Political International Researches
Year:2011 | Volume:3 | Issue:6|Papers Count:10

The world is on the verge of one of the biggest changes in the history of man, the quick changes which do not provide the opportunity for cultural education, creating norms, finding identity and adapting with the social conditions. These changes are so fast that according to Bourdieu one does not have the opportunity to mentally and subjectively interact with it. In fact the process of globalization which is referred to it as compression of time and place can threaten the traditional cultures and can lead to diffusion of global culture and values. These developments can cause great changes in different fields including the collective kind of identity (specially the national identity as an all inclusive level of collective identity). A look at the theories of globalization and other explanations related to it reveals that globalization offers opportunities as well as challenges. In this direction the important matters is protecting different layers of identity of the citizens in their constructive interaction with outside world and making use of the opportunities of globalization like communication and information technology and not resisting and confronting it. The integration and joining of the developing countries to the process of globalization does not mean westernization or renouncing or losing one’s essential identity but it means accepting it like a critical phenomenon in the turbulent path of globalization and a departure from a maverick life.

This paper problematizes the value and impact of social elements of democracy and democratization. In the first part, I will examine the limits of the liberal and republican paradigms of democracy; I will propose that two social elements of democracy – societal empowerment and social justice are central to the success and consolidation of a substantive democracy. I shall examine Jurgen Habermas’s concept of “deliberative democracy” to explore the social aspects of democracy. In the second part, I will examine two major theoretical trends in the democratization literature: structural theories and the actor-centred theories. I will argue that a third alternative approach better acknowledges the social elements of democratization. This integrative approach keeps an equal distance from vulgar voluntarism and structural determinism; it successfully synthesizes dialectical relations between structure and agency, “causes” and “causers,” and social and political factors/actors. It underlines the value and impact of social movements in democratization. The conclusion argues that why and how the social is essential in the origin and success of democracy and democratization.

The subject of “terrorim” in the discipline of politicl science and especially in international relations has been of importance and lot of attentions have been paid to it. After the September 11 terrorist events more attentinos have been focused on it and this topic became the main issue in political conferences and mass media. The September 11 events became an important historical and unforgetable incident and a milestone in international system and it gave a new meaning and attitude towards terrorism. Since the terrorist who participated in September 11 events were all Muslims and from the Arab countries, the Western mass media which have been under the influence of Jewish and Zionist circles tried to substantiate that Islam is having a terrorist nature and the Muslims and Arabs are participating in suicide attacks. The Western media in their interpretation and analysis considered Islamic Jihad sysnoymous with terrorism. As such, many people in the Western countries are of the view that Islamic contermporary civilization is related to terrorism and the terrorist events are having the backing of Islamic thinking and beliefs. Thus in the present article an attempt has been made to give a historical introduction about terrorism and define it, then the article discusses the issue from the view point of Islam. The article while defining and clarifying the meaning of terrorism from the view point of Quran verses, traditions, customs and the prophet’s way of life it tries to reject the allegation that Muslims are terrorist and it acquit Islam from terrorist beliefs. It also distinguishes the difference between terrorism and legitimate defence.

The relations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Russian Federation as two prominent political actors in international relations are of great importance. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the NATO as the biggest and most important politico-military organization started its relations with Russian federation as the inheritor of the former Soviet Union within the framework of NATO-Russia Council. Despite Russia's serious concern about the survival of NATO and its expansion towards East, it decided to cooperate with NATO in order to prevent development detrimental to its interests. Although Russia does not have Communist political and economic system, yet the important countries which comprise NATO are aware of the high potential which Russia has to become a world power and this has caused suspicion of NATO towards Russia. Despite these differences there are international issues and areas which NATO and Russia have common interests and these brings them together. These issues are terrorism, the expansion of weapons of mass destruction, Islamic fundamentalism, and fight against extremist nationalism and ethno-religious unrest. The above common issues have prepared ground for the formation of NATO-Russia Council. The aim of the present article is to examine the vicissitudes and fluctuations of NATO and Russia's relations. The article by a descriptive analytical method and by examining the document published by the official website of NATO and the viewpoint of the observers points out the commonality and differences between Russia and NATO. The finding of the study shows this reality that Russia and NATO should inevitably cooperate with each other if they want to face the international challenges and the new aspect of security threats.

