Political Quarterly
Year:2021 | Volume:51 | Issue:2|Papers Count:12

The onset of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has weakened traditional diplomacy in the field of international relations. As a result, interest in digital diplomacy and the activities in cyberspace have been growing by a multitude of administrative departments across government agencies in the world. The United States Department of State (U. S. DOS) has also become more prominent in digital diplomacy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic by constructing strategic narratives against China. A key objective of this study is to explore the content and main reasons for narrative against China by using MAXQDA10 software package which is suitable for qualitative data analysis. A three-step coding is used to collect data in the content of Twitter, Instagram and YouTube accounts and channels of the U. S. Department of State to manipulate perceptions of the danger that China poses. The questions raised in this research are as follows: 1-With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, how does the U. S. State Department express its goals and aspirations in the international system related to attitude of the U. S. toward China by constructing strategic narratives? 2-Why is the United States promoting these narratives? After studying the three U. S. DOS accounts, it became clear that the main US foreign policy agency was attempting to highlight two strategic narratives: a) The right conduct of the United States in foreign and domestic policy and b) the wrong conduct of China in foreign and domestic policy. In the strategic narrative of the morally good or correct foreign and domestic policy behavior of the U. S., two genres were extracted (the savior of the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, the responsible state confronting China's misguided policies). In the strategic narrative of the China's wrong foreign and domestic policy behavior, two other genres were observed (China acting as a non-transparent and irresponsible government in this outbreak, an authoritarian state at home and an aggressive power abroad). Clearly, the U. S. government portrays China as a threat to its hegemony, and has taken advantage of the international community’ s interest in the origins of the coronavirus pandemic to promote its anti-China agenda. In order to understand the importance of communication in international relations, the authors have used the theories of image and strategic narrative. Image theory show the perception of politicians and other actors of each other on any subject. Image theory is appropriate for the analysis of the nature of relationships in interactive contexts, because it enables an actor to define and understand one’ s self-image and the image of others. Strategic narrative is also a means by which governments can express their interests, values and aspirations. Strategic narratives are a tool for political actors through which they can change the discourse space, manage expectations, and expand their influence. This is a qualitative study using content analysis method to show the hidden meaning of texts in the digital content of the U. S. State Department social media accounts. Accordingly, 247 tweets, 80 Instagram posts and 27 short videos from YouTube from the early days of the outbreak of COVID-19 in March to mid-August 2020 were selected. A total of 354 contents of the State Department’ s digital activity related to COVID-19 and China's performance were systematically and randomly identified; then they were selected, translated into Persian, and analyzed. The analysis process consists of the three coding steps that are specified using the Maxqda10 software: 1-The first stage is the description stage, and is related to the formal features of the text, such as words and text structures. 2-The second stage deals with interpretation, and is a combination of the contents of the text and the mentality of the interpreter. Mentality here refers to the background knowledge that the interpreter uses in interpreting the text, which leads to the linguistic formation of genres. 3-The third stage is the explanation stage, and describes the relationship between social events (interactions) with social structures that affect or are affected by these events. At this stage, narratives are formed. By studying these three social media accounts, it can be seen that the U. S. State Department is trying to highlight two strategic narratives; the right behavior of the United States in foreign and domestic policy and the wrong behavior of China in foreign and domestic policy during the coronavirus pandemic. The U. S. State Department has highlighted four genres (four images). The self-image of Washington as the savior of the world in the pandemic era is highlighted, in contrast to China's misguided policies. In general, the use of social media platforms such as Twitter by the U. S. Department of State is expected to grow in order to reach foreign audiences with the aim of achieving U. S. foreign policy goals. In the case of China, the U. S. goal has been to justify itself and discredit China during the current outbreak of COVID-19. Thus, two images have been constructed: a nontransparent and irresponsible Chinese government, an authoritarian state at home and aggressive outside. The U. S. government sees China as a threat to its hegemony. For this reason, the United States has somewhat sought to tarnish China's image by narrating it negatively on social media.

