نشریه پژوهش های جغرافیای سیاسی
پیاپی 4 (زمستان 1395)

INTRODUCTIONGlobalization as a meta-process or a set of processes is largely accepted as free movement of capitals, goods, people, technologies, ideas, etc., all over the world. This “time-space compression” and formation of “space of flow” is changing our understanding of contemporary world, or in a better word, it compels us to think seriously about new ontology of space. At the same time, it is a fact that we are living in an urban era. Nowadays we can speak about “planetary urbanization”, and we can ask if there is any space which is not urban. No matter what we name them; concept, phenomenon, historical event or [meta]process, cities become the place of globaliztion. This leads to creat a body of studies in the urban domain. It is proclaimed that Iran, as a so-called developing oil-exporting country, with adherence to ideological government, is not part of this global space of flows or “Actually Existing Neoliberalism”. But it is possible to say that a process which compels us with a new ontology to space does not affect Iranian cities. We say NO. Hence, in this paper, the relationship between the globalization and Iranian cities raises a question. Then, the main question of this paper is as follows: Q: How does globalization affect Iranian cities?
METHODOLOGYThis paper is a theoretical one. We used discourse analysis in order to answer the research question. On the other hand, we used the spatial distribution of urban mega-project in Mashhad as the second most populated city of Iran to show the theoretical framework in an actual existing policy in an Iranian city. For the spatial analysis, we used Spatial Autocorrelation in software such as ArcGIS and GeoDa.
RESULTS & DISCUSSIONIt’s a belief that Iran is not part of the global space of flows. The minimum share of global capital circulation (Foreign Direct Investment is only 2 percent of Gross Fixed Capital formation in Iran) and the fact that Iran was ranked among the lowest countries in globalization indexes indicates its present position. Hence, Iranian cities are not considered as an actor in the global scale; none of the Iranian cities are in the world city network. Rennie Short named Tehran as a ‘Black Hole’; it is among eleven cities which met three criteria: they had a population of over 3 million, were not identified by GAWC as a world city and did not share their national territory with a world city.
There is a body of studies related to the globalization and cities in Iran. Most of them are dedicated to the dominant literature. They study the position of the Iranian cities in different rankings. They, generally, persist in the necessity of improving the position of Iranian cities in the global ladder of global cities. As a result, we can see ‘urban reconstruction for globalization’ as the key agenda for urban planners and city authorities in Iran. Some others conclude the fact that Iranian cities are not part of space of flows is rooted in the Constitution, because it represents specific geo-political code which limits the capacity of cities to play an active role in space of flow and it is why Short put Tehran amongst “Resisting Cities”.
This conception of globalization, which itself is discursive, based on some statements. It is necessary to reconstruct the city for globalization and it is one of the most important statements in today’s urban planning in Iran. We can claim that this statement is the “planning habitus” amongst Iranian planners and city authorities in Iran.
CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONSThe dominant discourse of globalization, which is called as globalization of neoliberalism discourse, presents a linear-scalar interpretation. This discourse of globalization is shaping planning habitus amongst Iranian city authorities and planners. Iranian cities reconstructing based on globalization flow is a key statement for this discourse. Based on this common sense or habitus, cities compete to attract different form of capitals. On the mentioned statement, it is reasonable to accept that building “high-tech global trade zones” and “investing urban mega-projects” could help the process. This process will result in raising the position of Iranian cities among global cities. In this atmosphere, Islamic ideology and oil revenue are important issues in urban network of Iranian cities, for instance latter one play a major role in financing urban mega-projects.
All we have discussed here was about globalization and global scale. But local scale is also important. It is clearl that local communities continue to obtain political potential in the age of globalized power. Hence, the distinction between the “local” and the “global” as separate scalar fields remains problematic, as matters of the shifting boundary between a territorial inside and a territorial outside or as “in here” and “out there”.
Globalization and new communicational networks offer the potential of “action at a distance” and therefore we can suggest new type of community titled “distanciated community” in the “open source neighborhoods”. We could, thus, see localities as the sites of intersection and juxtaposition of new spatio-temporalities with older ones. Then we can speak about globalization in Iran Cities in different way (beyond studying Iranian cities in hierarchy of globalized city or studying APS spatial distribution).

