MAJLIS & RAHBORD
Year:2021 | Volume:28 | Issue:105|Papers Count:14

Many oil exporting countries have set out various policies in response to the challenges posed by the dependence on oil revenues, one of which is imposing fiscal rules. In Iran also, various fiscal rules have been adopted by parliament to reduce the dependence of the state’ s budget on oil. These are mainly in the form of five-year development plans. The study shows weaknesses in the theoretical foundations of the fiscal rules and that they fail to achieve the desired goals. The mechanism used for the entry of oil resources into the yearly budget, the willingness to change the exchange rate in order to balance the resources and expenditures of the budget, and the lack of incentives to control expenditures by the government and parliament can be identified as the main causes of the failure of financial rules and laws in Iran. Taking into account the country's previous experience in fiscal rules and assuming there is a will to restructure the dependence of the government on oil revenues, this paper proposes a framework in which fiscal rules can be regulated to reduce government budget dependency on oil resources; this framework is obtained using Budget Performance Data. Simulations were carried out during the period of the fourth and fifth development plans (1384-1384). This study aims to find a way in which to control the non-oil budget deficit, and so the proposed fiscal rule must ensure there is a direct connection and dependency between growth in expenditure and growth in non-oil resources. According to the simulation, if this rule were to be adopted, the operating balance deficit of 58, 000 billion tomans at the end of the fifth development plan would turn into a surplus of about 10 billion tomans, and government spending would be controlled at about 102 billion tomans.

This research aims to design an optimal model of interaction between IRIB and the regulatory system of Iran. The philosophical foundations of this research were obtained by employing the Interpretive and Research Strategy Method based on Data Theory and done in a one-sectional manner. The statistical population of the study consisted of experts in the field of media and lawmaking such as, university professors in the field of media management, members of the House of Cultural Commissions, the Parliament Research Center, and senior managers of IRIB in the city of Tehran. Ten people were interviewed using purposeful and theoretical judgmental sampling and the data was analyzed via the data theory of the foundations. Of the 186 statements, 212 codes were extracted and upon elimination of repetitive categories, 168 sub-categories and 35 axial or nuclear categories were determined. The most important causal conditions affecting optimal interaction were identified as, environmental dynamics, lack of law and framework, political orientations, weaknesses of structures and practices, and favoring personal/ party interests over national interests. The most important contextual factors identified were, the roles of the national media alongside the three governmental branches, the effective role of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, and the favoring of personal interests over managerial standards. Furthermore, four factors were identified as interfering elements, these were: budgetary issues, the interference of overseeing bodies and the three governmental branches, the country's upstream documents, and public demands. The most important strategies required to achieve optimal engagement are: identifying opportunities to improve engagement, delineating and enhancing the status of the parliament through the media, preserving the functional independence of the national media, changing the passive approach of the national media, allowing the media to offer its analysis to the parliament and to consult with them, designing an overseeing party and organizational mechanisms for IRIB, simultaneous educational courses in parliament and IRIB, comprehensive legislation, understanding the way in which IRIB works, and the participation of IRIB and parliament in workgroups. The main results obtained as a result of the cooperation were: an increase in social capital, the IRIB appearing less biased, the attainment of the main objectives of the Islamic Republic of Iran, increasing the cooperation between IRIB and the parliament and an improvement in both the government’ s and the IRIB’ s roles.