The Shiite and Sunni intellectual and religious leaders do not agree on a number of issues such as the Islamic concept of martyrdom. In this research, there is an attempt to explain the jurisprudential aspects of martyrdom from the viewpoint of Shiite and Sunni Islam as the two main branches of Islam. There is a vast difference between martyrdom operations and suicide operations in terms of their underlying causes and characteristics. In Islamic theology and law, suicide which is defined as a self-annihilatory act of violence, is a grave sin. Unlike the suicide acts, the martyrdom operations are defensive in nature, and are conducted in order to create fear to weaken the morale of the enemy, and even destroy the aggressor and the occupier without inflicting harm on innocent people. Shiite religious leaders are generally seminary-learned and many of them are among distinguished and authoritative interpreters of the religious law (mujtahids) and the source of emulation (marji' taqlid). A well-known example of marji' in the contemporary era is Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic revolution in Iran. However, Sunni leaders mostly have earned academic degrees by completing any number of programs in various higher education institutions, and thus lack in-depth knowledge of Islamic theology and religious law which are taught at Islamic seminaries. Accordingly, they are influenced by the non-Islamic thoughts, and some of them have plunged into the abyss of extremism and radicalism with dangerous consequences due to the formation of Sunni militant and violent groups. The authors seek to answer the following questions: 1. Why are the Sunni and Shiite leaders' theological and jurisprudential approaches to at martyrdom different? 2. What factors have led to the intellectual and jurisprudential differences between Shiite and Sunni leaders’ views on extremism? Using a comparative approach, the authors have analyzed qualitative data and arguments presented in the interpretive and jurisprudential works and in the writings of the Shiite and Sunni jurists in Persian and Arabic, with particular attention paid to the relevant Quranic verses and hadiths dealing with the subject of martyrdom. The research hypothesis claims that differences in the level of thorough seminary Islamic education, the degree of independence from the government, the strength of cultural and family ties are among the most important factors which have led to the emergence of differences in the Shiite and Sunni religious leaders’ views on the Martyrdom. There are similarities between the Sunni and Shi’ a approaches to Jihad on behalf of Islam, but their approaches to martyrdom in the fight against tyranny and injustice are implicitly different. Due to a host of factors including different educational, socio-economic characteristics, and nature of relations with the political authorities in the country of origin (or residence), it is clear that there is no consensus on the issue of martyrdom in the path of God among the Shia and Sunni scholars who have different conceptions of the Islamic tradition.

Distinctly recognized as one of, if not the most, influential factors in shaping societies, immigrants and their movement create a dynamic shift in the fabric of not only their country of origin but their host country as well. This transformational phenomenon influences every aspect of individual and societal life from culture and religion to politics and even way of thinking; to the point where it is impossible to distinguish a clear ‘ before and after’ while studying the advancement of a country. Historically, the United States of America has been heralded as a country of immigrants, and a great ‘ melting pot’ . Americans take pride in their multinational ancestry and immigrant forefathers who helped build and shape their unique nation. Without a doubt, immigrants are significant factors in the American success story and its countless scientific and technological advances since WW II. This country has been constantly growing and evolving in a manner which is considered an advantageous asset in its quest for superior international status. All things considered, it is near impossible to scrutinize U. S. immigration policies without a better understanding of the general context in which they are formulated and implemented. One of the main goals is to address the domestic and international factors that have shaped key U. S. immigration laws from 1917 to 2016. In this paper, several key factors influencing U. S. immigration policymaking will be explored, including legislation, economics, and culture. The main research questions to be examined are: 1. To what extent have international factors affected the U. S. legislation regarding the legal and illegal immigration? 2. How has U. S. immigration laws, regulations, and policies influenced its foreign politics, domestic socioeconomic conditions and cultural values? With the help of a neoclassical theoretical framework, the causes and consequences of changes in its immigration policies are analyzed during the 1917-2016 time period. In the research hypothesis, the authors argue that the roots of the evolution of US immigration policies can be traced back to the domestic socioeconomic and cultural factors, but American foreign policy and its standing in the international system have also influenced its immigration laws and policies. The findings in this article illustrate that United States immigration policies have been evolving since its inception; and its historical progression clearly demonstrates that American lawmakers have sought to take advantage of laws and regulations that were tailored to the specific circumstances in any given time period. Legislators throughout the decades under investigation have attempted to bring about changes in various substantive areas of the country by changing immigration policies in order to use them as effective instruments of foreign and domestic policies. These changes in immigration laws and policies have affected a variety of key domains including the demographic, economic, cultural characteristics as well as political and security environment of the country. A review of the international developments that took place in the background of the enactment of these laws show that, although the international environment has been somewhat a contributing variable, the transformation of immigration laws has been related to domestic variables more strongly than previously speculated. Actually, the American people themselves have been the main driving force behind the changing nature of these laws. The nationally-rooted laws have revolutionized American society in such a way that their impact is evident in every domain of the society. With the growth and maturity of the fledgling country, its immigration system has also evolved from an affiliated, subordinate unit to an independent institution within the federal government. The significance of this organization can be clearly seen in the aftermath of the 9/11 events, when the security situation inside the country shifted from a relativelyclosed state to a completely-closed state. However, one cannot ignore the role played by the international environment as an effective factor in enabling and facilitating the changes in the U. S. immigration system over the years. Today, the US immigration system is arguably a prominent factor in shaping many aspects of the country’ s development. Therefore, it is an important subject to be addressed by dedicating academic time and attention to analyze the causes and consequence of the immigration laws for the U. S. domestic and foreign policy priorities, and for the international community as a whole. In reference to the question of the factors influencing American immigration policy, it is noteworthy to mention that over time, the immigration system has moved from an externally-to internally-influenced system, taking into consideration that the international environment has always played a key role in policymaking. Furthermore, it is argued that that United States is an evolving state that constantly adapts to its domestic conditions. Although foreign policy considerations have always played an indisputable role, over time as the system has evolved, the United States domestic security priorities have become increasingly significant factors in immigration policymaking. Moreover, contrary to popular belief and the nostalgic romanticism of this ‘ melting pot’ , revolutionary changes in immigration policy have invariably led to newly constructed barriers. Moreover, despite the fact that the legacy of this nation is built on the efforts of immigrants, the new potential migrants are in fact perpetually prevented open access and must overcome countless hurdles to gain entry into the country. These restrictions will remain in effect for the time being, but the striking projected demographic condition shows that in the near future, immigrants and their children will make up the majority of the American population. In turn, this will inevitably affect all aspects of policy-making, and there will undoubtedly be a significant shift in the immigration system.

