POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY QUARTERLY
Year:2018 | Volume:3 | Issue:1 (9)|Papers Count:7

Introduction Regionalism has attended an important mechanism for regional development in Europe from the second half of the 20th century and spread rapidly to other parts of the world. The Persian Gulf is a distinct and unique region among the various regions of Asia and Southwest Asia. This region consists of eight countries, including Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. Generally, there is the best context to make regionalism and regional convergence. The history of the idea of regionalism in the Persian Gulf dates back to the 1970s. A new political and security space was created in the region of Persian Gulf when the British colonial power left it in 1971. The coastal countries of Persian Gulf tried to play a greater role in the post-British region and maintain regional stability. Accordingly, in this decade, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman, all, have proposed regionalization and convergence in whole or in part of the Persian Gulf region to shape new security arrangements...

Introduction Generally, spatial injustice which can be a threat for national security and evolution of critical areas refers to an imbalanced distribution of society’ s valuable properties such as political-executive power, wealth and opportunity resources. Spatial injustice is the most important feature of Iran’ s spatial organization which is seen in the center-periphery structure of the country from local to national scales. Due to the threats and current complicated conditions, an effort to achieve spatial justice is one of the main research priorities in political geography. A democratic approach to spatial justice provides equality for all residents of a geographic space to enjoy the resources, opportunities and infrastructures through their participation in the decision-making processes. Spatial justice is realized when power, wealth and opportunities are distributed proportionally with the potentialities of the micro-and macro-spaces and places. As a result, the interests empowering societies to meet their needs increase and the coefficient between the regions increases. Space and humans are the focal point of human geographical thought and of political geography. Equal access of all residents of a geographic space to the main factors like power, opportunity and wealth at micro-and macro-levels form the axis of spatial justice in political geography...

Introduction Devolution in the Islamic revolution was based on transferring the power of decision-making to people and public institutions. Over this period, the specific conditions of civil and political demands led to the creation of local management based on the hierarchy of councils in several constitutional principles, directly and indirectly, and even before ratification of the constitution. Today, after nearly a half century of the approval of the constitution, the local management of Iran is still a centralized organization that is seriously in conflict with the sustainable development and urban prosperity as well as the constitutional principles as an overarching law. Decentralization is applied as a model for determining the processes and ways of the relationship between the national government and local sovereignties. In other words, the realization of local development will not be possible if the power, supervision, and enforcement do not transfer to local institutions and levels. Therefore, moving toward decentralization is based on belief in the right to self-determination and local community participation in public affairs as well as lack of concentration of decision-making and executive powers at the different spatial scales...

Introduction Given that the geographic space is a social production/reproduction, it is known as a social phenomena that is made by the society. We can call it a text or a spatial text because the humans-as the logical being-are authors of spatial text, so this spatial text (geographic space) is a significant and complex phenomena. The transition of geographic space of one status to another is a sign that shows geographic spaces are the dynamic phenomenon. All of geographic spaces are driving toward new status and conditions because they are not a fixed and static phenomenon but they are a social production. All of the social texts are dynamic because “ society” as their base is a dynamic phenomenon. So, geographic space is a dynamic text as well. The spatial text of those geographic spaces which have been made by wider and more varied societies, are also more varied. On the one hand, geographic space is the outcome of social, political, cultural, economic processes, while on the other hand, discourses on geographic space try to intertwine this process toward their regimes of truth, structures, visions, and purposes. So the“ discourses” play an important role in the processes of writing spatial text or geographic spaces. Each of the agriculture, industrial, and information era has created its own special geographic spaces. In the network society and the information era, worldwide information and communication technology has provided a context to create the micro-discourses. Cosequently, it has provided a context for their shifts...

Introduction In a world of international communications and interactions, cities are studied as geographical regions within an atmosphere of streams built upon direct connections between cities (Najati Hosseini, 2011). In other words, cities play a significant role in the global politics, economy, and the restoration of global management. In the globalization age, cities can be introduced as key players within the frameworks of decentralization policies and interactive actions between cities and provide the means for increasing interactions in areas including information technology, economy, society, and culture (Acuto, 2012). Therefore, in today’ s world, the development and progress of cities highly depend on communications and interactions between them at a transnational level. In fact, modern cities are regarded as spatial-geographical territories that enter transnational interactions and assume international roles. The subject of urban diplomacy is a tool used for studying the role of urban geographical regions in international interactions. Urban diplomacy can be defined as institutions and processes through which cities serve the purpose of demonstrating their capacities and interests in one another in relation with other actors as well as within international politics (Pluijm & Melissen, 2007). During the past few years, Mashhad metropolitan area has managed to take a bold step in the direction of growth and development at both national and international levels through progress in areas such as industry, science, tourism, etc...

Introduction Terms and concepts of tension, challenge, dispute, conflict and crisis are commonly used in the literature of political geography and geopolitics and international relations. And they are often used to express types of hostile relations between two countries or rival powers. Geography and geopolitics of every region play a major role in the establishment of peaceful and friendly relations among nations, or tension and conflict over that region. In other words, the root of many conflicts and tensions in countries relations is in the geographical and geopolitical features. At present, there is no single general theory about tension and conflict accepted by scientists or experts in other fields of political sciences or experts from whom political scientists have inspired. There is no way to determine the source of conflict or war, because not only they are numerous, but also they have been gradually increased...

Introduction A brand is a set of subjective perceptions of a factor that is formed over time. Meanwhile, a national brand is an overall image of a country which encompasses political, economic, historical, and cultural dimensions. National brand is a multidimensional, hybrid, and consistent concept which occupies a prominent position as one of the important tools of soft power and a modern characteristic of new public diplomacy. The present study seeks to provide answers to the following question: has the Islamic Republic of Iran been successful in the area of modern public diplomacy by creating its national brand? The main purpose of the study is to examine the performance of I. R. I. in this context in addition to conducting a theoretical investigation of the position of national branding in the modern public diplomacy...