نشریه تحقیقات سیاسی و بین المللی
پیاپی 5 (زمستان 1389)

The governments for supplying public goods and maintaining political stability need reliable financial and non-financial resources. These resources should be provided through taxes or the governments by making self-made restrictions and deficiencies in social and economic system provide them. These limitations while provides financial resources for the government convert the market as a lever for controlling the society. The present article is trying to examine the impact of monopolies and control of economic, social and cultural spheres by the government on social capitals. The underlying hypothesis is that the expansion and intensification of government monopolies in the above said fields weakens and disrupts the social capital. The social capital, in fact regulates relations among human and organizational settings, create norms and builds confidence in the society. As a result in short term it leads to governmental and social corruption and in the long term prepares the ground for social anomie. Therefore, if the protection of private property, equal distribution of opportunities, equality before the law, encouraging public participation in the affairs of the society and finally fight against corruption do not get enough importance achieving development which is the ultimate goal of relations between the government and the society will not be materialized.

In recent past, in the eyes of non-Muslim thinkers Islamists were synonymous with fundamentalists and there was no difference between the two for them but in recent years with coming to power of Islamists in Turkey these two terms have rightly found their distinct meaning. At present, with coming to power of moderate Islamists in Turkey, they have presented themselves as a successful model for Islamists groups and societies. It has also led to the decline of the position of Islamic Fundamentalists and strengthening of democracy in that country. In fact for better understanding of the relations between Islam and democracy one has to pay attention to the dominant interpretation of Islam among the followers. What gives the final verdict or judgment about the relations between democracy and Islam by Islamist groups or societies is the dominant interpretation of Islam by Islamist groups or societies. Thus one cannot give a comprehensive verdict about compatibility or incompatibility of Islam with democracy. The present article wants to examine the impact of a dominant moderate interpretation of Islam in Turkey. The underlying hypothesis is that such interpretation of Islam is not an obstacle on the way of democratization but it has helped the deepening process of democracy and building the necessary institution for democracy.

After surveying the security studies one realizes that the security approaches which has existed so far were in conformity with historical developments. In each historical period the security and security studies had been different from other periods. The question which is raised here is that whether the changes which had taken place in different periods were only superficial and depended merely on the wishes and whims of the thinkers and researchers or it had been due to the changes emanating from the atmosphere of thought discourse? It seems that the discourse of each phase had its own content and this content had its impact on the security studies and research of that period. In other words in each period the atmosphere of thinking kept on changing. In traditional discourse in accordance with its content attention were focused on the principle of survival and existence. In post traditional discourse with the advances made on the military and war apparatus the military capability affected the security studies. In modern discourse in accordance with economic and technological advances, these factors affected the security studies. Finally in supra-modern studies by increase in the pace of globalization and institutional theories, playing important role in world order became a priority in security studies.

Pragmatism as a philosophical theory and an approach is almost a new viewpoint which became popular in late nineteenth or early twentieth century in the United States. Pragmatism is based on this fact that each theory or doctrine is to be judged on the basis of the result which is derived from it. According to pragmatists if an idea leads to an efficient and useful result for man then it should be considered as real and useful. In fact the reality is not something absolute which exist apart and independent from man. Pragmatism like other philosophies has deep connection with politics and political affairs. The present article initially examines the philosophy and approach of pragmatism and then connection of pragmatism with politics in theory and practice is critically discussed. The finding of the article shows that although in certain cases a pragmatic outlook is necessary but it is not sufficient because excessive use of this method leads to certain problems. These problems are: non-adherence to ethics, instrumentalism, lack of attention to political and social ideals and preferring interests to values and principles.

The present article is studying the subject of security in Islam from the view point of Prophet (Nabavi) and also security from the view point of Mahdavi (Imam Mahdi) and Alavi (Imam Ali). On this basis and also taking into consideration the main indicators in Prophet Mohammad (PBH) and Hazrat Ali’s discourse and also the philosophy of Expecting (Intezar) approach towards security, the aspects and framework of thought derived from it is explained and studied. The article studies the discourse of the dominant concepts and the structure of the security in Prophet Mohammad, Alavi and Mahdavi approach because the prophets and Shiite Imams have paid attention to the security discourse. What one can notice in words of the great prophet about security is his great adherence to the word of revelation and security of the Islamic lands and all the citizens. In the view point of the innocent Shiite Imams acceptance of the prophet’s framework of thought and holy Quran along with the expediencies and the interests of Islamic community and also the right to have security and tranquility for all the citizens in the Islamic land is having a significant place. The authors of the article have tried to discuss the theoretical foundation of the “idea of security” in Islam and in this direction they are analyzing the Islamic discourse to extract hypothesis which determine the limit of security discourse in Islam.

The topic of the present article is a study of the challenges and obstacles of democracy in the Middle East with emphasis on Bahrain. The main question of this article is what are the most important internal challenges and obstacles of democracy in Bahrain? The hypothesis of the article is that the main challenge to democracy in Bahrain is the traditional authoritarian rule which this itself prepares the ground for other obstacles and challenges. The present article is theoretical and by a descriptive-analytical method wants to examine the above issue. The finding of the study shows that the root of authoritarianism lies in culture and economy of the Middle East countries. In fact the political culture of the Middle East countries is authoritarian and this itself is a serious and basic obstacle on the way of democracy and free and independent civil society.

Political participation is not merely taking part in elections but it is an act which can be measured as an index. What is determining in election results is the election behavior of the citizens which differ from one city to another. The election behavior decides as to how the citizens elect the candidates. What are the criteria and the determining factors which decide that how the citizens choose a particular candidate? A study of the trend of political participation in elections is one of the ways which one can come to know about the motives of voters in participating in elections. Since the level of consciousness and knowledge is a determining factor in political participation choosing a place like Isfahan which is having the above qualification facilitates the conduct of the present study. Isfahan is one of the five metropolises of the country which has had important place and role in political participation. The trend of political participation in this city is showing the importance of this city in decision-making in the country. Therefore, taking into consideration the importance of Isfahan, the analysis of the election behavior of the people of this city is of great importance. The present article is trying to explain the election behavior of the people of Isfahan before the ninth Islamic Majlis parliamentary elections on the basis of three theories: the dominant ideology theory, rational election theory and party-factional identity theory. The methodology used in the study is field work and the questionnaire distributed among a statistical group in Isfahan city. The finding of the study is based on analysis of the statistical data.

In 1990 decade after the realization of the importance of sophisticated weapons in the Persian Gulf war (1990-1991), the process of revolution in military affairs, the increasing strategic concern due to the challenges posed by the United States to the military interests of China in Taiwan, the emergence of Japan as a regional military power and also the military power of India and its increasing regional influence which made the occurrence of war more possible, one witnesses China’s inclination towards defence technology and modernization of People’s Liberation Army(PLA). Therefore in security thinking of China the priority of improving the military power has reached the level of priority of economic development. In this direction the Chinese leaders in the past decade taking into consideration the above changes have set strategic goals and adjusted their defence policies and have achieved enormous progress in defence technological field.