Diplomacy is one of the most important foreign policy instruments available to a country’ s leaders. The government officials and agents regularly have been forced to establish good relations with their neighbors and used diplomatic means in addition to military and economic ones in order to protect the country’ s political sovereignty and geographical territory, and to make progress towards achieving their national goals. During its rule, the Safavid dynasty of Iran (circa 1501-1736) inevitably had to communicate properly with the neighboring countries and its contemporary great powers, in pursuit of the survival of its political rule, the preservation of its geopolitical status, the protection of the country's independence from foreign domination, preventing other governments from interfering in their internal affairs, the safeguarding of national identity, and the achievement of its religious goals. In fact, the use of diplomatic, military and economic instruments of foreign policy showed remarkable complexity and skills in the Safavid diplomacy, which enabled the rulers to maintain the politicalreligious structure of their kingdom in competition with the three Sunni governments of the Ottomans, the Uzbeks and the Timurids of India. One of the main objectives of the authors is to study Safavid foreign relations as related to its civilizational process, and try to find suitable answers to the following questions: 1-How did the Safavids used diplomacy to achieve their foreign policy objectives? 2-What was the effect of diplomacy on the advancement of Islamic civilization in the Safavid era? Inspired by the theory of realism as advanced by scholars such as Thucydides, Machiavelli, Hobbes, as well as Jean-Baptiste Colbert and Friedrich List, the authors who do not necessarily agree with all the arguments set forth by these realists, emphasize the central role of government, security, and power in international affairs. Most realist scholars have argued that nation-states must use historical experiences rather than abstract principles to achieve their national goals, but it is clear that these goals may be harmful for the rival and antagonist states, and may even not be beneficial for the allied and non-hostile states. The realist approach seems to be a proper and practical approach for the study of foreign relations, because it underlines the effective and sensible use of power by governments in order to find ways of securing their national interests. Actually, the concept of national interest is one of the key concepts that has been elaborated by the theorists of the school of realism, and is a constant criterion by which political action should be evaluated and foreign policy objectives should be defined. The Safavids apparently had premeditated and flexible tactics of using constructive diplomatic tools in their interactions with the regional and extra-regional countries, while following and emphasizing some consistent and time-tested principles. Despite their religious fervor, the Safavid rulers who declared Shi’ ism as the state religion, had decided to tolerate other religions inside the county and in its relations with Europe. The research hypothesis assumes that the Safavid reliance on the use of diplomacy as one of the most important instruments of foreign policy had positive consequences for the development of the Safavid civilizational character, and the power and success of the Persian Empire. With a historical approach to understanding past events, the hypothesis is tested by the use of a qualitative method of analyzing historical documents in an effort to examine the evidence contained in what was written or said to explain and interpret these events. Safavid were determined to emphasize the principles of Shi’ ism, the policy of open-mindedness and religious tolerance towards the European citizens living in Iran. The Safavid rulers were striving to maintain a traditional balance of power system in Iran’ s relations with the rival empires. They were mindful of the political-military alliance with the European countries who were against the common Ottoman enemy, and who could help them with trade and commerce. The Safavids' treaties with the Ottomans were centered on political issues, while the focus of their treaties and agreements with the European powers was mostly trade. Foreign policy considerations, and national security interests encouraged them to adopt strategic and tactical policies based on a set of fixed principles as well as a variety of flexible tools of statecraft. Neutrality became one of the Safavids' most important foreign policy orientation, which the Safavid rulers adopted after the Treaty of Zuhab was signed by the Safavid and Ottoman empires in an attempt to resolve their border disputes. The new emphasis on following a policy of neutrality was fairly successful in securing their foreign policy interests and goals. The results show that the Safavid state during its long reign appeared as a major player in regional politics and played a distinct role in international politics of that era. It established the principles and models of foreign policy, which as a basis and foundation for later periods in the history of the country, lasted for centuries and consequently led to the prosperity of Safavid civilization. In general, the formation of the Safavid state in comparison with the previous historical periods should be considered as a starting point for the establishment of a new civilized society. They were able to establish a relatively stable order in the domestic and foreign domains of Iran for a long time. However, after the glorious rule of Shah Abbas I (1587-1629), conflicts increased both horizontally and vertically, which eventually weakened the Safavid rule. Subsequent heightened instability led to the fall of this dynasty and the decline of Safavid civilization.

