STUDIES THE STATE
Year:2020 | Volume:6 | Issue:22|Papers Count:6

Today, the spread coronavirus in Iran and around the world has become a social issue and in turn has revealed the position, function and importance of the institution of states. This article aims to sociologically analyze public trust in government performance in the situation of the corona outbreak using the theories of Sztompka and Bernad Barber. The research method is "survey" and its statistical population consists of people above 15 years old in Iran in 2020. The sample size of the research was estimated to be 1600 people using Cochran's formula and the sampling method is "multi-stage sampling". Findings show that people's trust in the state in preventing the coronavirus stems from behaviors and instrumental expectations towards the political system as well as the value component of trust around the country's health system. Specifically, the people's trust in the political system, which is an instrumental trust, is of the "basic trust" type; In contrast, trust in medical and health system, which is based on moral expectations as well as value trust, has increased greatly. Also, in the study of public trust in government performance, it was found out that the trust mechanism consists of components of both types of trust; In other words, when people interact and cooperate with the government, they gradually observe individual and collective health behaviors and criticize less. This, in turn, provides the opportunity for people’ s cooperation.

According to the International Monetary Fund forecasts, the Middle Eastern economy will shrink by 5. 2 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year due to Covid-19. These statistics, which are just one part of the devastating result of the spread of the corona virus in the international arena, show the most unprecedented recession in the Middle East. Although the initiative of governments to restrict social mobility has curbed the spread of the virus in question, it also disrupts the production process and deepens destitution in the region. The question now is how the quarantine programs of the regional governments have caused the GDP reduction and the domestic recession. It seems that the implementation of control programs to prevent the spread of the corona virus at both the regional and international levels has disrupted the global value chain. On the one hand, this situation disrupted the supply of goods and services in domestic economies, and on the other hand, it reduced demand on a large scale. The crystallization of the existing conditions can be well seen in the declining trend of investment and foreign trade, falling oil prices, remittances and the tourism industry in the region more than other sectors. In the light of the theory of interdependence from the subset of liberal international political economy and in the framework of the quantitative analysis method based on figures and statistical data provided by international monetary institutions over the past year, this article intends to examine the effects of internal and external control constraints of governments on the Middle Eastern economy.

After coronavirus pandemic in the early months of 2020 in the world, Alain Badiou, French Marxist philosopher, tried to analyze the issue on behalf of the government in an article. He declared that the bourgeoisie state must pay attention to more general interests at the same time it takes care of the interests belonging to its class. He defined the situation as a confrontation with a public enemy. The realistic efforts of Alain Badiou as an idealistic philosopher in understanding the French state was unexpected for all his colleagues and critics. This article tries to explain how the coronavirus pandemic is neither a philosophical nor a metaphysical situation through the criticisms of Alain Badiou's recent stance in the epidemic situation, and why Badiou's recommendations to Emmanuel Macron administration do not meant to justify ineffectiveness of Neoliberal policies confronting with the coronavirus pandemic. In order to find the answer, we try to define Badiou's philosophical approach and understand its relation to the concept of "event" as the central concept in his philosophical discourse and it goes on to examine how the Corona pandemic situation is not a philosophical event or situation, and that Allen Badiou's political stance against Macron's government in the current context, despite his conservative form, is further understood in his radical philosophy. Finally, the proposal of this political philosopher-moving towards a model similar to the welfare state-with the economic foundation and political model of the current hegemony in the capitalist world, is considered as a possible solution in the face of the corona situation.

Various governments around the world have put tough restrictive measures on the agenda to combat the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus. Actions that are unbearable for people under normal circumstances. These restrictive measures and extraordinary means have so far been accepted by the public (despite popular protests in some countries). This study seeks to answer the main question: "Which of theories can best explain or understand the restrictive actions of different states in the face of coronavirus? " It hypothesizes that "use extraordinary means such as the closure of universities, mosques, religious shrines, discos and nightclubs, etc. "Different governments use them in the face of the coronavirus, due to the “ securitization' of public health from the risk of a viral pandemic by different governments. " The theory of "securitization" is therefore used, because in "securitization", the a securitising actor defines a security issue as a threat to the survival of a referent object which is claimed to has a right to survive. Since a question of survival necessarily involves a point of no return at which it will be too late to act, it is not defensible to leave this issue to normal politics. The securitising actor therefore claims a right to use extraordinary means or break normal rules, for reasons of security; Tools that are normally unjustifiable and not tolerated. At the same time, the actions of a transnational actor such as the World Health Organization(WHO) in "securitization" the coronavirus are examined using the concept of " Macrosecuritization ".

Today, the coronavirus has become a pandemic and a major international concern. The virus has been able to give states powers that would not normally be possible. It has created many restrictions for them, either. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is the comparative study of the performance of the Iranian and Singaporean states dealing with the coronavirus, the political-social future of these two nations and the final status of the virus within the framework of future research method. Therefore, the question that arises is, "what has been the performance of Iran and Singapore dealing with the coronavirus, and what would be the political-social future of these countries and the final status of this virus? " The results show that Singapore's performance in confrontation with the coronavirus is faster, more planned, more legal and more transparent than in Iran. In terms of the future of both states, five scenarios can be proposed, which are in three categories: A) The Favorable Future: The End of Corona, Reduction of Job Costs for States and Improving the Knowledge System of Citizens. B) Probable Future: 1. Corona's gradual defeat, the emergence of the crisis of unemployed youth and maximum pressure on the State. 2. Gradual control of Corona, expansion of influence and intelligence dominance of States. 3. Corona's survival, the centralization of power and the closing of democratic space. C) Possible future: long-term failure of Corona, economic crisis and maximum pressure on the people and the emergence of social protests.

Covid-19 disease is now a major and critical problem in most countries and has created many challenges for government officials. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of Covid-19 disease on political confidence with regard to the mediating role of social capital and the moderating role of social media. This study was applied in a descriptive and surveyed manner. The statistical sample in this study is 300 people from Shiraz urban community who were selected by random sampling method and a 30-item questionnaire with a range of 5 options was used to collect data. In order to analyze the data, the partial least squares method was used. The findings indicate that measurement tools have good validity and Cronbach's alpha coefficient for all research structures is more than 0. 7. The findings show that Covid-19 disease has a negative and significant effect on political confidence and social capital of Shiraz urban society. However, social capital has a positive and significant effect on the political confidence of the urban community of Shiraz. The results also show that social capital plays a mediating role in the relationship between Covid-19 disease and political confidence and that social media can moderate the relationship between Covid-19 disease and political confidence.