فصلنامه مطالعات عملیات روانی
پیاپی 32 (بهار 1391)

Efficient management, awareness, insight, timely action, courage and wisdom of the Great Leader of the Revolution, Imam Khomeini (rah.), and the Supreme Leader of the Revolution, Imam Khamenei, and utilization of a variety of soft and hard powers and mobilization of the public and public opinion and acting intelligently under various conditions caused the stratagems and strategies employed by the enemies of the Islamic Revolution to lose their efficiency in overthrowing the Islamic Republic and making people change their minds about supporting the Islamic Revolution. Ever since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, velayate faqih (authority of the qualified Islamic jurisprudent) and the leadershipof the Revolution have been the most significant pillars of the Islamic system and the most fortified defense barriers against all types of hard and soft assaults of the enemy. The Islamic Republic’s enemies have correctly found out that they can never overthrow the Islamic system until the time its leadership maintains its authority and credibility as they have vividly observed how the leadership of theIslamic Revolution, in the past and present, has foiled their most sophisticated conspiracies in a very short time and without making use of all the available tools. It is worth noting that unanimity and integrity of the people and their faithfulness to Islam and velayate faqih have contributed to consolidation of smart power ant its utilization by the leaders and authorities of the Islamic Republic.

The Islamic Revolution's victory seriously challenged the Western liberal democracy. To avoid the likely failures, the West designed and implemented military, security and cultural threats to the Islamic world, in general, and the Islamic Revolution, in particular. Soft war is the most extensive effort made by the West against the Iranians and the Islamic Revolution. Soft war has been defined in different ways. Some scholars believe it is identical to soft power or psychological operations, while there is a significant difference between soft war and such issues. Soft war is neither soft power nor psychological operations. It is rather a complicated phenomenon which is far beyond the mentioned issues. To combat this phenomenon, we need to offer comprehensive and multi-faceted models and strategies. Offering a conceptual model, this paper deals with various aspects of combating soft war. As a preliminary step, the doctrine for soft warconfrontation system and its core strategies need to be reflected upon. In this paper, the objectives and policies governing the confrontation system have been explored and the system for confronting the enemy's soft war and its various aspects have been looked into. Also, some of the principles governing the soft war commanders, officers and soldiers based on the viewpoints and policies of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khamenei, have been surveyed.

This paper is an overview of the issues related to persuasion and influence. Surveying persuasion process, it discusses examples of the success or failure of this process. Then, some practical recommendations related to target audience analysis are offered. This requires identification and refinement of the features and characteristics of target audience such as ensuring the highest level of possible homogeneity among target audience. Evaluation of the capacity of target audience for demonstrating the desired behavior change is also necessary. Therefore, understanding the attitudes, beliefs and values of target audience is considered an important part of target audience analysis, which has been neglected in the literature of psychological operations. Furthermore,based on the conditions and vulnerabilities of target audience, the best way to achieve persuasion has been analyzed. The general rationale is the important role target audience plays when designing persuasive messages regardless of whether a deep or shallow processing of target audience is made. Finally, the characteristicsof persuasive messages are examined and, depending on capacity and motivation of target audience, the techniques for fabricating influential messages are reviewed. To design messages appropriately, one needs to consider their potential ability to influence a target audience.

Although Basij was originated on the basis of the military requirements of the Iraqi imposed war against Iran, its function could not be limited to merely military areas and it had to deal with cultural, social, political and economic issues as well. Following the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian public who had opted for an Islamic way of governing the country, had challenged the interests of the great powers who had exploited the oil and other resources of Iran for a long period and had shouted ‘Independence, Freedom, Islamic Republic’ motto opposed the Westernization of Iranian society which had been followed by Pahlavi regime and wanted a political system independent of the Western powers and an ethical system based on Islamic teachings. Hence, the present article explores the role of Basij in generation and development of the soft power of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The hypothesis followed here is that given the role of religion in the Iranian society, Basij can widen its presence in various non-military areas such as education, health, and technology and enhance the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic among Iranians and in the international community by relying on region as a soft element and benefitting from various cultural, scientific, social, and political capabilities.

Compared with the past, today's world is marked with an increase in the importance of nations’ soft power and their ability to create profound, gradual and subtle changes in the beliefs system, lifestyles, political standing, and social attitudes and preferences of target audiences by making use of soft threats. Soft threats refer to a wide range of actions and social, political, and cultural measures which the nations having high communication technologies utilize to impose their will on others. Today's threats mainly have a soft nature. The enemies of the Islamic Revolution prefer to utilize soft threats since they are less costly, affect the soft aspects of national authority, don’t employ violent methods, and …. The present study is an attempt to carefully review and analyze the soft security threats in the Islamic Republic of Iran, particularly those related to the period between the tenth presidential elections and the present time. This research has been conducted on the basis of the descriptive-analytical method and by making use of library and Internet resources.

Nations’ cultural exchange which has continued in a natural context during the history is necessary for the revival of man’s cultural life and leads human society along the course of real felicity. But what we witness in the cultural arena today is cultural conflict or cultural invasion through which a culture assaults other cultures. International experience shows that the axis of a super-culture’s relationship with other cultures is power, not cultural action. The history of thepast and present nations indicates that more powerful cultures have always tried to impose their values on others. Compared with military or economic aggression, this course of cultural invasion has unique characteristics and wide applications and benefits from various tools. At the same time, it should be acknowledged that cultural invasion is a reptilian sort of invasion and has an elastic nature that makes it flexible. These factors clarify the importance of cultural invasion and call for the development and implementation of the necessary defense strategies against this phenomenon. Benefitting from documentary and exploratory methods, this study offers a survey of cultural invasion and answers the following questions: What is the cause of the West’s cultural invasion against Iran? Which tools are employed to implement it? What kind of cultural strategies and defense mechanisms can be utilized to confront it?

This paper reviews cases and examples of psychological operations such as propaganda, deception, creating panic, message repetition, demonization, and rumor spread in the history of Pahlavi regime (1332 - 1342). The decade under study is the period following the coup on Mordad 28th, so it is very important to investigate instances of psychological operations during this period. Pahlavi regime made a great attempt to restore the little legitimacy it had gained at this time. Given the subject-based nature of the present study, it deals with the description and analysis of the examples of psychological operations in the history of Pahlavi regime. The results show that the regime attempted to gain legitimacy and to exert control and power over people using the techniques and tricks of psychological operations, but the uprising on Khordad 15th, 1342 during the last year of the decade indicated that these efforts had failed.