Every society needs an appropriate educational system which is attuned to its existing and emergent political, socio-economic, and cultural structures. The nomadic life has remained one of the important ways of life in Iran, and therefore the authors explore the education of nomadic peoples in contemporary Iran from the first Pahlavi period to the Islamic Republic by focusing on a case study of Qashqa'i tribe and using a sociologicalinstitutional approach. Based on various needs and specific functions, the institutions are established and evolved as time goes on; and their sustainability in reality depends on their functions and the competence or effectiveness of carrying out their assigned tasks. Similar to other social and political institutions, the formation and expansion of institutions involved in the policy planning, formulation and implementation of education programs in a nomadic society have undergone numerous developments throughout the course of history. According to the Statistics Center of Iran, there are diverse tribes who are divided into clans with different history, dialects, ethnicity, and cultural customs. The ‘ wandering’ nomads in 2008 made up 1. 4 percent of the population, and owned about 29 percent of Iran’ s livestock species of sheep and goats. However, no precise data is available in regards to their access to education. The nomadic families who have settled down in villages, towns and cities have presumably access to schools for their children, but those who live in remote areas of the country have to be provided with "mobile" tent schools and instructional materials such as books. As more nomads have gradually changed their traditional lifestyle, their access to schooling has been through the official educational institutions, particularly during the Islamic Republic era. In this qualitative case study, the authors use the existing historical records and data collected in previous studies based on a variety of research methods ranging from participant direct observation, interview, to events data analysis and discourse analysis by prominent researchers in order to answer the following questions: 1. What has been the characteristics and functions of the nomad education program in Iran since 1925? 2. Why and how is the nomadic education system in Iran influenced by the government power structure? In the research hypothesis, it is claimed that the mentality of the Iranian intellectuals and politicians towards the tribal issue has influenced the development and implementation of education programs for nomads in Iran which has led to social and cultural changes, and has had important implications such as the concentration of power in favor of the central government, decline of power of tribal hierarchy, assimilation and identity solidarity of the nomads. In Iran, formal education and training programs were adopted to create educational opportunities for the nomads who had held on to their traditional ways of life, and often had to cope with many social and economic problems as compared to sedentary and less mobile populations. In the past, the central government had tried to transform the nomadic and seminomadic tribes into town dwellers, farmers and livestock producers with the goal of helping them to gain economic selfreliance under the watchful eyes of the authorities who were concerned with national security threats. One of the aims of such policies had been the gradual elimination of the tribal powers. After the fall of Qajar dynasty (1789-1925) and the failure of the constitutional movement to implement reforms and tribal plans, the Pahlavi dynasty (1925-1979) inherited the idea that the population of tribes and nomads should be settled and tribal way of life should be abolished. Nomadic education was one of the tools of assimilating the tribal communities, and transferring tribal loyalty to the central government away from the subnational tribal leadership structure. The tribal policies pursued from the Qajar period to the First Pahlavi era (1925-1941) were aimed at establishing a modern state, and increasing socio-economic development of the country. Due to the weaknesses of government infrastructure, transformation efforts were based more on the use of military means than the cultural ones. The plans failed to bring about the desired changes, and in the aftermath of the Anglo-Russian invasion of Iran and the subsequent political crises which led to the abdication of the ruler in August 1941, Iranian nomads once again became influential in the country's politics. The Qashqa'i leaders were among the main players in southern Iran until 19 August 1943. However, the central government during the second Pahlavi Era (1941-1979) gradually became powerful with the help of Truman’ s Point Four Program and planned to counter the growth of communism among the nomadic and rural communities by a cultural policy which included nomadic education program. This new policy was more successful compared to the past attempts to address the tribal issue. The nomadic education was able to act as an ideological instrument to promote nationalism, patriotism, loyalty to the country, flag-waving, and admiration for the ancient Iranian culture. Therefore, the education of ethnic and tribal mobile communities such as nomadic herders and pastoralists should be seen as an institutionalized arrangement made by the central government to perform functions such as tribal communities' displacement and their settlement in population centers, legitimation and concentration of state power, and the destruction of the power base of the tribal leadership, and cultural assimilation in the name of development.

