نشریه پژوهشهای سیاسی جهان اسلام
سال ششم شماره 2 (پیاپی 19، تابستان 1395)

The main purpose of this article is to investigate the dimensions and consequences of
the US influence in Iran during 1953 to 1979 and the formation of relationship between
the two countries after Islamic revolution of Iran. Qualitative Research Methods is used
for both data collection and analysis and explanation of the results. The research in analyzing data is descriptive-analytic. The research findings indicated that the US
influence in Iran had been pervasive and encompassed all aspects of cultural, political,
economic, military, and security dimensions that led to reduce the initial optimism of
Iranian toward the US. Following the outbreak of Islamic revolution in Iran, the process
of US influence in Iran has come to an end. To understand the current behavior roots of
this great power against our country, it is critical to explain the origins of this influence
which can enrich the understanding of the academic community and help the policy
making organizations.

The popular uprising in the Arabic countries, which began in Tunisia in 2010, quickly has spread to other countries in the Western Asia and North Africa and created the wave of modern Islamic awakening in the Arab world. The Islamic Awakening in different countries created various scenarios based on the political culture of each society, the structure of government, and the political economy, and geopolitical position of each country, and consequently, caused political changes including revolutions, reforms, foreign military interventions, civil wars, and social rebellions. This development led to transformation in some countries such as Saudi Arabia. Therefore, in light of these changes, this study aims to find out the effect of Islamic Awakening in the future of Saudi Arabia’s political system. This research utilized a variety of future study methods including Delphi method, prospects analysis, cross-sectional analysis, and scenario writing, to answer the research question. The statistical population includes the ambassadors and their deputies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Saudi Arabia, and the sample size has been determined by Cochran’s formula. Five scenarios were identified, among which one was approved for its high compatibility. In this scenario, it was shown that Islamic awakening would effectively change the power relations in Saudi Arabia and the Saudi political system will be overthrown in the future.

As political developments in Iraq and Syria has occurred from the end of 2010, some movements has started in the Arab world and North Africa which has caused the revolution in some countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Libya and in others countries like Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen it is still ongoing. In the formation of these Correlated and sequential developments, experts and analysts have identified several factors, including: the role of modern virtual and communicative media, moving these societies towards the process of globalization, socialclass gaps in the Arab countries, despotism and neopotrimonialism governing on the Arab world, initiating the trend of democracy in the region, the rise of Islamic Awakening movment of dissatisfied people with the countries from the marginalization of religion and violation of their religious rights by the government, and the inadequacy of established political systems in their countries. One of the common points of these movements in their formation is the role of new electronic and communicative media, namely satellite and virtual environments such as social networks, phone messages and the like. In the light of new media and social networks, according to Castells, horizontal communication takes place between different sectors of society. “Power flows” surpass on “the flows of power” and citizens by using virtual social networks can destroy media monopolies. Although these new media can not be considered as the main reasons of revolution, it is obvious that they are known as the crucial factors in the occurance of the revolutions.Virtual media and social networks introduced themselves as a powerful alternative for other media in the triple relation of audience, media, and society, the power that is increasing continiously. Investigating the Islamic awakening procedure in Tunisia and the revolution occurred in this country shows that how a young Egyptian protester and protesting revolutionaries were able to take advantage of social networks to end the 23-year-old Ben Ali’s government in less than two months and establish self-immolation school on Facebook. The movement using social networks was reproduced and published which was the beginning of the revolutions that was called the “Wiki revolution”,” “Facebook Revolution”, “Twitter Revolution”, “online Revolution”, “Media Revolution”, and “ laptop Revolution”. The present study aims to explore the role of modern communications media in the revolutions in Tunisia and utilizes descriptiveanalytic method with collecting data through library resources.

In the international arena, for many years, many treaties and documents have been filed on the people engaged in war and civilians and other individuals who somehow were related to armed conflicts. The international communities, through the ratification of international conventions, such as the Geneva and Hague Conventions, have sought to establish a basic humanitarian principle at the time of war. These conventions are the laws that respecting them, although do not prevent the occurrence of war, can reduce the human pain and suffering to some extent in the parties. The comparison between human rights in Islam and today’s regulations shows that Islamic law in this area in both historical and humanitarian perspectives are richer than the current humanitarian law. Because human rights are global, and humanitarian thought is more and more important than ever in the international context, it is vital to clarify the vision of Islam in this regard. So, this research aims to study the ideas and attitudes of the human rights in the religion of Islam that are expressed in the Word of God and the Imams (AS) in the last fourteen centuries.

