FOREIGN RELATIONS
Year:2015 | Volume:7 | Issue:2 (26)|Papers Count:8

While Iran and Turkey as two important and influential actors in the Middle East have many commonalities, they have their own characteristics in terms of type of government, politics, economy, culture and even foreign policy. These two regional powers pursue different goals in the region as well as in the international realm. Since 2002, with the coming to power of Justice and Development Party (AKP), we have witnessed important changes in relations between these two countries. This article tries to describe the principles and orientation of the foreign policy of Justice and Development Party and its impact on Iran-Turkey economic relations by using qualitative method of research based on historical and library sources. Accordingly, the question posed by the authors is that what has been the impact of the foreign policy approach of Justice and Development Party on Iran-Turkey economic relations? To answer this question, the hypothesis proposed by the authors is that despite some political-security tensions, economic relations between Iran and Turkey during the recent decade (from 2002 to 2014) have improved in comparison to the past, especially during the 1990s and this could be affected by the economic approach of the foreign policy of Justice and Development Party as well as the doctrine of strategic depth advanced by Davutoglu and the policy of zero problems with neighbors.

One of the approaches in the foreign policy of the I.R. Iran is the "look to the East" policy. Adopting this approach was considered following the passage of a decade from the severance of diplomatic relations between Iran and the U.S., and also imposing extensive sanctions on Iran by the U.S. and EU. Along these lines, the I.R. Iran tried to prevent the uni-polarity of the international system in the post-Cold War era in order to realize a part of its political ideals and goals. In that process, China as a rising power in the international system because of its increasing power in economic, political and military fields was brought into attention by Iranian diplomacy apparatus to ensure a part of Iran's national goals at the regional and international levels through cooperation with this center of international power and wealth. Given this, the main question of this article is which goals are pursued by the I.R. Iran in establishing strategic coalition with China? To answer this question, the authors test the following hypothesis: the I.R. Iran seeks to take advantage of China as a trading partner and strategic ally in the international institutions. The methodology used in this article is analytical-descriptive and to explain the problem, the authors used the power and role transition theory.

This article tries to answer the question that what has been the impact of gas discovery on change in power equations in Western Asian and Eastern Mediterranean security constellation? Given the importance of energy in Israel's security and in the formation of a security constellation in these regions, gas discovery in the East Mediterranean has enhanced the status of the Zionist regime in the regional security constellation and this regime tries to exploit gas as a means for obtaining its regional goals. Generally, gas discovery is the third source of tension in the region along with the two others that are territory and water. Oil discovery in occupied territories has resulted in the policy adopted by Zionist regime to prevent Palestinians from having access to gas resources in order to increase their dependence on that regime through concluding gas sale contracts. On the other hand, this has fuelled tension between Israel and Lebanon and simultaneously has led to the formation of new regional coalitions. Given Iran's high capacity for meeting the energy needs of countries surrounding Israel, this regime tries to prevent the potential dependency of these countries as well as its Western partners on Iran's gas resources, but given Iran's huge gas resources, in case of Iran's serious attention to this issue, especially after removing sanctions, Israel world not be able to use gas as an instrument for reaching its regional goals, especially in confrontation with Iran.

Expanding military relations with great powers has been one of the key goals of Israel's security policy during recent years. This article aims at studying developments in Israel's military relations with China, India and Russia as the most important rising powers in the last decade. The main question posed by this article is which factors have formed Israel's relations with China, India and Russia in the contemporary era and what are the reasons for varying degree of success regarding these three countries? The hypothesis formulated to answer this question is that Israel's foreign policy, despite occasional tensions between this country and the U.S, especially in terms of its military diplomacy, is still affected by the U.S. pressures as the initial founder of its defense industry, main partner in its military research and development and principal donor of military assistance worth billion dollars. The findings of this article show that although Israel enjoys a degree of independence in decision making in many various dimensions of its diplomacy, it has been sensitive to the U.S. pressures in the field of armament diplomacy. For this reason, among the countries of India, China and Russia, its military relations with India has been the most successful, but its military relations with China have faced a kind of dead-end due to the U.S. opposition.

Studies conducted on different countries show that young population structures and condition known as "Youth Bulge" contributes to the spread of all kinds of political violence. Also, the theories of revolution emphasize that this factor increases motivations for acting violently, especially in developing countries and strengthen the likelihood of revolution through supplying excessively the youth with distinct legal demands and anti-systemic motivations when combined with rigid institutions and extensive employment. The theory of "rising young population" states that this phenomenon involves the increasing danger of civil armed struggles and terrorism in authoritarian regimes and has similar effects in democratic countries. This article tries to describe relationship between the rising youth in the Middle East, especially in Egypt following the emergence of revolution in this country in 2011 and the spread of terrorism and violence in it.

International system has witnessed China's rising in recent years. Laying aside revisionist and anti-systemic policies, China has adopted economic development and political stability as its strategic priorities. The philosophical basis of China's behavior during recent years has been the concept of acoordinated but not isomorphic world. It has not only emphasized dynamic and active stability, but also has changed its overt and covert approaches at the different national, regional and international levels to obtain its strategic goals. This article explores the strategic logic and political management mechanisms used by China to achieve its desirable international status. Strategic participation in multilateral institutions, expanding economic diplomacy, pursuing open door policy and complicated interdependence and finally cooperation with great international and regional powers constitute the main hypothesis of this article. This article uses documents and library sources to gather necessary data and to explain the process of China's attainment to the status of great power, employs the methodology of strategic management and applies the theory of constructivism.