The discussion of ‘ the political’ is a new topic in the field of political philosophy, which flourished in the second half of the twentieth century under the influence of thinkers such as Schmitt and Arendt, and continued with the intellectual work of Foucault, Derrida, Badiou, Ž iž ek and Ranciè re. Chantal Mouffe is one of the notable contemporary political thinkers, who has discussed the political. Mouffe has tried to provide a postmodern and post-Marxist reading of the political, and to present a critique of the intellectual implications of the dominant traditions in the discussion of the political revolving around key concepts such as antagonism, power and hegemony. The research questions to be addressed by the authors are: 1. How is Chantal Mouffe's approach to the analysis of the political related to the postmodern turn? 2. How has Mouffe concurrently integrated consensus versus dissent, friendship versus antagonism in relation to ‘ the other’ in her articulation of the political as a central theme in her work? One of her key propositions is that disagreement is both legitimate and necessary in a pluralist democracy. By reformulating Schmitt's account of the ‘ friend/enemy’ relation, and Derrida's philosophical concepts such as supplement and difference, Mouffe is able to present a logic of the political that places this phenomenon between the acceptance of the other and antagonism. Thus, Mouffe explains a kind of agonistic politics that is consistent with the postmodern turn, because Mouffe's reading of the political is based on elements such as anti-essentialism and antifoundationalism. Mouffe has placed the concepts of rivalry and antagonism at the heart of her understanding of the political. She has tried to distinguish between the political and politics by drawing attention to the antagonistic dimension of the political inherent in human societies, which leads to conflict and forms of violence. She criticizes the Habermasian vision of deliberative democracy for its deficiencies of ignoring the central role of the conflictual dimension of power and antagonism in politics. In other words, she contends that there is a persistent and all-too-real likelihood to see the transformation of a us/them relation into a friend/enemy one. Accordingly, she put forward an alternative model of agonistic pluralism, and makes a distinction between two types of relations in political sphere: a) antagonism between enemies, and b) agonism between adversaries. She asserts that the objective of democratic politics is to establish the we/they relation in such a way that an antagonism is transformed into an agonism, and suggest that agonism is a mode of political interaction. By studying the post-political trend, she takes issue with the argument that politics in its conflictual dimension is a phenomenon of the past, and the belief that the best type of democracy is a consensual, and depoliticized one. The article proceeds as follows: In the first section, the main points in Mouffe’ s political theory as related to her argument about the political, and what she wants the readers to consider in her writing about the distinction between politics and the political are introduced. The focus of the second section is on a discussion of her concepts of agonistic pluralism, friend/enemy distinction and characterization of self and the other, struggle for hegemony, and the relations of oppression and subordination in modern societies. The latter sections are devoted to the debate that politics is a public space, in which the rules, actors, and configurations of power relations are never easily and fully discernible. Thus, we must proceed with caution when we discuss the flawed notion that we can create a situation in which we can reach a universal rational consensus on the basis of liberal democratic values and guard against hegemonic tendencies. In the final section, the authors conclude with a brief analysis of Mouffe's idea of radical democracy as a form of political community against the backdrop of her notion of the political, and adversarial, agonistic politics.

As one of the most critical junctures in the contemporary international relations, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 played a significant role in the U. S. reinterpretation, and in many instances, redefinition of international law with regard to the use-of-force in particular. These attacks challenged the UN Charter jus ad bellum regime in matters related to counter-terrorism and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Indeed, the events of 9/11 were the catalyst for the systematic disregard of the established international rules on the use of military force, and provided the ideal opportunity to redefine the global legal order. Moreover, a significant negative consequence of the September 11 attacks in 2001 was the emergence of a new complex and dangerous security environment that led to the revival of the use of force in international relations. Following these events, the jus cogent principle of prohibition of the use of force enshrined in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which the International Court of Justice in its judgment in the ‘ case concerning armed activities on the territory of the Congo’ , has declared as the cornerstone of the Charter, was confronted with a great threat. In responding to the events, the United States declared that the principle of the non-use of force could no longer be considered efficient against the threats originated from terrorist activities and weapons of mass destruction proliferation. Therefore, the United States announced its new national security strategy based on preemptive/ preventive actions, and challenged the UN Charter jus ad bellum regime. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, the American foreign policymakers have signaled that they are thinking about the U. S. hegemonic position and its leadership role in international system. One major objective of this paper is to find answers to the following research questions: 1. What has been the U. S. approach, as a dominant actor in the international system, to the use of force since the attacks of 9/11? 2. How and to what extent had the U. S. policy with regard to the use of force changed during the presidency of Barack Obama as compared to the policy of his predecessor, George W. Bush? 3. To what extent and how has the U. S. policy for the use of military force abroad influenced the international hegemonic legal order and international use of force? To provide answers to these questions, the authors use a neoclassical realist framework, which takes into consideration a combination of the external and systemic, as well as internal and unit-level factors influencing the foreign policy of states. In the hypothesis, the authors argue that the post-9/11 U. S. policy and practice regarding counter-terrorism are aimed at obtaining a special status for the discretionary use of force within a hegemonic international legal system; and this in turn has led to the widespread use of force in international relations. For hypothesis testing, the authors have relied on a qualitative content analysis of the official statements made by the top U. S. leadership, and the U. S. government’ s documents such as the 2002 and 2006 National Security Strategy (NSS) of the Bush administration and the 2010 Obama’ s NSS in order to gain insight into their complex security decisions regarding the coercive use-of-force instrument of foreign policy. Likewise, the relevant UN documents such as security council resolutions are analyzed to determine the legal status of the use of force in international law. The findings indicate that the 9/11 events legitimized “ war on terror” in the international system, and undoubtedly led to an increase in the adoption of the use-of-force policy in international relations.

