ISLAMIC POLITICS RESEARCH
Year:2020 | Volume:7 | Issue:16|Papers Count:12

On the fortieth anniversary marking the achievement of the great Islamic Revolution of Iran, which can rightly be called the renaissance of Iran, Islam and religion, Imam Ali Khamenei (May Allah protect him) presented the “ manifesto of the second step of the revolution” to the Iranian nation and the whole world. In this statement, the protection of the Islamic Revolution as a prominent epitome of “ self-construction” , “ community building” and “ civilization building” has been emphasized. Likewise, he mentioned in the “ 8-article decree” the policies of the development of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the second step of the revolution. In this regard, the initial question arises. Based on that; in the second step of the revolution, do the framework and relationship of the institutions of “ stability” , “ defense” and “ protection” need to be reviewed, developed and expanded? After carrying out preliminary researches, the answer to this question is yes. Owing to this fact, we definitely need an epitome and frameworks for the advancement and development of these institutions; so, the issue under consideration is that; we do not know the characteristics of the “ epitome of progress of the institutions of stability, defense and protection” for the effective protection of the Islamic Revolution. The anticipated objectives of the research are to find the “ epitome of progress of the institution of protection” and to clearly state its characteristics. Moreover, the purpose or perspective of this research is to “ present and show the wide range of the institution of protection” as a knowledge achievement of the revolution to the world. This epitome should be based on the indigenous Islamic thought, knowledge and culture and in line with the “ Iranian Islamic epitome of progress” and also the “ statement of the Supreme Leader in the second step of the revolution. ” This research draws on the mechanism of stability, defense and protection institutions and the relationship between them using the combined method of data foundation and content analysis. The result of this research was the achievement of basic findings and robust approaches to prepare the epitome that is able to answer the research questions. It is hoped that the achievements of this research will pave the way for “ intensifying the security” of the country, nation, holy system of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Ummah.

The purpose of the present article is to explain the identity of power and to examine its political implications. In the first part, the article explores three perspectives on the identity of power: 1. Power is evil; 2. Power has a neutral and instrumental nature; 3. Power is good. In the second part, the political implications of those views are pointed out and it is said that their output in the field of politics leads to three powers: 1. Temporary power; 2. Conventional power; 3. Transcendent power. The first part is descriptive-analytical and the part has been presented by inferential method based on the theory of signification in the knowledge of logic and principles of jurisprudence. To design the blueprint of the article, we have used a conceptual framework to first of all depict the position of the discussion among the various concepts of political science, and secondly, power is a concept that has been tackled with conflicting approaches. Owing to this fact, it is necessary to have a fundamental and substantive view in regards to the topic of power. This article defends the view of Imam Khomeini (r. a) as a sage of the Transcendent Theosophy who has been teaching the Transcendent Theosophy for more than twenty years and considers power to be inherently good and politically, it leads to the transcendent power. The transcendent power has a spiritual, moral and divine approach to politics. It has nothing to do with secularism, and since it considers power to be inherently good, it must necessarily be given to the most spiritual and pure human beings. Therefore, being trustworthy is the essence of transcendent power, and the advent of Imam Zamaan (a. t. f. s), which is the day of the emergence of the world power of Islam, will be accomplished according to this explanation of power.

Due to the lack of religious literature in the field of social mobilization and persuasion, in this article we have endeavored to refer to the verses of the noble Qur’ ā n to take action to eliminate this shortcoming and in this regard, the verses related to the battle of Tabuk which are in Surah al-Tawbah, have been selected. This is because the issue of social mobilization during the Tabuk war, was a difficult situation due to the conditions that come from the verses and the context of history. By using the Howland analytical model, which is one of the relatively complete models in the field of persuasive communication, the present article has approached the verses of the noble Qur’ ā n in order to answer this basic question: according to the verses of the noble Qur’ ā n, what was the model of persuasive communication of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in the expedition to Tabuk? By using the method of contemplation in the verses and utilizing the historical and interpretive books and in terms of the theoretical framework of the research, the contextual characteristics, messengers, message (content) and audiences were extracted and finally, while presenting a model of the effects of persuasion in the three groups of the Mujahideen, hypocrites-rulers and the excused ones, which include refusing, accepting, and excusing oneself from participating in the war, also point to the other effects of these cases, which include divine punishment, bliss, and divine forgiveness, respectively.

