POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY QUARTERLY
Year:2022 | Volume:7 | Issue:4|Papers Count:9

This article studies the transformation of Israel’s Security-Defense Doctrine in order to understand the framework of the cyber capabilities in shaping Israel’s new deterrence strategy against internal and external threats. Restrictions of geographical location in the turbulent Middle East, a lack of strategic depth, and vulnerabilities due to the asymmetry of the elements of national power against enemies and neighbors push Israel to avoid classical warfare and use the unconventional deterrence tools and new defense doctrine. In the context of cyber deterrence assumptions, this article introduces the basic idea that Israel has made targeted investments in developing cyber-deterrence capabilities by redefining its security-defense deterrence tools. The cyber deterrence strategy has expanded the scope of Israel's response to national security threats beyond its borders and significantly reduced the environmental vulnerability of internal threats. Accordingly, the transition from conventional military tools to unconventional tools persuades Israel to formulate national security strategies centered on cyber capabilities to meet new threats. The military vulnerability to Palestinian Resistance Groups in the recent war has shown that in the face of a more serious challenge like Iran, military warfare is not a viable option for Israel, and cyber deterrence is predicted to have a special place in Israel's Security-Defense Doctrine in the future.

The Zionist regime has attempted to break out the geopolitical isolation with the doctrine of peripheral unity and to establish relations with other countries Since the 1960s. Areas such as the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Caucasus, and Central Asia were given priority by Israel. In the present study, the descriptive-analytical method was adopted to examine the periphery doctrine of Israel in the Caucasus and Central Asia as two important geopolitical areas in northern Iran. Our study indicates that the Zionist doctrine, despite a good start, failed to establish sustainable regional partnerships with five countries (i.e., Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan). In contrast, the Israel periphery doctrine in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan has been somewhat successful than these five countries. In this regard, the main Israel stimuli for relations with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan is including the supply of energy resources (40% of Azerbaijan and 25-25% of Kazakhstan), the existence of two countries with a Muslim majority population, a secular structure and the use of this as a leverage, the sale of weapons, as well as the co-border of these countries with Iran, and the using military and cyber capacity for eavesdropping. It is also worth mentioning that Israel remains a minor commercial partner for Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, despite the uproar created by commentators. Russia, Turkey and Iran are the biggest trading partners of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan (Iran's commercial ties with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in 2020 were about ten and three times more, respectively, than the Israel’s). A more precise analysis of arms sales also shows that Israel is not a major supplier of arms to either Azerbaijan or Kazakhstan, and Russia plays a key role in this context.

Focuses on the impact of neighborhood and tribalism is one of the prospecting on election geography that explores how geographic contexts and circumstances affect the voter behavior. Based on this presumption that people in a residential area are largely similar to one another in terms of characteristics and social, economic, and cultural identities, they vote for the persons or the movements that suppose they have also the same feeling. The election of the Islamic Consultative Assembly in the provinces of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad clearly demonstrates this. In such a way, by hosting multiple election cycles in this area, the neighborhood, particularly its central clan dimension, has had a tremendous impact on the election results. The question that this study tries to answer is what impact did the neighborhood have on the Kohgiluyeh, Cheram, Bahmai, and Landeh constituencies in the 11th election of the Islamic Consultative Assembly? According to the library studies and field findings (observation and interview) in the aforementioned electoral area, there is a direct correlation between the impact of neighborhood and tribalism and the voting rate of candidates. Therefore, based on the data and statistical information that make up the candidates' ballot boxes, the majority of the candidates’ votes are in the territory of their tribe and their neighborhood. This study followed a descriptive-analytical research method. The data gathering method for this study was a documentary and field, and GIS and Excel software was used to analyze data. It was determined that neighborhood and tribal tendencies played a clear and significant role in the election of the aforementioned constituency, and each city in this constituency has been affected by the neighborhood and hometown effect proportionately to its population. The most and the least neighborhood and clan characteristics have been used in the populated cities (Kohgiluyeh and Behmai) and the sparsely populated cities (Landeh and Cheram), respectively, to support the candidate of the territory.

This study seeks to investigate the security-defense status in the coastal area of southern Iran from the west of Hormozgan province to the east of Sistan and Baluchestan province (Chabahar and Konarak cities). The Descriptive-analytical research method has been used in this research. The required data have been gathered from land management documents and the Statistical Center of Iran. 53 indicators have been used in different natural, environmental, cultural, social, economic, and residential dimensions to measure the security-defense status of the studied area. The findings of the research indicate that the security-defense plan requires an integrated and systematic look at the natural and human threats inside and outside the borders. The modeling of the affecting defense-security elements in the studied area showed that the roots of sustainable security and powerful defense lie in geographical and human characteristics; Also, the study of the geographical and socio-economic characteristics of the southern coasts of Hormozgan and Sistan and Baluchistan showed that the lack of stable security and defense of the land was accompanied by the lack of balance in development and the backwardness of some of the desired criteria and indicators.