Previous research on the causes of the occurrence of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran have concentrated on the analysis of the political and economic components of this significant political event. Others have considered the social, historical and even broader contexts surrounding the popular uprising which led to an unforeseen political change in a revolutionizing country. However, some scholars have shown the importance of the core ideological component of this revolt. In the first part of this paper, the authors examine the three main theoretical approaches used for explaining the cultural features of Iranian Revolution, i. e., symbolism (symbolic interpretation), culturism (interpretation based on assumptions about Iranian culture), discourse-based (interpretation based on discourse analysis). A comparative analysis of these approaches shows serious and fundamental weaknesses in their explanatory power to determine the impact of the cultural factors on the Iranian Revolution. The authors assert that symbolism, culturism, and discourse analysis are not compatible with the past events, and are incapable of explaining the complexities of this political phenomenon. Accordingly, in the second part, the "Islamic liberation theology" as an alternative theoretical framework is introduced, and the impact of Islam and Shi’ ism is studied to make the advent of the revolution at that time clear and understandable. They attempt to find answers to two research questions: 1. What is the most appropriate theoretical framework to explain the cultural component of the Iranian revolution? 2. Why and how did the Islamicliberation theology as the most important cultural component, lead to the revolution that overthrew the Pahlavi regime in Iran? In the research hypothesis, it is stated that Islamic liberation theology is the most appropriate explanatory factor of the 1979 revolution in Iran. The qualitative single-case study of the Islamic Revolution in Iran was carried out by the interpretation of past events and the analysis of arguments contained in the previous studies of the revolution and contemporary Iranian politics. Given the social context of the 1950s and 1960s conditions in Iranian society, Shi’ ism as a form of Islamic liberation theology was understood and accepted by the majority of Iranians, because it promised freedom from oppression, justice, and independence, just to name a few social and political rights. The Shiite scholars presented the idea of the creation of a new socio-political order to replace the old order which was centered on an absolutist monarchical system of government. The overwhelming Iranian support in a national referendum which led to the declaration of Iran as an Islamic Republic after the overthrow of the Pahlavi regime in the country is an indication of the importance of the role of Shiite religion as the main variable of the cultural component of the revolution. In the months leading up to the Iranian revolution, Islamic liberation theology replaced the foremost competing ideologies, forcing the opposition groups to form an asymmetric alliance with Islamist revolutionaries. Finally, the discussion of the merit of the "Islamic liberation theology" as a useful framework to explain the cultural aspect of the 1979 revolution is the main focus of the concluding part. The use of this theoretical approach is suggested to provide better understanding and explanation of how the revolutionary change occurred in Iran.

Typically, any reflection on transatlantic relations of the United States and European states provides clear indications of the "cooperation-competition" pattern. A very significant aspect of these ties can be characterized as ‘ cooperation’ , but the sole emphasis on this attribute may lead to an incomplete and one-sided analysis of the interstate relations on both side of the Atlantic Ocean. Consequently, it is necessary to look beyond the cooperative type of relations, and consider the factors which might have given rise to conflict and tension, particularly from the perspective of the European side. A major objective of this article is to delineate the evolution, definition and the measurement of the concept of anti-Americanism in Europe. Anti-Americanism has been defined as "operationalizing a set of negative attitudes toward the behavioral dimensions and identity, cultural, and value indicators of [a given] state and American society". It is seen as a psychological attitude which has been formed, and evolved in a historical process. In order to transform this abstract concept into more observable and measurable concepts, the researchers have introduced a few variables and indicators of various dimensions of anti-Americanism. Europe has been at the center of ‘ pro-U. S. ’ or ‘ anti-U. S. ’ currents typically on matters related to its foreign policy, economic and military power in different political contexts. It is argued that the more powerful and less dependent European states (i. e., France, Germany, and the United Kingdom) have been generally at the center of the opposition to the U. S., while the weaker states (e. g., Poland and Hungary) have been among its newer European partners and stauncher supporters. The history of anti-Americanism dates back to the formation of the American Republic and has had its ups and downs in the context of transatlantic relations. The post-WWII European anti-Americanism, particularly after the Cold War has been influenced by various factors at tactical and strategic levels, which include the pattern of behavior and thought dominating the US foreign decision-making structure, international security environment, European identity demands, the pattern of power distribution in the international system, and the scope of the protectionist current of European integration process. Contrary to anti-American sentiment in European public opinion, the dominance of the ideological consideration of the East-West divide in the Cold War period had caused the official anti-Americanism to be mainly based on the U. S. foreign policy, and revolve around soft criticism and opposition or politically-based resistance to Washington’ s foreign policy behavior, influence and role in Europe and elsewhere. The situation underwent a profound transformation in the post-Cold War era which provided a new opportunity for the European Union to revive its identity demands in order to play an influential and independent role in the international system. This in turn became the most important basis for fostering stronger sentiments of anti-Americanism, particularly as it had been linked to challenging the non-European (American) identity and culture. The author is trying to answer the primary research question, which asks: How and to what extent did European anti-Americanism changed during the time period starting in the aftermath of the events of 11 September 2001 to the end of the presidency of Donald Trump? In the hypothesis, it is asserted that “ European anti-Americanism has a long history dating back to the formation of the Republic of America, and has been influenced by a score of factors over the years including the nature of international security environment, the dominant orientation in the U. S. foreign policy decisionmaking, European international identity, and European protectionism in the post-September 11 period. ” It is argued that European anti-Americanism influenced by the European protectionist current has been subjected to four notable changes: Liberal European anti-Americanism (anti-Unilateralism), Modified European anti-Americanism (as influenced by Multilateralism in Transatlantic Relations), anti-Americanism resulting from European skepticism, and European anti-Trumpism. The main finding of the present study is that European anti-Americanism in the post-September era, particularly during the Trump administration, was accompanied by a new challenge called the "geopolitical necessity of rebuilding European emotions. " In this regard, the United States should accept the fact that rebuilding transatlantic relations requires more than just the existence of a "shared understanding" between the two sides of the Atlantic. It needs to concentrate on the efforts to design and implement more effective confidence-building measures to deal with European assertiveness.