Good governance has been considered by the intellectuals as one of the indicators of development since the last quarter of the twentieth century, and the United Nations Development Program has introduced a style called “ good governance” and set indicators for it. Some writers and intellectuals have also used the same title to explain the indicators of good governance in the Islamic Republic. (History) However, by paying heed to the principles of the constitutional law and political philosophy accepted in the Islamic Republic, which is contained in the constitution and the views of Imam Khomeini (r. a) and the Supreme Leader (may Allah protect him) and its differences with the liberal principles, the development plan for determining the optimal governance model of the Islamic Republic and its indicators is a fundamental issue. (elaborating the matter). Therefore, our question is: what is the nature and macro indicators of the governance in the Islamic Republic? The hypothesis of this article is that the governance in the Islamic Republic is “ convenient” . (Hypothesis) In response to the question of the research and proving the hypothesis, the method of qualitative research and interpretive paradigm and exploitation of the philosophical principles by understanding these principles and using the main sources of the Islamic Republic, namely; the verses of the noble Qur’ ā n and the traditions (hadiths), as well as the constitution and the views of Imam Khomeini (r. a) and the Supreme Leader (may Allah protect him) has been employed. (research method) While proving our hypothesis, we came to the conclusion that the governance in the Islamic Republic has some common indicators with good governance and some specific indicators which are firmly based on the two basic pillars; the righteous leadership and the goal of reform. (Conclusion)

The present research examines the reasons for the complete failure to achieve the goals of the Islamic Revolution in the intellectual system of Ayatollah Khamenei. The main question is: how does Ayatollah Khamenei find the obstacle to the full realization of the goals of the Islamic Revolution, and what solution does he offer to get out of it? The article is based on the research model of Thomas Spriggens and the method of conceptualization and word-for-word interpretation of the statements of the Supreme Leader. The crisis theory of Spriggens has four stages: observing and identifying the problem, finding the root of the problem, drawing the ideal order, and finally providing the solution and treatment. In the hidden perspectives of Ayatollah Khamenei’ s political ideology, the failure to fully achieve the goals of the Islamic Revolution (observation of the problem), the failure to form a desirable Islamic government (causes of the problem), the formation of a new Islamic civilization (drawing the ideal order) and the formation of the nation-building society (solution) is the hypothesis of this research. The main focus of the mentioned hypothesis is on the formation of a “ nation-building society” as a solution and treatment. The modus operandi of the research is the descriptive-explanatory and the library method has been used in collecting the information.

In any society, the social capital is one of the key assets that plays a significant role in government efficiency and providing a sustainable welfare. Having the accurate knowledge regarding the social capital and its components is one of the necessary preconditions for its use in order to achieve the micro and macro goals of the society. The Islamic Revolution of Iran is derived from the context of the religion of Islam and based on the ideas derived from it, especially the views of Imam Khomeini (r. a). On that account, referring to the original religious sources and the ideology of Imam Khomeini (r. a) in the field of social capital is one of the ways that is very important in facilitating and accelerating the realization of the ideals of the Islamic Revolution. Despite this importance, up to date, not much research has been done in this field. Therefore, this article seeks to examine the social capital in the realization and continuity of the ideals of the Islamic Revolution from the perspective of religious teachings with emphasis on the views of Imam Khomeini (r. a). In order to achieve this goal, the method of studying inferential analytical research has been used in the form of a conceptual framework. One of the findings of the present article is that in Imam Khomeini’ s (r. a) ideology based on the Islamic verses and traditions, issues regarding the importance of social capital, maintaining and strengthening it in the realization and continuation of the ideals of the Islamic Revolution, especially the revival of the Islamic identity, independence, justice and freedom, have been greatly emphasized.