INTRODUCTIONNew media and cultural identity are the issues of utmost importance, because the political, economic and social dimensions of human life have undergone a visible and prominent change from the new media developments. In the process of cultural change, innovation plays a special role. The roots are changing, the process is continuous, yet the fusion of newer concepts and ideas regenerates newer forms of creative expressions to do away with the older ones which get degenerated. The essence of creative existence is defended in many forms. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to search for identity in a virtual space: appearance, behaviors, community affiliations, and the need to have more than one avatar (a user’s three-dimensional digital representation). The questions we hope to answer as part of this study are: (a) what are the values, social conventions and moral compasses behind some of the choices we make as we construct identities in a virtual life? (b) How are these values tested when one creates an identity with complete anonymity? (c) How do the communities that a member chooses help to establish an avatar’s identity and how does this association affect the real life of the user? The first part of this paper will examine the identity theory and how identity is formed, how community affiliations and activities impact our identity, and what happens to our identity (even if we remain anonymous) once we enter virtual spaces. This will give way to an introduction of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and a conceptual framework for analyzing identity theory and activity, particularly in virtual environments. Finally, discussion for future research about how identity formation, visualization in virtual spaces, and our sense of self can impact our real-life identities will be provided.
The Internet, with around 200 million people globally being online, seems to speed up the messages across all kinds of boundaries. Expanding communication space has given way to global communication processes in which knowledge, values and ethics, aesthetics and lifestyles are being exchanged, hence it is giving rise to a third culture. Such a generative framework of culture is being shaped into a global world culture by new media.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKPositive dimensions reveal optimistically that new media, i.e., the Internet is a tool of development for developing countries. It provides easy access to any information. It improves horizontal as well as vertical flows of information. It provides a platform for understanding issues with wider viewpoints. It also provides democratic expressions of individuals in the society. Therefore, the new media enriches the indigenous cultures and provides the deep cultural roots which adhere to their identities with the culture.
METHODOLOGYMethodology of this study is descriptive-analytical and required data have been collected through library research. Sampling is based on cluster sampling and was done using semi-structured interviews with the methodology of "Q" that measured attitudes about national identity in cyber-space.
RESULTS & DISCUSSIONThis study aimed to investigate the impact of cyberspace on the national identity. Participants in the study included 50 graduate students of political geography at University of Tehran, Tarbiat Modares and Kharazmi. The concept of national identity in this study in terms of three indicators of national language, national history and the territorial belonging were investigated. The research is an applied one in terms of aim of research and it is carried out on the phenomenological approach. The results showed that the index of language and national history has decreased because of the interaction in cyber space and the index of land belonging has increased due to lack of cross-border nature of cyberspace. However, increasing the sense of belonging to the language and national history in terms of the validity of the documents available on the Internet is undesirable. Therefore, the phenomenology of national identity in cyberspace showed that the discourse of national identity has faced with ruptures due to poor education and lack of infrastructure

States have always sought to consolidate their sovereignty in a specific area in order to provide their well-defined national security within their political boundaries framework. Actually, the size and realm of their sovereignty were specified and delineable. However, this kind of sovereignty got decentralized and appeared in the world globally and locally by the emergence of postmodernism period associated with the predominance of local identities, NGOs, global and multinational corporations, as well as transnational and international organizations. In this situation, the survival and preservation of the sovereignty would be ensured if the state be compatible and coordinate with these two categories. Therefore, this article examines and explains the concept of the continuation or destruction of national state sovereignty in the global geopolitical system. The main question raised here is whether the conceptual scope of the national sovereignty will be continued, transformed or eroded?, or is the ground now prepared for transforming of the sovereign state as a new world actor? Accordingly, in order to answer the question, 3 different attitudes have been studied as follows:1- Believing in sovereignty continuation and survival of the national state.
2- Believing in establishing new functions for national state.
3- Supporting collapse and destruction of national state.
Thus, according to these three attitudes, the hypothesis in this paper is organized based on the claim that although the national states sovereignty has not been demolished despite all the pressures and limitations that were enforced, its conceptual and dominative scope has been transformed.
INTRODUCTIONThe relationships were established in the world’s geopolitical system and in relation to the role of states in surviving the societies have been considered through two historical periods which is related to the emergence of the "state-nations" by concluding of the Westphalia treaty in 1648 and then have been included coming nongovernmental actors in the International field since the second half of the twentieth century.