There is a consensus among most development and modernization theorists about the specific consequences of economic growth and development programs. The concept of ‘ crisis of development’ has been incorporated into the works of a score of contemporary theorists. Huntington argues that if the trends of modernization and economic growth are tied to the ‘ shock therapy policy’ , specific effects and consequences would be detected. Iran’ s socioeconomic development process shows that the unbalanced growth and development have led to the occurrence of social, political and security crises. The author attempts to examine the causes and consequences of Iran’ s social crises and security challenges during the past three decades. One underlying assumption of this study is that government’ s economic policymaking has a great impact on the processes of economic growth, inflation, the rise in expectations, income and social inequality. Furthermore, many social and political crises in general stem from the socio-economic policies of the state. The 1992-2019 social crises in Iran cannot be assumed to be solely related to the role of the international media or the actions of disenchanted social groups. Government structure has played a significant role in socioeconomic policy-making which has in turn triggered Iran's political and social crises over the past three decades. Consequently, if the country's leaders were determined to fight social threats and crises, they should pay closer attention to the shortcomings of the nature of government structure which has been impeding economic growth and political modernization plans in Iran. The two research questions posed by the author in this case study of Iran are: 1-What is the relationship between government structure, the process of economic development, and the crises in the 1992-2019 time period in Iran? 2-To what extent is the occurrence of socio-economic and security crises related to the growth-oriented nature of economic policymaking, and the lack of effective political and economic institutions which are able to balance conflicting policy outcomes and prevent the escalation of certain crises. The research hypothesis claims that the nature of the country’ s political structure and economic development policies of the government are related to the occurrence of Iran’ s socio-economic crises. The independent variable is socio-economic and political characteristics of a state (i. e., being a rentier state, politically underdeveloped, and socially flawed due to the bureaucratic structure and civil society’ s weakness in relation to the dominant elites), and the dependent variable is the occurrence of social and economic crises. If a country acquires characters of a state which is dependent on substantial external rent from the exports of natural resources such as oil, and its political system is regarded as an authoritarian type, then it is more likely to be crisis-prone. Since the central government is the chief social and economic policymaking institution in Iran, its role in forward-looking economic planning and social restructuring is important. However, similar to other oil-rich states in the region, the government has a rentier nature which has led to the creation of a ‘ limited access structure’ . It is also true that a rentier state basically needs to employ the mechanisms of authoritarian actions. Authoritarianism in any developmental state is a function of a score of factors such as its cultural attributes, types of economic and political systems, its sources of power, and its relative status in the international system. Using the theory of historical institutionalism, and the method of qualitative content analysis, the author evaluates Iran's economic development programs and explores the research findings of the relevant studies of economic policy in order to explain the consequences of Iran's economic policies. It can be argued that the causes of the occurrence of social crises in the country must be searched among external factors such as sanctions and the nature of the international economic system, but the results show that the ‘ Limited Access Order’ has influenced Iran's socio-economic policies, and in turn the rise of its crises over the past decades. During 1992-2019, signs of challenging social and economic crises were observed in Iran; and the root causes of these crises can be found in the rentier state and limited access order. A considerable part of Iran’ s economic and social policies has been influenced by the “ limited access structure” , in which public policies are formulated and executed in such a way that profits are reaped by the governing elites and dominant oligarchy. Many of the social and economic crises of Iran from 1992 to 2019 were the consequences of the growth-driven and shock-centered economic policymaking, and insufficient attention paid to the need to reform the limited access structure, which has been an obstacle to achieve the goals of balanced development. The manners in which the principal political institutions attempted to regulate a variety of economic and social policies such as the petrol price hike and the passage of the 2019 Budget Act show the inadequate and ineffective supervision of the three branches of the government on the country’ s economic policymaking in many areas such as income redistribution and poverty-reduction programs. Therefore, if the country’ s policymakers were determined to control the sources of destabilizing threats and prevent the occurrence of social crises, they should overcome the weaknesses in the implementation of economic growth and political modernization programs on the basis of the past experiences of Iran.