Bureaucracy is considered as one of the world’s today processes and modern world. Following the expansion of the thought of rationalism under the Renaissance in the West along with the growing increase in the world’s population, the concept of instrumental rationality and, consequently, bureaucracy has been expanded. In this regard, the influence of functionalism theory is significant as one of the ideas of the modern age. The functionalism theory, due to its systematic process and the emphasis on structures and functions, can contribute to the formation and development of bureaucracy. Iran is one of the developing countries where functionalism theory can play a significant role in expanding bureaucracy and its cultural structure as a result of adaptation to modern conditions. Therefore, it is important to study the impact of functionalism on the bureaucratic process and cultural structure of Iran. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of functionalism theory on the bureaucratic and cultural structure of Iran. The main question of the research is: what the impact of functionalism theory on the scope of bureaucracy and cultural structure in Iran is. The research hypothesis suggests that the principles of functionalism theory and variables of the Model can play an important role in the development of bureaucracy and structure of culture. This research uses a descriptive-analytical method and theoretical framework of functionalism. The library study on valid text shows that the hegemony of functionalism theory leads to the growth of bureaucracy and the formation of systemic culture and the increase of efficiency of the political system.

The emergence of ISIS in the turbulent condition of Middle East has brought many fundamental changes in the behavior, situation, and conditions of states and sub-national governments as well as regional and internationa powers. Meanwhile, the Kurds were at the center of regional transformations. The present article seeks to explain how the emergence of ISIS has affected the changes of political situation of the Kurds in Syria and Iraq. Employing process-tracing and analytical methods, this article found that the emergence of ISIS has enhanced Kurds’ political and motivational weight and international prestige in Syria and Iraq. In general, Syrian Kurds with the transition from political isolation in decades have got the North Syria under their democratic confederalism control. Iraqi Kurds, also, as a result of the rise of ISIS, have taken serious steps towards independence. This issue raised the serious question of: What is the impact of ISIS emergence on the status of the Kurdish political and military situation in Iraq and Syria?

With a geopolitical look at the issues of Iran and the surrounding Islamic countries, it is clear that any action in Iran, as a center of Shiite religion, affects the Islamic countries of the neighborhood, which are part of the Iranian sphere of influence. By having more knowledge about the influential factors in this area, Iran can pay more attention to coping with issues and solving problems in the neighbor Islamic countries. However, the territory of Iran, according to its geography and complex history, encompasses various geopolitical issues that could affect Iran’s relations with the neighbor countries. The close study of these issues is one of the essential requirements for sustainable and constructive relationship with the Islamic neighbors. Because, according to Imam Sadiq’s (as) quote, ‘man is responsible for humanity’. In this regard, the present study adopting a scientific approach in using theoretical perspectives on the factors affecting relations between countries, attempts to study the geopolitical and divergent factors influencing the relations between Iran and the neighbor Islamic countries. This study applied a mix method approach consisting of descriptive – analytic method and a survey that by using library sources and field studies through the questionnaire and the MCDM (type AHP) technique, collected data to answer the research question of: ‘what are the most important geopolitical and divergent factors affecting the expansion of Iran influence on peripheral Islamic countries in terms of priority?’ In the results of the present study, a total of 11 divergent factors were identified and in prioritizing them in the context of tension, the A8 factor (ideological conflicts) was considered as the first and most important divergent factor between Iran and peripheral Islamic countries.

The emergence of ISIS in the turbulent condition of Middle East has brought many fundamental changes in the behavior, situation, and conditions of states and sub-national governments as well as regional and international powers. Meanwhile, the Kurds were at the center of regional transformations. The present article seeks to explain how the emergence of ISIS has affected the changes of political situation of the Kurds in Syria and Iraq. Employing process-tracing and analytical methods, this article found that the emergence of ISIS has enhanced Kurds’ political and motivational weight and international prestige in Syria and Iraq. In general, Syrian Kurds with the transition from political isolation in decades have got the North Syria under their democratic confederalism control. Iraqi Kurds, also, as a result of the rise of ISIS, have taken serious steps towards independence. This issue raised the serious question of: What is the impact of ISIS emergence on the status of the Kurdish political and military situation in Iraq and Syria?