Ending the Cold War and the collapse of the bipolar system, which paved the way of globalization for the economy and culture, can be considered as the highest point of these transformations. So, the power of states was affected by several factors, such as the communications, information, technological developments, multinational corporations, organizations and increasing non-governmental actors. Sates functions were significantly transformed. Totally, the historical evidence of four recent centuries has shown that the national state not only consisted itself very efficiently with global transformations and could continue its own life in this way but also it gradually influenced the direction of global change by its growing up, as well other social institutions and organizations have to adapt themselves to this social organization or "Social Structures" as Vendent says. The national state in this current world has shown itself as a main supplier of human public benefit and welfare, so the public expectations have significantly increased. Nobody can image the modern life without state. Because of this superior role of states in people modern life, Andrew Vincent writes it is hardly possible to suppose life without states practically. The state not only indicates a set of entities, but also suggests the attitudes and practical and behavioral styles which are briefly called civility that undoubtedly is considered as a part of civilization.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKThe concept of the Nation refers to the certain public intercommunication among people through a common sense which is created as a result of sharing common historical experience, tradition, language, religion, culture, and common political ends. Dick Shield continued: "Although the land is one of the nation characteristics and the nation is a superior concept in policy, it is not included in a territory of an independent country. Sovereignty is the supreme power with undisputed authority over the country and its citizens. In political contexts and in foreign relations, sovereignties should be recognized by other countries and international legal competent authorities. The national state can be defined as a complex array of modern institutions which are involved in sovereignty system in the form of a limited and specific spatial realm. This system claims the dominance on that realm and preserves it by monopolizing the violence tools. Generally, two different processes were effective in creating a national state: The first theory considered the state as concentrator of the authority in its own territory and aimed to create the political and social infrastructure in order to run the decision by influencing civil society. And the second thesis tries to oblige the nation structure; the noble class to create a national identity and culture as well as a citizenship concept consequently using authority is gained through creating state procedure. The global government is as an executive mechanism that links all actors in the format of world rules. The global government tries to regulate and shape a new form of political, economic and strategic mechanisms. Indeed, this government is discrete and possibly unstable; it can make the masses of more or less coherent governmental entities, which have somewhat global influence and legality. Also it can act as a state in the context of regulating the economy, society and politics in global scope.
METHODOLOGYThe present study has descriptive-analytical approach and the data are mostly gathered based on the library. Foreign reference books and articles from university libraries archives as well as Internet are other references.
RESULTS & DISCUSSIONThe article examines the three major attitudes of realists, transformatives, and globalists in order to explain the concept of the continuation or erosion of the national state's sovereignty. According to the above theories, it should be noted that, despite the changes have made in the global geopolitical system, neither realists nor transformationalists and globalists provide a complete framework for analyzing global politics. It can be said that national states have lost their former role, the national states nature is transforming, and it is a myth that states do not influence globalization processes, according to Smith, but in spite of this permeability, national state is still present as the main actor in the global geopolitical system, and nations defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity enthusiastically, it is true, especially the Third World nations, whose autonomous struggles are still alive in memories. War and constant readiness for war, political disunion, cultural diversity and a huge gap between the most advanced and poorest states are still the most fundamental features of the contemporary world system.
Totally, the study shows that the conceptual forms of sovereignty are being transformed at least as a result of excessive expanding of globalization and it is generally collapsing in pessimistic point of view.

INTRODUCTIONGeopolitical code is considered as a set of political – geographical presumptions related to infrastructure of foreign policy of a country, so that any country has its various and exclusive codes and usually operationalizes these codes based on geopolitical weight and nature of its goals and exploits them. Supposed Iraqi codes in this paper are investigated based on mentality of Baath government of Saddam rather than main goal of Iraqi state to attack Iran. Most considered Iran-Iraq war as the result of Saddam greed in Algerian treaty, but it seems border disputes on Arvand is not the only factor of conflict. Occurring revolution in Iran made condition that Saddam convinced others to accept his desired picture of Iranian revolution with the help of some western power and Arabian countries. So, using this excuse he can accompany Arabs with himself through stimulating nationalism sense of them. In fact, main goal of Saddam in attack Iran was to meet goals like being first regional power, seizing energy sources of khouzestan, entering to Persian Gulf through hegemony on Arvand (overcoming Iraqi geopolitical dilemmas). Mentioned cases are assessable in the frame of intended geopolitical codes of Saddam.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKGeopolitical codes are operational agenda of foreign policy of a country - beyond its borders- that assesses geographical places. In geopolitical codes, a country determines its behavior towards the world – thereby, it considers five following issues:1. Who are our potential and present allies?
2. Who are our potential and present enemies?
3. How we can keep our allies and make potential allies?
4. How we can confront with present and newfound enemies?
5. How we justify 4 above issues to our society and global society.
Geopolitical codes of any country are specifically for that country and they try to affect geopolitical codes of others to meet their interests and goals. In this regard, today redisplay (geopolitical depiction) under title of a geopolitical code is one of the powerful tools to reasonably manifest actions of foreign policy of governments. Thereby, geopolitics of display as an entity of a geopolitical code indicates enemy needs justifications (redisplays) to begin a war. In this case, enemies are displayed as wild or evil and their policies are manifested unreasonably. It means that they do not appreciate value of their political situation and the war is the only way to control “their unbridled” forms. It seems, it is necessary to identify geopolitical codes, since they act as a logical and justified base for actions of foreign policy.