The 1961-1971 land reform in Iran was one of the transformative processes with implications for the contemporary Iranian politics, and the country’ s economic and social conditions. The initial idea behind the implementation of the new policy was to facilitate the central government’ s dominating control over all corners of Iranian society even in the remotest provinces from towns to countryside. One of the objectives of the authors has been the analysis of the consequences of the land reform program, which was distinctly successful in putting an end to the usage of such terms as feudal, lord, nobleman, and major landowner. However, one cannot ignore the shortcomings in its implementation, which will be the main focus of the present paper. By emphasizing the issues related to domination and authoritarianism, the existing historical data about the land reform program are collected and analyzed within the framework of the anthropological model of Joel S. Migdal. It is useful to explain the interface between state, and different social actors in all aspects of social practice and life experience. The anthropology of the state is a transcendence of the tendency in social science research to see the state as an organic, integrated, and separate actor from society. As a result, some analysts have been concerned with the dynamics of the current struggles for domination in societies, where the components of the state have played different roles in almost every aspect of life at various levels. These conflicts are not just about who controls the top leadership positions in the government. Also, these struggles do not always take place between principal social forces (e. g., government, social classes, civil society, etc. ) Instead, the struggle for domination is taking place at different levels and in various areas. Different units of the government are not only connected, but each of them is a social force which interacts with 2F3Fother social forces in collaborative or confrontational manners. Political anthropology emphasizes the pressures faced by the officials at different levels of government. These pressures are wielded at multiple levels depending on the type and degree of government’ s domination and social actors’ resistance. One has to make a distinction between the governmental and the non-governmental actors in order to avoid total concentration on the role of the government agencies at the expense of the other vital components of society which might exert influence in socio-economic and political spheres. A key objective of the authors is to answer three research questions: 1. What factors led to the failure of the Pahlavi land reform program? 2. Why and to what extent did these factors affect the implementation process of this program? 3. How did the shortcomings of the implementation of the land reform program might be explained by an anthropological perspective to analyze forms of domination of the state? Using Migdal’ s classification, the shortcomings of the land reform program will be examined at four levels (Trenches, Dispersed Field Offices, Agency’ s Central Offices, Commanding Heights). In the hypothesis, it is claimed that the sustained power struggle present in a complex network composed of a myriad of national and subnational actors led to a fundamental disruption in the implementation of the land reform program. This research has been done by an analysis of the official documents which recorded the history of the land reform program in Iran, and a qualitative content analysis of the oral narration of the history of land reform, as well as the memoirs and reports published by the main stakeholders (i. e., politicians, bureaucrats, landowners, farmers) concerning the program. There were clear shortcomings evident at the Migdal’ s four levels: a) At the level of trenches, due to the power struggles between farmers, landowners and the government; b) At the level of the ‘ dispersed field offices’ , including cooperatives and the land reform offices, due to the rival actors striving to get the capability of exerting influence on decision making for the purpose of safeguarding their own personal and/or group interests at the expense of the interests of the society as a whole; c) Conflicts at the level of the ‘ Agency’ s Central Office’ , due to attempts for organizational domination; d) At the highest level of leadership (‘ Commanding Heights’ ), the obstacles created due to the Shah's efforts to make himself as the dominant power within the state and to establish political balance in society. These disagreements and conflict of interests recurrently made Iran’ s political environment fragile, volatile and unpredictable. The reasons for these shortcomings, which hampered the efforts to successfully implement the land reform program in Iran, should not be explored entirely by the application of a government-centered approach. Rather, a comprehensive approach which considers all levels of government from the lowest to the highest strata, as well as the network of the non-governmental stakeholders who were competing for dominanceshould be examined for a better understanding of the intricacy of sociopolitical reality in the pre-revolution state– society relations in Iran.

Peace, democracy, and development are considered three important concepts in social science, and are extremely relevant to the problems of both developed and developing countries. Nevertheless, the experiences of modern capitalist world with neo-liberal and market-oriented policies have shown that creating harmonious relations between state, society and economy is problematic and challenging. As a result, a large group of the poor people in the global community have not enjoyed the benefits of peace, democracy, and development. In fact, we are witnessing all kinds of problems such as insecurity, violence, war, extremism, authoritarianism, oppression, environmental problems, poverty and lack of welfare for the majority of nations in the international system. The root causes of these problems can be found in the philosophical foundations of modernity and capitalism in which concerns with peace, mortality, human rights, and environmental protection are left to market forces, and the state and nonstate actors such as companies which are dependent on them. The author intends to explore peace-oriented development as an alternative paradigm with a critical, holistic political economy approach in which the three pillars of state, capital, and civil society are linked together for all human beings both nationally and globally in order to deal with the problems related to peace, democracy and development. It is argued that development must address strategies for reduction of poverty, unemployment, and inequality at the national and global levels through structural change and industrialization. The achievement of development goals, however, requires a culture based on peace, tranquility, tolerance, fortitude, participation, rationality, as well as democratic institutional mechanisms. In this paper, the author seeks to answer the following research questions: 1. What is the nature of peace-based development? 2. What elements does it consist of? 3. How can this model of development help democracy? Since peace, democracy and development are the three main pillars of the peace-based development paradigm, therefore, in the research hypothesis, it is argued that the constructive interaction of government, businesses, and civil society based on the peace-oriented development approach increases the probability of balanced development and democracy at both national and global levels. Peace and security increase the chances of poverty reduction and welfare. Development through structural changes and industrialization leads to the eradication of poverty, and the reduction of unemployment and inequality at national and international levels. However, the realization of development goals requires the culture of peace and tolerance together with active civil society and robust social movements which work towards solving the socio-economic and political problems such as insecurity, gender inequality, environmental degradation with the help of strong institutional arrangements needed for creating a climate conducive to constructive change which is beneficial for all. The findings suggest that using a holistic and critical approach which takes into account the linkages between peace, development and democracy may help in ending the misery which continues to wreak havoc on the lives of the poor people in the world, particularly under conditions of uncertainty characterized by the failure of neoliberalism to deal with the persistent economic and political problems which have been intensified by the renewal of the great-power rivalry and the Covid-19 pandemic.