The reconstruction peroid is one of the important periods in the history of the Islamic Republlic of Iran. In this period, the framers of Iran’s foreing policy by adopting a pragmatice approach while adhering to revolutionary idealism had a constructive interaction with outside world. The adoption of this policy was for this reason that the public opinion which was under the influence of post-war conditions were not prepared to accept changes like the restoration of diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. Therefore, there was a need to prepare the public opinion to accept these changes. Taking into consideration the above circumstances, what were the foreign policy changes during the reconstructin period and how Hashemi Rafsanjani as the then president made use of Friday prayers sermons to prepare the public opinion to accept these changes. The present article by a descriptive analytical method wants to examine the above issue. The finding of the study shows that the foreign policy of Iran underwent a fundamental change and Hashemi Rafsanjani made use of the Friday prayer tribune to prepare the public opinion for the above changes.

International crises have always been a testing arena for international law. In this regard the conflict and war between countries, due to its wider repercussions and its deeper impact, is a more sensitive issue. The study of the observance of the principles and rules of international law in Russia-Georgia war which occurred on 8 August 2008 can be suitable criteria for evaluating the orientations and measures of the two countries. The question raised by the present article is, from legal point where does the Russia-Georgia war stands and what legal justification one can have for the military invasion of Georgia in Southern Ossetia and also the military intervention of Russia to protect the Russian citizens residing in Southern Ossetia. The article by a descriptive-analytical method wants to evaluate the conformity or non-conformity of the stands of the two countries with the principle and rules of international law. The findings of the study shows that the military invasion of Russia to territory of Georgia and also resort to undue force by the Georgian forces in autonomous republic of Southern Ossetia had been contrary to customary and conventional principles of international law and both the warring parties have breached certain aspects of international law.

The present article wants to examine the social factors effective on the pattern of voting of the people of Ardal city in the elections of Majlis Islamic Council and the nature and characteristic of this pattern. With this aim in view and in order to answer the main question of the article a theoretical framework comprising of functionalism, group pressure and conformity have been used and from these theories nine hypotheses relating to the main question have been extracted. These hypotheses have been tested by a field work survey. In this direction, after giving operational definition of the variables and making use of the questionnaire drafted by the author in which cronbach’s alpha is equal to 0.78 then by making use of Cochran formula the volume of the sample have been decided as 330 person after that the questionnaire have been distributed and then collected, processed and then analyzed. The findings of the study have been analyzed by the help of descriptive statistics and modeling of structural equation. The result and finding of this analysis are as follows: religious belief, education, political influence, social status, executive experience were recognized as the voting pattern of the people of Ardal city. In this direction the variables of reference group with gamma coefficient of 0.31 and coefficient of determination 10 per cent, propaganda with gamma of 0.30 and coefficient of determination 9 per cent, friend’s group with gamma of 0.32 and coefficient of determination 11 per cent, political socialization with gamma of 0.40 and coefficient of determination of 16 per cent, common people with gamma of 0.15 and coefficient of determination of 4 per cent, pressure of group with gamma of 0.26 and coefficient of determination7 per cent, family with gamma of 0.25 and coefficient of determination of 6 per cent, tribe affiliation on the whole with gamma of 0.25 and coefficient of determination of 18 per cent had its significance on choosing this pattern.

The Games theory is a mathematical theory for designing, analyzing, and describing conflicting situations. In this game the players involved, on the basis of certain rules are exposed to several choices. The Games theory is a study instrument for use in different level of analysis, from economic, political and military approaches of the government till individual and group relations. By using this theory one can study the logical behaviour of the players and analyze the strategies that they use and give sound suggestions for improving the choices for achieving maximum benefit and suffering the minimum loss. This theory also introduces a set of related concepts that one can use them as a framework for thought about complilcated phenomena. The basic assumption of the Games theory is rationality of the behaviour and the choices of man. Nowadays the games theory is having application in various social and political fields including elections competitions. In the present article by a descriptive-analytical method and by making use of mathematical calculations tries to explain and analyze how Games theory can be used in illustrating elections competitions( rules, kind of game and the possible strategy). It seems that by determining the strategy, kind of game, consequences, the cost of probability matrice and the equilibrium point of the players based on the rules of the games, one can describe and explain elections competitions. The main question of the article is how can we describe and explain the elections competitions on the basis of Games theory?