RESEARCH LETTER OF POLITICAL SCIENSE
Year:2020 | Volume:15 | Issue:2 (58)|Papers Count:7

The outbreak of the coronavirus in the world marked a new age in the foreign policy of states and highlighted the importance of "media diplomacy" and "health diplomacy. The main questions of the present study are: "What were the characteristics of Iranian media diplomacy during the epidemic of coronavirus and how did media diplomacy help health diplomacy? The main hypothesis of the research deals with both positive and negative aspects of Iranian media diplomacy and considers it as the context for health diplomacy. We used Itan Gilboa's theory of media diplomacy to explain this relationship. The research findings that are based on descriptive-analytical method show that from the negative aspect, Iran has used media tactics such as highlighting, positive imaging and demonization and on the positive dimension, it has used two tactics: 1-emphasizing on international solidarity and 2-emphasizing Dé tente. Helping Iranian citizens in other countries, facilitating access to medical equipment, trying to lift sanctions, strengthening cooperation with the World Health Organization and paving the way for scientific cooperation with other countries in the field of corona vaccine production are the most important measures of the Iranian in health diplomacy.

While the coronavirus policies of selected East Asian states (South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan) have been hailed by the world as one of the most successful models in the fight against the coronavirus, there have been differing views on the Iranian government's actions. The purpose of this paper is to compare these two types of policymaking from the perspective of the concept of " state capacity". The main question of the research is what is the impact of state capacity in Iran and selected East Asian countries in coronavirus policy? After reviewing various approaches and theories in the form of theoretical literature, Lindvall and Theorell model were selected as a criterion for evaluating these policies. According to the findings, the low level of state capacity of the Iranian government compared to the selected states of East Asia in terms of the use of policy instruments (coercion, incentives and propaganda) as well as the use of resources (revenue, human capital and information), led to achieve different policy outcomes in coronavirus policy. The method of this research is descriptive, analytical and comparative and the method of collecting data and information is documentary and library.

The corona-virus emerged rapidly, affecting the human life extensively, and putting the world on the brink of profound turmoil and transformation. With the Corona-virus, the signs of an evolving and edgy world are revealed and a moment of transformation emerges. The world of politics has also undergone transformations and evolutions arising of the corona. The author, by accepting the three presuppositions (Plato’ s Doxa / Episteme, Weber’ s Scientist / Politician and Ransiman’ s End of Democracy) and by using the critical approach and attitude of "Present History" along with the explaining method of "why-should", has tried to make this hypothesis appear and be stable: Statesmanship (democratic or authoritarian) has found new counterparts based on episteme of a non-political nature. Corona-virus has disrupted politics based on the "authoritarian / democratic dichotomy" and brought new forces into the realm of politics that had no wish and dove in statecraft. With Corona, a new form of government called "Epistocratic Democracy" or "Epistocratic Authoritarianism" is now taking shape. Politics in the future Iran is not separate from what has been learned from the globalized coronavirus experience.

The reaction of the world's political leaders to the Covid-19 pandemic is a new one in the international arena, and this pandemic could lead to changes in the foreign policy of countries and international politics. Meanwhile, The Poliheuristic Theory of Decision-Making, represents a leading theoretical effort in Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA), to transcend the divide between cognitive and rationalist approaches to explaining foreign policy decisions. From the point of view of "Poliheuristic" theory, decision-makers, when making complex foreign policy decisions, assess the gains and losses politically, not economically. Using the teachings of Poliheuristic theory and post-event analysis, is shown, the decision-makers of the Islamic Republic of Iran, how in the Corona Crisis, are trying to free themselves from the isolation and consequences of US sanctions. The article also shows that the decision-makers of the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who have faced many problems due to the tightening of sanctions and the withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA, have gained, a new opportunity to bargain with the world.

New coronavirus phenomena, such as all other geographical and natural phenomena like flood, earthquake, ecological changes etc. which have had influences and impacts on people's political-social life, seems has affected people's political-social life in some way since it's epidemic and particularly it's pandemic, thereby, it has attracted the political-social scientists' attraction. In order to survey the effects, impacts and defensive solutions of this virus, since it's pandemics, it needs fundamental, scientific and academic approaches to direct the present and future of state administrations in a correct direction. Accordingly, this writing, with the purpose of assessment and recognition of political-social model of coronavirus behavior, through behaviorism approach (causative-explanatory method) and based on heuristic methodology, has found that the real divergence and virtual convergence model is the most possible and appropriate model which is proposed for the assessment and recognition of new coronavirus political-social behavior; it means, while the new coronavirus has induced the divergence of social-political phenomena, such as civil society, states, political demands and protests in real life, it has also provided the opportunities for people entrance, on a broaden way, into virtual space and the opportunities for developing networked and interactive communications. Attending to the model, by Iranian political and social authorities, makes them more prepared regarding the possible influences and impacts of new coronavirus in future and leads to rational and practical programs and strategies.

In early 2020, the pandemic of the corona virus, transmitted by human-to-human transmission of the virus, limited the human communication network and governments to protect the lives of their citizens in an "exceptional situation. " Hence, the researcher discusses "how government ontology influences health policy to control pandemics" with a critical approach and "descriptive-analytical" method based on the eight ideas of egalitarianism, utilitarianism, liberalism, individualism, capability, and communism., Egalitarianism, welfareism in the exceptional case of the COVIDE-19 pandemic, and critiques "what are the anthological foundations of government in Iran to control the corona virus" with a transtheoretical approach and the "historical process" approach The a priori precedence of the ontological foundations of government over health policies causes the political ruler, with limited but agent-oriented action in the face of pandemics influenced by philosophical paradigms, to use the concept of the health of human societies in a different sense. The researcher concluded that health policy in the logic of exception, influenced by the ontological foundations of these societies, has the characteristic of "centralism" in the ways of exercising the power of the political ruler to maintain the "population of society". Health policy in Iran until the 1906 Constitutional Revolution was influenced by irrational and mystical elements in opposition to the national order, and after that until the Islamic Revolution of 1978, it was influenced by the ideological interpretation of tradition. After the 1978 revolution, health policy was accompanied by a socialist reading of governance for justice.

Pervasive diseases such as Corona are among the plagues that, in addition to their natural aspect, also have a human and social dimension that has affected all areas of human life. One of the most important actions of societies, especially governments, in encountering with this disease, has been to resort the restrictions and various controls in social life. Some measures like quarantine or distancing to prevent the spread of the disease, is justified under the logic of exceptional or emergency states and imposes requirements on the lives of all individuals and social groups. Such special conditions and their status are directly related to the will of governments to exercise legal power based on social interests. Iran which like almost any country in the world, suffers from Corona disease, has experienced similar cases of cholera and plague in the past. Accordingly, the question and concern of the present article is that understanding the crisis caused by the epidemic and the measures taken by governments in relation to it in the historical sphere of Iran, what help can be in understanding the current policy of Iran. In this case, using the approach of "Giorgio Agamben" based on "Carl Schmitt" and "Walter Benjamin", while emphasizing the exceptional state in the specific conditions of societies, we conclude that Iranian society influenced by the circumstances Exceptional states such as the suspension of the law and on the other hand due to lack of law enforcement or ambiguity in it has been a double problem.