RAHBORD
Year:2019 | Volume:28 | Issue:91|Papers Count:8

Future studies in the modern era emerged to forecast science and technology trends, but with the passage of time, has undergone theoretical shifts. In this regard, thinkers introduced the concept of “ foresight generations” to show gradual changes in axes, focuses, and differences of actors and dimensions within various models under the title of “ foresight generations” . These experts maintain that the first foresight generation merely focused on science and technology, but the next generations shifted their attention to different fields of public policy. The main question of article is that the specifications of research and the Iranian foresight projects correspond to which generation of foresight, and what are their weaknesses. The second question is that how future studies can become an instrument for tackling general challenges of the society. The authors use Andersen's correspondence approach for building a conceptual model. Data collection was carried out by conducting an in-depth interviewing and documentary analysis, and findings were analyzed using the content analysis methodology in the framework of a classification extracted of Seritas and Andersen’ s. The findings indicate that, first, the approach of foresight projects and programs in Iran, generally, stands in the first and second generations, so they have a logical and instrumental shortcomings to confront the current challenges. Secondly, Iran's scientific development in the arena of foresight has been unbalanced. Although, during the last two decades, Iran has been well advanced in terms of techniques and technical implementation of projects (technical implementation of foresight projects), it falls short on the issue of relevancy with planning process, on the one hand, and participation in the processes. For this reason, promoting the status of future studies in Iran to play an effective role in policymaking depends on building a unified vision based on the consensus of the elites, developing the structure and proper governance process.

Money is the carrier of value which is created through a two-way process and is influenced by market and state. Since money carries value, all economic variables that have value can be carried or represented by money. State without market and market without state are unable to create money. Therefore, money is a phenomenon with two agents. This article, after reviewing the related literature on the nature, role and function of money, examines existing monetary views and their inability to interpret the widespread changes in the types of currencies used in economic history. It observes that there is no theoretical unity in definition, in form, in role and in the origin of money in the economy. Then, it presents a combinatorial theory with the help of value theory to cope with these monetary changes that is able to reduce the dispersion of money-related issues, and to explain more clearly money’ s function, role and origin by introducing a central concept for it. The new theory combines two concurrent views regarding the creation of money which consider its origin to be either market or state. Money manifests itself in the economy in three forms; first, the state money created by the central bank, second, the endogenous money (bank money) created by the money markets, and finally, the exchange money (calculating money) which is created by the real markets. Each form has its own nature and function.

The stability of political systems is based on the level of participation of the individuals in the society and the level of individuals ’ participation is function of unique personality and interactivity traits. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the perspective of political participation based on personality traits and the role of mediation of subject relations among male and female students of Islamic Azad University, Science and Research branch. This research is a correlation research based on structural equation modelling. In this research, 500 students were selected as sample size with available sampling method. We used Neo Personality Inventory, Bell's Relationship Questionnaire, and Farajzadeh Political Participation Questionnaire for collecting data. Research findings show that the research model has been confirmed and in general, almost half (43%) of political participation can be explained by personality traits and subject relations. Also, the variables of personality traits and subject relations have a direct effect on political participation. The path of personality traits by mediating thematic relations showed indirect effect on political participation. The results of this research emphasize the necessity of thematic communication patterns in the context of the natural characteristics of the individuals in the macro-social and national activities.

Planning for the future of industries, in an uncertain situation, needs the development of a futuristic scenario. This requires knowledge, cost and time, and it is not possible for all small and large enterprises to do this. On the other hand, sometimes existing scenarios developed at different scales and approaches can be used for stakeholders in this area. The purpose of this article is to extract the relationship between industry-level and firm level scenarios in shoes industries. First, we identified different approaches to integrate scenarios. Then, by using the PESTEL and Porter methods, and by holding semi-structured interviews with industry experts, 30 effective factors were identified on the industry and 11 factors were extracted as important and uncertain factors. Finally, by using Micmac tool, two important uncertainties that are firm's size and competiveness were identified, and by using the GBN method, the four scenarios of Flying Elephants, Santa Claus’ Summer Cotton Shoes, Dinosaurs’ Age, and All Star Headman were extracted. In the next stage, by using Sourk approach in connecting scenarios and experts’ opinions, industry level scenarios were extended to credible scenarios at the firm’ s level in small and large size in order to pave the way for better decision making by the firms’ managers. The results of this experience can be a step towards connecting and integrating scenarios.

