فصلنامه مطالعات عملیات روانی
پیاپی 20 (پاییز 1387)

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a constituent of the identity of the Islamic Revolution to guard and defend the objectives¡ achievements¡ and the major constituting elements of the Islamic Revolution is of a special standing. This sacred institution was established through the thoughtful acumen of Imam Khomeini(rah.)¡ the founding father of the Islamic Republic¡ and stepped into different scenes of defending the Islamic Revolution following religious¡ revolutionary¡ and popular course of action. Hence¡ the IRGC''s mission and structure are flexible and far-reaching and it has a wide operational range to guard the constituting elements of the Islamic Revolution. Accordingly¡ the IRGC has defined its mission and operational range according to the changes in the enemy''s approaches and policies¡ environmental conditions¡ and the threats the Islamic Republic faces. Behavioral and perspective changes in society and the extensive cultural-political assault of the enemies targeting the religious¡ intellectual fundamentals and behavioral patterns in society have made the IRGC''s missions for confronting the enemy''s soft threats more serious at present. Examination of the principles of the IRGC''s mission for confronting soft threats can help attain a common approach toward that mission. In this article¡ an attempt has been made to examine the fundamentals of the IRGC''s missions for confronting soft threats¡ particularly cultural threats within IRGC¡ using the policies and statements of Imam Khomeini(rah.) and the supreme leader¡ the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran¡ the approved missions and perspective of the IRGC¡ and the enemy''s soft war doctrine.

To perceive the scope of the West''s media soft threats in creation and expansion of ethnic crises in Iran ¡ the meta-analysis method has been used in this article. For this purpose¡ from among the research projects conducted on the above-mentioned issue¡ five projects which had studied the impact of soft threats on five Iranian ethnic groups (Kord¡ Azari¡ Lor¡ Balooch¡ and Arab) were selected. Then¡ using the findings of these five projects¡ the impact of the West''s media soft threats (psychological operations of the Persian-speaking media) on the predispositions¡ outlooks¡ preferences¡ and features of these five groups was analyzed. The findings indicated that the West''s media soft threats and such features as confidence¡ divergence¡ tolerance threshold¡ participation¡ readiness for confronting threats¡ and readiness for dissenting actions in each of the five ethnic groups are meaningfully related.

Today¡ soft power is regarded as an influential power dynamic in the foreign policy of countries. Governments invest considerably in order to give a favorable impression of themselves. All countries desire to be evaluated positively by others. Therefore¡ they try to reinforce this favorable impression and avert creation of negative impressions. There is not a unique understanding about the meaning of hard and soft threat. Some conceive hard threats as non-military threats such as environmental dangers¡ crimes¡ corruption¡ etc. and have eventually found hard tools and procedures suitable for hard goals and soft tools and procedures for soft goals. This article aims at examining the concept of hard and soft power within the environment of the Islamic Republic so that the approaches and outlooks may get closer and an Iranian conception of these two terms may be attained.

Creation of soft power in Iran can be looked at from different angles. The fact that Imam Khomeini as a lonely¡ exiled¡ old man managed to create such a power in an individualistic society by far-reaching mobilization that wiped out a twenty-five-hundred-year-old royal dynasty and ended the all-out domination of the US can be deliberated on in different way. Many thinkers and authorities who have studied social revolutions wonder how the Islamic Revolution could end the domination of the US and topple the strongest government of the Middle East in such a short time. This is definitely the outcome of the mobilization power of Imam Khomeini(rah). In fact¡ the soft power and the nature of the Islamic Revolution and its religious teachings with their anthropological¡ ontological and epistemological dimensions are different from the soft power features considered by Joseph Nye and other Western thinkers.. Imam Khomeini(rah) put an end to an internal autocracy and external colonization by relying on God and self-confidence and trusting people in a decade and half long struggle. He founded an epoch-making and civilization-building revolution by establishing a constant and informative relationship with masses - even in exile¡ illegitimizing the imperial regime and the US¡ benefiting from the legends of patience¡ resistance¡ jihad¡ and martyrdom such as Imam Ali(a.s.) and Imam Hussein(a.s.)¡ reviving the spirit of jihad and martyrdom¡ establishing a sense of seeking responsibility¡ supporting the deprived and the oppressed¡ and by creating an inner and spiritual revolution among the scattered masses. This revolution was backed by the soft power rooted in religious teachings¡ not the persuasion and seduction discussed by Joseph Nye. This article examines creation boil of soft power from the viewpoint of Imam Khomeini(rah).

Today¡ soft power is regarded as an influential power dynamic in the foreign policy of countries. Governments invest considerably in order to give a favorable impression of themselves. All countries desire to be evaluated positively by others. Therefore¡ they try to reinforce this favorable impression and avert creation of negative impressions. There is not a unique understanding about the meaning of hard and soft threat. Some conceive hard threats as non-military threats such as environmental dangers¡ crimes¡ corruption¡ etc. and have eventually found hard tools and procedures suitable for hard goals and soft tools and procedures for soft goals. This article aims at examining the concept of hard and soft power within the environment of the Islamic Republic so that the approaches and outlooks may get closer and an Iranian conception of these two terms may be attained.

We live in an era in which information and communications dominate every aspect of man's life including international relations. Under this condition, the media shoulder the main burden of diplomacy, and the visual media having a bigger share have made themselves a power element in every country. Today, media diplomacy is considered the commonest form of diplomacy in international arena, and the countries having the highest degree of efficiency in this arena will both manage to introduce their cultural, political, and economic capacities and have a better position in the structure of the international order to persuade others. Therefore, in the present quantinized era, media, due to their power of persuading the psychological structure of human beings, play a much more important role than the formal diplomacy systems. In other words, success of foreign policy in today's world has become dependent on patterning of media more than ever. Looking at this issue from a different angle, we should admit that, as Joseph Nye has acknowledged, soft power leaves a more stable and enduring effect than hard power. As Antonio Kramchy asserts, persuasion of others by means of soft power has a little cost but a lot of benefits. The countries which deprive themselves of this means will gradually start and quickly move down the decline curve. Following this approach, the present article attempts to examine different aspects of media diplomacy and evaluate and scrutinize its function and interactive influence on making the atmosphere of foreign policy dynamic.