The organizational performance management is an evolved version of performance appraisal. Despite the availability of several models of performance management, none of them is based on the Islamic teachings. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is a revolutionary and Islamic institution, needs policies and methods of organizational performance management with an Islamic approach. The research method is library with two features; centrality in teaching and the study of signification of the Quranic and narrative teachings, after aggregation by the ijtihadi method and classification using the content analysis method, are the basis for designing the model. After the validation and confirmation of more than 90% of the findings, this model, is as follows: a) Factors affecting performance with the titles: spirituality, piety and self-management, management based on love and dignity, justice and fairness, insight and tact, competent selection, evaluation and monitoring. B) Performance dimensions: 1. Intention and good faith, 2. Performance of senior managers, 3. Inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes. C) Evaluation criteria: 1. Islamic rights and values 2. Justice 3. Satisfaction 4. Achieving goals (efficiency and effectiveness). D) The most important characteristics of evaluation: precision, complete nobility, comprehensiveness (types of supervision), continuous evaluation, fairness in evaluation, avoidance of pure consequentialism), emphasis on the performance of the managers, emphasis on quality along with quantity, correction and excellence. E) The process and policy of performance management: 1. Performance planning (performance analysis, strengthening the principles of performance) 2. Determining the dimensions of performance 3. Determining the criteria for performance evaluation 4. Monitoring 5. Performance Assessment 6. Correction and excellence.

The purpose of this research is to identify the components of the jihadi management from the perspective of the noble Qur’ ā n, which is of great importance due to the necessity of applying management that is appropriate to the local, cultural and value foundations of each country. The type of research is descriptive and exploratory in terms of the applied purpose and its method based on the manner of data collection; The nature of research is also intertwined. The statistical population is made up of all the experts and scientific, executive and religious experts in the field of jihadi management whereby 36 experts in the above field were selected by the snowball sampling method. In the present research, the components of jihadi management were extracted from the verses of the noble Qur’ ā n using the content analysis and data mining methods. Then, the questionnaires provided to the experts were analyzed using the fuzzy Delphi method. In order to determine the relationship between the components agreed upon by the experts, the method of strategic option development and analysis (SODA) was used. Then, by merging the maps of the experts, a single model was adopted, and finally, from the final research model, 33 components of jihadi management agreed upon by the experts, which were in accordance with the 26 components of the Supreme Leader’ s orders, were extracted in four dimensions namely: social, economic, political and cultural; the number of the components in the cultural and social dimension indicates the focus of this style of management on the cultural and value fields of management.

Soft power is an emerging term in the world’ s political literature. In political science, various definitions have been given to it, mainly by the Western scholars. In the scientific atmosphere of the Islamic Republic of Iran, these definitions have also overshadowed the scientific atmosphere. What is necessary in the meantime is to redefine the nature of this power from the perspective of the noble Qur’ ā n as a text that expresses the word of God. With a qualitative analytical-descriptive textual approach and with the ijtihadi method of interpretation of the noble Qur’ ā n, this article has answered the question regarding the view of the noble Qur’ ā n on the nature of the desired soft power from the Islamic point of view. In conclusion, this research found that, contrary to the Western definitions, the nature of soft power, from the noble Qur’ ā n’ s point of view, not only includes influencing the target community through attraction, but also includes the deterrent power, as well as areas of soft bait and soft threat. Soft power, on the other hand, is not a two-way relationship between people and societies, but a three-way relationship in which God on its main side, is the sole absolute power of the universe. Also, the sources taken from the nature of the divine soft power in the noble Qur’ ā n are exclusively in the realm of divine commands, and violating it causes the departure of the soft power from the aspect of being divine to being evil, and this is the fundamental difference in the desirability of the soft power. The last point is that the components of the soft power that are taken in its nature are both material and spiritual, contrary to the Western definition which pays special attention to the material factors.

