transition from the existing anarchy to a collective identity, paving the way for cooperation and interaction.

"European Islam" is a concept increasingly discussed in social and cultural circles devoted to addressing the problem of Muslims in Western Europe. European Islam is synonymous with human rights-friendly Islam, Europe-friendly Islam, acceptable Islam, secular Islam, modern Islam, national Islam -such as French Islam, English Islam, globalized Islam and Euro–Islam - and sometimes, moderate Islam. This article studies this idea by describing its different interpretations in the intellectual and cultural context of Western Europe. European Islam, which has been advanced only as an idea due to the lock of consensus on its theoretical bases, is considered as a project based on some policies regarding religious management in Western Europe aimed at secularizing the beliefs of Muslims in Europe with the least negative reaction among them. Therefore, although there is no single interpretation of the idea of European Islam, its conceptual ambiguity does not lead to European’ negligence of its functions beyond and within the boundaries of Europe.

The perception of democracy as an abstract-concrete concept containing many civil-political channels for the presence of diverse socio–political forces, paving the way for the transformation of awareness into political action, has undergone some changes with the advent of the 21st century. The origins of these developments stem from demands from below (civil demands of citizens) and pressures from the top (process of globalization). The question then is which factors threaten democracy in the era of globalization? While accepting the undebatable impacts of globalization - such as the relegation of democracy to sub or supra-national levels and restructuring of democracy in new forms, such as democracy in international and regional organizations - this article tries to test the hypothesis that globalization has led to the formation of threatening factors in different areas. While it potentially provides lifeblood for democracy, it also necessitates changes in its content and threatens its existence. Also, this article studies the political pathology of democracy (recognition of weakness in factors like responsiveness, participation, transparency and responsibility; all constituting the features of democracy) both in nation-states and in the new forms of democracy witnessed in international and regional democracies.

This article studies the root causes of the extensive changes that led to the toppling of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Following three decades of Mubarak's authoritarian rule, Egyptians who lost their hope in removing him from power through legal mechanisms in the framework of the existing structure resorted to a public revolt. In fact, major changes in Egyptian society and increase in public awareness - especially among the youth - drove this revolt. It took only 18 days for the Egyptians to bring down Mubarak. The extensive changes that Egypt has experienced since early 2011 are not the natural product of one or two internal or external factors. In this article, the author mostly addresses the internal factors responsible for the fall of Mubarak. However, foreign issues such as the downgrade of Egypt's regional status are mentioned. The timeframe in this article covers the years leading to Mubarak's fall, specifically from 2005 to 2011. However, the author makes some references to earlier periods when explaining factors affecting the abovementioned changes.

Within the framework of an international political economy approach, this article analyses the increasing distance between Russia and the European Union (EU) in their interdependent relationship, with regard to oil and gas. Russia’s need to export its oil and gas to European markets has led to mutual dependence that precludes the instrumentalization of energy and pipeline policy as a factor of Russian foreign policy in the age of globalization. The author argues that using its energy sources and pipeline monopolies as a political instrument to enforce its economic and geopolitical interests will be self-defeating for Russia in terms of its long-term strategic interests. Furthermore, this article attempts to outline the main obstacles for Russia in the Eurasian energy market, such as the presence of China, the European Union and the United States.

India’s considerable economic leap and its transformation into a major power is an important development that has attracted many scholars’ attention. In political aspects, the concurrent economic development and evolution of Indian foreign policy is remarkable. This article seeks to outline the effect of the evolution of Indian foreign policy on the country’s economic development. The main hypothesis is that the evolution of Indian foreign policy has had positive effects on economic development. The conclusion shows that the shift from idealism to realism and then liberalism in Indian foreign policy has provided suitable conditions for the entry of developmental discussions in foreign policy. Thus, India has managed to achieve economic development by adopting a developmental foreign policy.