Outlining policies for air pollution control in the country began with the adoption of the law on how to prevent air pollution in 1995, and with the enactment of the Clean Air Law in 2017, it has entered a new phase. Despite the various measures taken to implement these policies, the desired results have not yet been achieved. The main reasons for this issue seem to be related to the implementation of such policies. Therefore, since there is a scientific vacuum present in this field, this study aims to design a native model to ensure the implementation of policies which prevent and control air pollution in Iran; this was done by using the Mixed Research Method. Therefore, during the qualitative part of this study, necessary information was collected by examining documents and semi-structured in-depth interviews. Then, in order to extract the elements and components of the model, this information was coded and analyzed using the Thematic Analysis Method at three levels: descriptive, interpretive and macro. The research community includes all official documents and reports and the views of policymakers, executives, and academic elites. Analysis of the qualitative data in the coding process led to the emergence of 90 indicators, 23 components and 7 main dimensions, which in turn presented a network of themes. Thus, a native model, which ensured the implementation of policies preventing and controlling air pollution in Iran, was obtained. In the quantitative part of this research, the dimensions of the model were prioritized using the Analytical Hierarchy Method and it was based on the opinion of elite experts. Their coefficients of importance were determined as follows: policy-making-0. 27, planning and mobilization of resources-0. 2, management and implementation network-0. 19, monitoring and evaluation-0. 13, native capacities 0. 09, beneficiaries and target groups-0. 8 and background factors-0. 06.

Given the diverse and new nature of legal developments, especially with the advancement of science and technology and the emergence of new areas of risk and loss, one of the challenges of civil liability is the recognition of cases of loss. In order to be able to do this, flexibility is required in the recognition of cases and the scope of key elements. Due to the rigorous scrutiny required when dealing with uncertainties within the identification of the pillars and basic elements of civil liability and the responsibility that this is accompanied with, researchers have refrained from providing precise criteria. The present study aims to fill this void. Since the definition of loss is constantly changing based on locations, capabilities and techniques, the impact of temporal and spatial elements is an effective criterion for this legal structure and can be effective in its conceptual recognition and the enforcement of civil liability and compensation. Today, one of the most prominent criteria in this field are temporal, spatial, technical and specialized standards. They require the use of specialized experts in each field of the judicial process. It also appears that, custom and culture can be engineered in such a way that new definitions can be extracted for the term ‘ loss’ and so they can be compensated, except where the law explicitly excludes it. However the effectiveness of using culture, customs or traditions to engineer new meanings and definitions for the term ‘ loss’ is faced with various difficulties, such as: proof and effectiveness, inappropriate social and economic approaches, the vagueness of spatial and temporal restrictions of custom, the limited freedom of people, stretching out trials, corruption in engineering customs and cultures to discover new definitions for the term ‘ loss’ , insufficiency of culture when dealing with losses related to social order and good character, and the inability to engineer customs and culture in jurisprudential rulings.

The manufacturing sector is one of the principal components in economic development plans. Identifying the key sectors and “ take-off” industries as the driving force behind economic growth is crucial for investment priorities and resource allocation. Accordingly, the main objective of this research is to rank and identify key sectors based on ISIC Dual Codes in 23 sub-sectors of Iranian manufacturing industries. The data given by the Statistical Centre of Iran was implemented by surveying manufacturing establishments with 10 or more workers during the period from 2008 to 2013. Selected industries were ranked by forming a composite index based on 9 criteria, which were obtained by using the FBWM-VIKOR Methods. These criteria consist of: export value, labor service compensation, energy efficiency, labor productivity, investment, added value, production value, number of workshops, and the number of employees. The results indicate that, chemical production, food and drinking, and basic metals industries could be the leading sectors in promoting Iranian economical growth.

Decision-makers in democratic countries usually try to take into account the current opinions and perceptions that exist in society. One of the most common ways to identify public opinion on a topic is to conduct a survey. It can provide a clear understanding of the people's views on a topic in a country. However, if we want to obtain a comprehensive picture of a society’ s perception of another country, we need to look at public opinion and their viewpoints from various angles. Therefore, the present study attempts to examine three aspects of the image American people have of Iran, and this is done using Image Theory in International Relations. Since public opinion in the United States is one of the influential factors in the foreign policy decision-making process and the American people’ s image of Iran has an important impact on US-Iran relations, the main question of the present study is how do the American public view Iran and what aspects does this include? The results of this case study show that the American people's perception of Iran resembles the stereotypical image of a "relative enemy". This conclusion was obtained by examining the following three dimensions: Iran's position, Iran’ s capabilities, and Iran’ s political values.