One of the valuable norms from the point of view of the holy Shari’ a, which can be extended to the international level, is peace. The phenomenon of peace becomes even more important in times of conflict, especially at the national and international levels. The main question in this research is; what is the model of the phenomenon of peace in the religious thought? In answering this question, the purpose of this article is to provide a model for peace with an emphasis on the religious thought. In order to achieve this goal, the grounded theory (GT) method has been used. In this way, a model of the phenomenon of peace, its causes, strategies and results have been illustrated. The findings delineated that the most important causal factors in the phenomenon of peace are: communication and interaction, safety and security, forgiveness, willingness of both parties, faithfulness to the covenant, friendship and social adjustment. The underlying factors are: research, faith, divine grace and mercy, steadfastness and firmness, avoidance of the temptations of Satan, avoidance of war and bloodshed. The most important mediating factors are: the presence of an arbitrator, observance of rights, providing refuge, justice, avoidance of accusations, and the offer of true peace. Additionally, its most important strategies have been: fighting the oppressor with the intention of returning to the truth, the virtue of using lies that are beneficial in solving matters, pursuing peace, good advice, fighting the aggressors to make peace, honorable peace and invitation. The results of this research can lead to the conceptual development of the phenomenon of peace and the development of theories in this regard. Apart from that, it should be used at the strategic levels of foreign policy and by the intellectuals in the field of international relations and intellectuals in the social fields.

The role of the military in the political economy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is theoretically and empirically subjected to simplification and reductionism. An analytical methodology and framework are needed to examine how these forces enter the field of economic activities of the country and provide a more complex understanding of the micro and macro trends affecting the presence of the military in the process of economic development (elaborating the matter). The study of this issue requires a historical look at the evolution of the discourse of the Islamic Revolution in the context of the global political economy. The present research tries to give a precise answer to the question; what was the process of development of the nature and function of the military forces in the political economy of the Islamic Republic of Iran? (Question) In this study, inspired by the methodological and theoretical framework of the structure/agent and theoretical themes of the critical approach in the thought of Robert Cox, the structural contexts affecting the military presence in the Iranian economy after the Islamic Revolution have been investigated (research method and theoretical framework). The hypothesis of the article is designed in such a way that the role of the military in the process of economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the framework of anti-hegemonic confrontation of the Islamic Revolution with the world economic system and in the framework of managing the impediments resulting from the international sanctions and systemic pressures on the economy of the country is understandable. (hypothesis). The research assumes that the experience of the role of these social forces in the process of economic development of the country is prone to opportunities and challenges in order for the Islamic Republic of Iran to achieve a model of dynamic national development and exit the existing impediments. Therefore, the experience of the military entry into the economy has been a successful experience in the global aspect. (Research Findings)

In this research, by employing the theoretical method and model of Thomas Spriggens in the framework of the sociology of cognition, the origin of the concept of resistance and the manner of its inception and institutionalization in the mentality of the Iranian society has been analyzed. Thus, the present research seeks to answer this fundamental question; what factors have played an effective role in the formation, development and institutionalization of the concept of resistance in Iran? The researchers’ approach is descriptive-analytical and the crisis theory of Spriggens has been used to analyze the data. The results delineate that the Iranian society has always been faced with despotism, increasing intervention of the great powers and the violation of its national independence by the foreigners. In response to the despotism and the crisis of independence, the elites, intellectuals (religious and non-religious) proposed indigenousness as a manifestation of the concept of resistance. The clergy portrayed indigenousness in the framework of political Islam and the nationalists portrayed indigenousness in the framework of the Iranian nationalism as the ideal political system. The “ resistance” against despotism and domination of the great powers is considered as the common point of the two discourses of indigenousness. Eventually, these two discourses became relatively compatible with the leadership and guidance of the great revolutionary and Islamic reformer, Imam Khomeini, in the form and context of the Shiite religion, and the Iranian nationalism came under the model of the political Islam derived from the Islamic Revolution of Iran and has been conceptualized in connection with that. Therefore, the concept of resistance is a historical, situational and contextual phenomenon and the inception of the concept of resistance in the Iranian society can be considered as the result of the clash of thought, reality, dialectical relationship and their reciprocal influence.