Tourism development due to the presence of actors and stakeholders has a lot of complexity. This complexity and agency of various actors have led to the fact that the tourism research has been increasingly oriented towards a systemic approach during the past decade, and the explanation of the dynamics of the tourism system has found its place among different studies in the country. The main question of this study is how researches conducted by applying systemic approach have been accumulated and to which questions they have intended to answer? What methods the accumulated knowledge have used and what content they have generated? To do this, all of the studies carried out in relation to tourism and systematic approach were investigated during the years between 2007 and 2017. This study is of secondary nature and was conducted in a systematic way. We examined articles, theses and research projects in this field by referring to authoritative domestic databases. This study shows that most of the tourism research conducted in the country is based on the field of geography, and the study of the tourism industry by applying a systemic approach is in its infancy. Also, the volume of scientific work in this field is very small and so far no comprehensive literature has been developed that can explain the elements and actors of the tourism system.

The administrative system is an essential tool in advancing the aims and goals of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Therefore, we see that after four decades of the Islamic Revolution, high level documents of the country, including the Constitution, vision plan, macro policies and five-year development plans attach particular importance to it, and their general orientation has been designed to reach the optimal point and excellence of the administrative system. The main goal of this article is to design a model for the change of the administrative system from the perspective of cultural policies. The present study is developmental research in terms of purpose of and is applied in terms of the result. The statistical population of the research is the scientific and executive experts of the country. Using the network sampling method, a panel of experts consisting of 14 people and an executive board consisting of 16 people were designated. Using Delphi method, we identified, in three stages, the dimensions and indicators of the change of the administrative system from the perspective of cultural policies including dimensions affecting the change of the administrative system (cultural, political, administrative and economic), the components of the administrative system (at the managerial, political, legal and professional levels), the levels of the administrative system (individual, organizational and supra-organizational), the processes of transformation (structure, values, functions and human resources) and the government's approach in the face of transformation (learning, competition and imitation).

Strategic Quarterly is the journal of Strategic Research Institute affiliated to the Expediency Council. Its focus is on the subjects related to political science which is considered a subset of humanities. It has obtained a scientific-research grade since the winter of 2009. The purpose of this article is to examine and evaluate the form and content of the articles published in this journal. Its research method is qualitative and is based on content analysis. It uses a descriptive-analytic approach to describe and evaluate the content of the articles within the target community. The statistical population of this research is 388 articles published in the Strategy journal during the last nine years from No. 54 (Spring 2010) to No 89 (Winter 1397). To describe objectively and qualitatively the content of concepts, a survey was conducted systematically with 11 parameters. The results of the thematic study show that the articles are categorized in 11 domains and 40 topics. Among them, the topic of political science with 17 percent, was the most discussed one. Also, the most frequent subject in this domain was foreign policy with seven percent. On the other hand, the rate of participation of researchers was well evaluated, as 800 researchers contributed to 388 articles; it is worth noting that the researchers affiliated to the universities located in Tehran were much more active in this field. Also, an examination of the number of authors shows that the greatest number belongs to Ph. D. students and assistant professors. A study of research methods showed that descriptive-analytic and library research articles, document-based studies content analyses were most popular among researchers.

Increasing demand for renewable energy has made the biomass a key source of renewable energy. The waste biomass has been given greater consideration at the global level, because of waste management and environmental protection policies. These resources have a large potential for electricity generation. The goal of converting them into electricity is waste management and environmental protection. Therefore, supply chain plays an important role in providing effective and efficient sources of waste biomass for energy production. In this article, first, through holding interviews with experts, waste biomass supply chain components were identified. Then, using the fuzzy cognitive mapping method, the causal relationships between components were investigated. The results showed that the out-degree of waste biomass production, pre-processing (separation), transportation, and storage in landfill place respectively is 5. 5, 3. 08, 2. 97 and 2. 86. Studying various scenarios showed that with increase in the impact of waste biomass production, the impact of other components of the chain would also increase. But with the increase in the impact of primary transportation, storage at the landfill, the effect of other components decreases respectively, to the extent that their effect is negatively affected. It can be concluded that the production of waste biomass is more influential and more important in comparison with other components of the supply chain in energy production.