Being the most important policy-making body in the country, critics argue that the Islamic Consultative Assembly continues to portray shortcomings in offering legislation, oversight and representation. One solution seems to be for political parties to educate ministers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role education plays in the efficiency of the parliament and to answer how the educational influence of political parties, especially political education and its components, can lead to the efficiency of parliament. In this paper, the descriptive-survey method and SPSS software were used for data analysis, and using one-way ANOVA and paired T-test, each of the indices were evaluated. The statistical population of the study was 344 people in the field of politics and the sample size was determined using the Cochran Formula. The findings of this study show that education provided by political parties, especially political education, which include, various components of political knowledge, political attitude, political skill and political behavior, leads to the efficiency of the candidates in the House of Representatives and consequently in the Islamic Consultative Assembly. The results show that about 60% of the statistical population utilized political education offered by political parties to improve the efficiency of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. The beta coefficient of the effect of the quality of political education on the efficiency of the parliament is 0. 47. Based on the quality of the political education provided, there was a significant correlation between political education and the efficiency index of parliament. A positive relation was also estimated indicating the presence of a direct relation.

In this paper, the role of gas exports in the development of relations between Iran and neighboring countries and the formation of regional integration according to the theories of functionalism, neo-functionalism and interdependence, are examined. Given that Iran has direct land and sea borders with 15 countries and also has access to high seas; it has the advantage of being able to employ both gas exportation methods, i. e. pipeline or LNG. Accordingly, the main question this article aims to answer is, whether the export of gas as a special commodity by Iran has made it possible for Iran to integrate and have some form of interdependence with other countries. This study presents a temporary answer to the present question, which in the current situation is, Iran's gas exports have led to the development of economic cooperation between Iran and the participating countries, and more interdependence has come about. In addition, if the countries excursive full participation, a route can be paved for integration. The results of this research were obtained using the descriptive-analytical method, employing a cross-sectional study in terms of time and a correlational research in terms of the type of relationship between the data. The research shows that the development of Iran's gas production and its export can lead to prosperity among the communities of the region, affect other areas and bring about strong and expanding relations. Reciprocal economic interdependence between Iran and other countries can also reduce foreign damage such as sanctions, and can reduce the mutual risk and impact of international economic shocks.

In recent decades, the realm of criminalization of crimes against security and the issue of espionage, in particular, have undergone essential changes. Despite this fact, the Iranian criminal policy on this issue has not changed over the last one hundred years. Thus, this policy suffers from various shortcomings. The lack of consistency of the Iranian criminal policy with the new developments of espionage consists of three bases and their criminal responses. The legal basis consists of: the existence of legislative ambiguities regarding evidence of espionage, the lack of distinction between espionage and treason, and the use of various unnecessary restrictions. The physical and psychological basis consists of: restrictions in cases of espionage, lack of inclusion of new security aspects, and limiting the criminalization of espionage to certain criminal intentions. Due to the above-mentioned shortcomings and the legislator’ s lack of support for the essential interests of society, it is necessary that the legislator expands the scope of criminalization to include economic, cultural and social aspects of security and to also expand it to refer to information and objects. Therefore, if the criminalization of espionage is not limited to certain criminal intentions, a rigid definition of espionage is not given and different types of espionage are not itemized, the regulations may gain some relative order and improve.

Throughout the development of global governance, the 2008 financial crisis has continued to play a key role in international political economy. This has resulted in continuous arguments over its definition within both scholarly and policy-making communities. Meanwhile, we can assume that global affairs proceed in the context of two realms, namely the political security realm known as Nation-State System or International System, and the economic realm known as the Global Capitalist System. Within at least the recent fifteen decades, global history has indicated that when great crises occur in the economic realm it brings about great crises in the political security realm. However, although history implies otherwise, the 2008 global capitalist crisis, did not bring about an international conflict threatening international stability as the previous crises had done before World War II. By tracing out a trend within global power dynamics and focusing on both the economic and political security realms, and by drawing from an analytical-explanatory method, this paper argues that this development was caused by the success of great powers in using institutional mechanism to promote cooperation, multilateralism, and transnationalism. This paper’ s findings show that the US has lost its hegemonic position, and global affairs are governed through state-centric multilateralism, which is void of nationalism and based on cooperative practices. These cooperative practices are represented in exclusive international institutions known as post-hegemonic global governance.