Regional Coalitions and organizations in the current world, which is moving towards a multipolar order, seem necessary to secure the interests of the members. The countries in the three regions of Central Asia, Southwest Asia, and West Asia have not been able to properly use the capacities of these regions due to the lack of an inclusive and efficient regional union and avoiding regionalism. The disputes and a pervasive power vacuum have turned these regions into a place of conflict between regional and extra-regional powers. The upcoming research has discussed the feasibility of forming a regional coalition centered on Nowruz celebration and culture by using a mixed approach (descriptive-analytical and survey) and SWOT strategic planning analysis. Documentary and library information and data obtained from 30 expert experts in political geography, political science, regional studies and Farsi language and literature from the countries of Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan was used. The results showed that despite the differences and weaknesses in the formation of the Nowruz Union, the final score of 2.56 out of 5 was obtained which indicates the high probability of forming a union, although the addition of economic and geo-economic strategies is necessary for the formation of such a coalition.

Urban space is the strategic scene for understanding the dynamics of social order reconfiguration. It is like a hegemonic tool of the dominant class to reproduce its domination. In this scene, we always see the struggles of two resistance discourses to dominate the geographical space. The formation of the resistance discourse in the urban space goes through a process and the main purpose of this article is to explain this process. This article employs a descriptive-analytical research approach and relies on library resources for gathering information. The findings indicate that the initial ignition of the resistance discourse originates from policy critique and problem identification. It persists until a political crisis has been occurred. Local dissatisfactions prompt individuals to step out of their personal spheres and engage in discussions with others regarding shared concerns, the formation of collective notions and narratives concerning their living environment. The forced displacement and systematic deprivation of living spaces expedite the strengthening of urban residents' ability to safeguard the production of space. Engaging in recurrent social movements generates an emotional experience that intensifies individuals' connections to social and collective movements. The mobilization happening within the local community plays a crucial role and engages various individuals and encouraging their participation in public activities. It involves developing effective means of communication and emotional resources that empower new activists to dedicate their time and efforts.

Today, the new concept of national security includes multiple hard and soft internal and external components, compared to its classic concept. Each of these components of national geography are considered as the main constructive and stable factors of the national security of each country; which can provide stability and peace and vice versa they can turn to the instability and security challenges for a country. Water security is a function of the interdependence of different security areas within the national geography of a country, which is spread within a network of socio-economic and political forces at different spatial scales. This network includes natural security resources (water, energy, weather, food) and security of social groups (individual, society and nation). The purpose of this article is not only to find a solution for how to secure the internal waters of Iran; but also the effects of inland water securitization on Iran's national security have been noted. This research is descriptive-analytical in nature and in terms of library and documentary information collection method. This article employs a descriptive-analytical research approach and relies on library resources for gathering information. The findings show the intertwining of the external phenomena such as the temperature increasing of the earth during the last two decades, the change in the precipitation pattern, and the internal phenomena such as the weak management of water resources, the decrease in the amount of rainfall, the drop in the level of underground water and the illegal drilling of wells during four decades not only has caused critical situation, but also it has caused social protests in the provinces of the Zagros region, the central and the southwest region, in such a way that the water challenge in the country has caused challenges for national security of Iran.

The cooperation document between Iran and China has raised many questions so far. Within the framework of defensive neorealism, this research attempts to answer these questions, what factors were effective in concluding the 25-year strategic cooperation program between Iran and China? What are the challenges of the full implementation of the mentioned strategic cooperation program? In response to the research questions, this hypothesis has been proposed that the West's disobedience in fulfilling its obligations under the JCPOA, the maximum pressure of America, the need of Iran's economy to attract capital and technology, and the effort to enjoy China's support in international forums may be the main effective factors in concluding the 25-year strategic cooperation program between Iran and China. Therefore, China considers Iran as a potential asset in West Asia and also a potential ally. But the implementation of this contract faces challenges for various reasons. The research results indicate that China's regional balance law and U.S. sanctions limit relations of China with Iran. Despite the strategic factors behind China-Iran partnership, China's growing involvement in the Middle East over the past two decades and its relations with Iran's regional opponents act as limiting and challenging factors in their bilateral relations. This article employs a comparative research approach and relies on library resources for gathering information. This research has focused on the affecting factors in concluding the 25-years strategic cooperation program and the challenges of its implementation, examining the history of cooperation between Iran and China.

In recent years, Geopolitics has undergone changes and transformations with the expansion of the fourth industrial revolution and the growth of technological trends such as artificial intelligence as a sensitive international issue. Basically, getting defamiliarization with the scientific bases of foreign policy and international relations in classical readings and narratives of the problem of division and the problem of fluidity in this field with an emphasis on trends such as artificial intelligence and big data has led to change the geopolitics to extra-geopolitics. These developments and new arrangements are a platform for changing international competitions. Assuming the geopolitical competition of governments in the form of artificial intelligence and using descriptive-analytical methods, this article seeks to answer this question, how Geopolitics has been transformed by artificial intelligence and big data. The findings of the research show that artificial intelligence has led to the redesign of geopolitics in the age of big data and algorithmic competitions.