نشریه تحقیقات سیاسی و بین المللی
پیاپی 17 (زمستان1392)

The political and economic relations of Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey have an increasing trend in recent years. Turkey unlike her hard stand on Iraqi Kurdistan in the past is now trying to expand her influence in the region in every possible way. Of course this attraction and tendency of Iraqi Kurdistan towards Turkey have been strengthened and in recent years due to several determinants like having common borders, the question of Kurds, religious questions, the issue of energy, economic and transit issues are among the most important factors in establishing close ties among Iran, Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan. On the other hand the question of unrest in Syria, the activities of parties and groups like PKK and close relations of Turkey with Iraqi Kurdistan and the United States, the spread of influence of Israel in Turkey, attempts by the Kurds to gain total independence etc. are among the negative factors affecting the relations of Iran with Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan. The methodology used by the paper is qualitative based on descriptive-analytical approach. Based on library material, the required information and data are gathered and analyzed by two methods, thematic method and content analysis of library and internet sources. The main question raised by the paper is what has been the impact of expansion of political and economic relations of Iraqi Kurdistan with Turkey on foreign policy and interests of Islamic Republic of Iran in the region? The underlying hypothesis is that taking into consideration the positions of Turkey in the region and also Iraqi Kurdistan approach in recent years, the expansion of relations of the two leads to distancing of Iran from the region in political and economic fields and as a result the interests of Iran is jeopardized. The finding of the study shows that Turkey in recent years has extensively influenced in Iraqi Kurdistan. Today Turkey is the biggest economic investor in Iraqi Kurdistan. In political field also Turkey has greatly influenced in the region and this has led to closer ties with Iraq Kurdistan and Iran is lagging behind in this regard which cause a threat to Iran’s interests in Iraqi Kurdistan.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Chinese leaders realizing the change of international system to a multi-polar state and decrease of the power of the United States tried to balance their power against the United States. China’s cooperation with Russia at this period was the manifestation of this perception. But after Kosovo crisis and the failure of Russia to show suitable reaction, China admitted the unipolarity of international system. As a result China tried to strengthen her position internally. The adoption of this policy resulted into increasing power of China in all dimensions. Naturally this evoked the reaction of other neighbouring countries and powers that are having difference with China. The major neighbor of China is India, which is growing and developing fast and claims to play an important role in international system. The question raised by present article is “what are the reaction of the United States as an important power pole and India to the rising power of China?” the article also wants to answer this question as to why the United States with the cooperation of India wants to balance China at a time that China does not want to externally balance them? The article argues that the rise of China’s power will have repercussion for the United States and India. The United States does not want that China should become a hegemon in Asia. India feels threatened by China’ increasing military power and influence in South Asia and close relations with Pakistan. The underlying hypothesis is that the increase in power of China has forced the United States and India to come closer and balance Chinese power and protect themselves from the consequences of the rise of power and influence of China.

The tendency towards creation of zones free of nuclear weapon is one of the ways to move towards a world free of nuclear weapon. This trend in the Middle East goes back to 1970s and despite apparent and numerous supports for it, the practical progress was not promising. This suggestion was first presented for the first time by Iran and was supported by Egypt. The approval of resolution about the Middle East free of nuclear weapons in the NPT Review Conference in 1995 was an important progress on this issue. The conference extended the NPT for an unlimited period and approved the nuclear weapons free zone for the Middle East and encouraged persuasion of this plan. Iran, Israel and the United States are the main and determining players during these years. The question raised by the present article is “what are the most important challenges and obstacles on the way of creation of nuclear weapons free Middle East zone?” The paper by a descriptive-analytical method first describes the nuclear weapons free zones and then evaluates the creation of nuclear weapon free zone in the Middle East and the challenges and obstacles on the way of formation of such a treaty. The paper concludes that the existence of Israel nuclear weapon and non-membership of this country in NPT and adopting nuclear deterrence strategy has led to serious obstacles on the way of formation of nuclear weapons free zone.

Germany is having strategic relations with three countries. In a way the comprehension of the developments of its foreign policy after the Second World War is conditioned by knowing the interaction of that country with three countries, they are the United States of America, France and Israel. The factors that determine the foreign policy of Germany towards Israel consist of reducing tension from the Middle East (terrorism), establishing good relations with the Middle East countries, ensuring the security of supply of energy sources, the historical responsibility of Germany towards the Jews due to maltreatment of Jews during World War II; what is known as Holocaust, because German considered itself responsible and committed towards Jews. Along with these principal factors other factors also play role which their impact differ from time to time. They are, party affiliation of the ruling politicians, the personal political tendencies of German politicians and their orientation and who is in charge of the desk of relations with Israel. The article while examining the multi-sided relations of Germany with Israel pays special attention to the cooperation of the two countries During Merkel's tenure.

The recent wave of developments in the Middle East gave a new place to public diplomacy and soft power in regional diplomacy of the United States and on this basis the structural engineering of Egypt in cultural, social, political and economic aspects was put on the agenda by the American strategist. The present paper by raising this question as to “what has been the public diplomacy of the United States vis-à-vis Egypt revolutionary development after Mubarak till ouster of Morsi?” comes to this conclusion that with the occurrence of recent developments and challenges put to the United States diplomacy machinery, the United States initially tried to take the help of public diplomacy to improve the public opinion of people of Egypt towards herself and keep Hosni Mubarak on its place but with the overthrow of Mubarak, the United States by the help of public diplomacy wanted to direct the future developments of Egypt in a direction that she be able to keep her dominance on groups who are supporter of America and neutral groups. In the next phase after the dismissal of Morsi the United States for managing the crisis of Islamic awakening of people of Egypt put the programme of “public opinion engineering” on the agenda.

The present article attempts to distinguish the relation between the United States foreign policy identities and identity of Obama foreign policy. For this purpose the article has examined the United States identity and her foreign policy identities. The article also refers to general policies of the Obama administration. The foreign policy of the United States as a big power has continuity and change like other countries. One of the identity continuity element is Wilsonian identity which its characteristic was internationalist and global. There are similarities of identities between Obama reflective policies in the twentieth first century and Wilson’s identity. One finds that after a period of following aggressive and Jacksonian policies by George Bush, the foreign policy identity of the United States during Obama period has turned to Wilson’s identity.

From nearly two decades ago the fundamentalist groups expanded their organized activities in the whole Africa continent and displayed a wave of Islamic radicalism in several African Countries. One of the recent groups that has been radicalized is Boko Haram in Nigeria. The article attempts to examine this group as a case study and evaluate the process of formation of Islamic radicalism in Nigeria. The paper takes the help of Alain Touraine’s theory of social movements to explain this question that, what are the factors that prepared the ground for the emergence and growth of Islamic radicalism in Nigeria? The underlying hypothesis of the paper is that internal variables like widespread poverty in Muslim inhabited areas as compared to Christian region, absence of effective participation in political arena, the existence of deep rooted ethnic conflicts, the feeling of losing identity in a secular government accompanied by external factor like the support of international terrorist groups have led to radicalization and resort to violence by Boko Haram. The finding of the study shows that for reducing human and financial losses of Boko Haram, alternative strategies to confrontation should be substituted so that the intensity of attack decreased and no new forces join them. Therefore, in the first step use of strategy of compromise and persuasion can be a suitable way for stopping Boko Haram attacks.