Cryptocurrencies are one of the recent legal issues affecting and changing the way in which trade and business is done. Therefore, this phenomenon should be legalized on the basis of two principles: 1. the necessity of conformity or, 2. the absence of its main principles within Islamic texts. In view of this necessity and in order to alleviate the concerns and ambiguities of the legislature, the present study aims to represent and analyze the legal and jurisprudential issues which have led to matters, such as: 1. the nature of cryptocurrencies, 2. the legitimacy of cryptocurrencies, 3. anonymity and 4. risk-taking. The ideas presented in this study were compared with the existing jurisprudential rulings, and as a result focuses on the issues of legalizing cryptocurrencies and the inability to track deception and usury in trading such currencies. From a legal perspective, the feasibility of taxation and legalization and the methods used to reduce money laundering, were found to be pressing matters.

Today with the expansion of the definition of workplace health, which addresses physical safety and health and confronting stress factors in the workplace, mental health has also become one of the bases of Labor Law Studies. The issue of gender-based harassment is considered to be the most common form of harassment in the workplace and so its prevention is of great importance. According to Convention No. 190 (June 2019) of the International Labor Organization, which is in regards to combating harassment in the workplace, one of the most important roles governments and organizations should play is to provide solutions and requirements that help to reduce and prevent gender-based harassment in the workplace. Member states are obliged to observe the provisions of the convention including the formulation of laws and their modification in order to combat gender-based harassment in the workplace. It is important to note that our cultural contexts and jurisprudential principles also concur with the legislation in this area. In addition, the articles of the Labor Law are general and only discuss the prohibition of gender-based harassment at the workplace and the employer’ s responsibility. Therefore, in view of the existing vacuum of laws and regulations governing labor relations, this research provides specific articles which need to be added to reform the Labor Law. This was done using a Descriptive-Analytical Method using the library as a tool, and the articles were formulated based on the solutions presented in the above convention. The legislative background of this hidden abuse was reviewed, and the reforms needed for the labor law were outlined in a way that makes them more closely aligned with the religious and cultural principles of the Iranian society.

Today, the need to implement multilateralism and regionalism in foreign trade is one of the priorities of the economic policies of different countries of the world. Given the economic sanctions imposed by the United States, Iran also needs to take steps towards obtaining synergy with other world economies and make better use of the manufacturing opportunities found in other countries. The purpose of this article is to provide a more detailed comparative study of Iran's multilateral foreign trade strategy with a focus on the Eurasian Economic Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The research method used in this article was the analytical-descriptive method and the Hierarchical Analysis (AHP) technique was employed. The results of this study show that, the expansion of cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union and joining them is more beneficial for Iran than doing the same with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. In order to obtain the best deals for Iran, Iranian policy makers and managers must make sure to take all political and economic factors into consideration.

The purpose of this article is to answer whether the Iranian banking system can be promoted by combining capabilities of knowledge absorptive capacity and corporate foresight, innovation, decision making and organizational performance. In this article, we have reviewed knowledge absorptive capacity and corporate foresight and its components and dimensions have been investigated. The research is practical in terms of purpose and cross-sectional in time. Using library tools and fuzzy Delphi methods, data was collected from academic and industry experts (15 experts) and it was analyzed using Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) techniques and the Micmac software. In the quantitative part of this research, data was collected from the banking systems of Iran belonging to 30 banks (Commercial Government banks, Specialized Government banks, Interest-free and Non-Governmental Banks). This was obtained using questionnaires and financial analyses. The reliability of the measurement model which consisted of 93 samples was confirmed by way of descriptive inferential and statistical analyses and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM); this was done using SmartPLS software. The results suggest that performance can be enhanced by combining the capabilities of knowledge absorptive capacity and corporate foresight. Furthermore, the combination of these two capabilities results in four possible scenarios, these are: the Ka’ ba of desires, the center of calmness, the revelation of magnificence and the wingless ascension, which have been outlined and analyzed in this study.