METHODOLOGYThis research is based on descriptive – analytical in terms of nature and method. Information has been gathered in attributive method, referring to valid sources. Main question of this research is how we can assess the role of geopolitical codes of Iraq in attack Iran? Assumption of research is that questioned geopolitical codes by Saddam (as he intended) were one of the main reasons for Iraq and Baath party to attack Iran. In this paper, first, codes of Iraq attack that have been operationalized by frightening from Iranian revolution (prerequisite of codes) indicate 3 main goals of Saddam, namely, being the first regional power, achieving energy sources of khouzestan, and entering to Persian Gulf through hegemony on Arvand (overcome on geopolitical dilemmas of Iraq).
RESULTS & DISCUSSIONAlthough disputes on Arvand is considered as the only factor of Iran-Iraq war, real geopolitical codes of Saddam to justify war were beyond them (1975 Algerian Agreement). Indeed, cases like geopolitical dilemmas of Iraq in access to sea (Persian Gulf) through absolute hegemony on Arvand, access to oil regions of south ( khouzestan ), being Umm al-Qura of Arabian world and the first regional power can be considered as the main goals of Saddam (his geopolitical codes) rather than excuse of 1975 Algerian Agreement. Many of observers believes that decision of Saddam Hussein was his personal calculative mistake based on ambition and feeling of vulnerability. Perhaps, it can be said, one of the reasons of misunderstandings of Saddam was his idealistic, myopic and deviated attitude in regard to policy of the region and the world. He did not know political realities and so, acted based on his ideals and ambitions (his mental presumptions) and finally, he was led toward false calculations and significant mistakes due to nature of his decision making. So, Saddam presumption on Iranian condition (domestic anarchy, collapse of army and weakness of military forces, international sanctions) was never occurred because it was dreams of Baath party, Saddam and Arabian kings, rather than product of collective wisdom and correct interpretation of geography and geopolitical condition of Iran.

International borders as a showcase of countries and the first contact point of two governments have always played an important role between governors. In this way, countries try to manage their borders to make the most of their opportunity in the border zones and face the challenges. Developments that take place in the border zones in the field of communications and information technology, poverty and the lack of expansion towards the interior zones, affect insecurity strategies. Particularly in the Middle East environment, political instability, successive crises in the region, the crisis of refugees, displaced persons, illegal drug trafficking, wickedness, crime, and the hostage crisis has made some border areas of the country insecure. However, the possibility of misusing the opportunities of the insecure borders takes away officials from their duties. In such situation there are no efficient and robust management in many country's borders because of a lack of a comprehensive strategy for integrated border management and institutions responsible for border management. Accordingly, this paper reviews and analyzes border management in this situation and analyzed the opportunities and challenges. The research findings show that there are some factors that determine the multiplicity of agencies at the border. Overlapping responsibilities between them, the lack of order, transparent law and effective management the ambiguity in authorities and responsibilities have had a negative impact on the country's borders. creating integrated structure consisting of five section; military and defense- informational and security, social- cultural, legal- political and economic – commercial was proposed as a solution To deal with these challenges and achieve efficient management of borders in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
INTRODUCTIONAccording to its development and new interpretations of globalization and evolution of information age, Border management changed and evolved and find prominent position in border studies. Border management let countries to reduce challenges and problems that caused by evolution of global space through effective border management. It provides national benefit and security for citizenship. To manage border effectively, borders need to have an integrated border management strategy that could produce enough cooperation among border organizations. Meanwhile, integrated border management of Islamic Republic of Iran has high importance because of its different organizations and border management institutes. Every delay in the actions can provide vast and irrecoverable damage to national interests and security.
METHODOLOGYThe method used in this research is descriptive- analytic according its visionary nature. So in this research not only real image of ministry departments, institutions and organizations related to borders were investigated but also, forming the relationships of these organizations was determined. In this research, library, Internet and interview with some theorists and scientist were used for collecting required data.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKBorder management is a regulated relationship that can open border in different ways to flow the relationship, transition of people, goods, information etc., and also close the borders to prevent insecurity, irregularity and other transboundary challenges and problems that lead to insecurity and irregularity in the society.
RESULTS & DISCUSSIONDifferent organizations and institutes that managed borders are prominent players of border management. This organizations and institutes commonly worked and produce horizontally and vertically irregular situation and make problem. Different organizations that related to border and different organizations for control and management of border without regulated horizontal and vertical relationship make problem for border management in different ways. Some countries such as French, England and United State of American, follow integrated border strategies for solving these problems and having effective border management.
In this way, border management of Islamic Republic of Iran according to its long border, different neighbors and vast border resource, have high position of importance. One problem for border management is different border organizations and institutes without coordination in their activities. There are 28 organizations and institutes that related to border. This different border organizations and institutes and not clearing limit and work for them and vast integrated duty produce problem for border management.
According to development in globalization age, Islamic Republic of Iran needs to follow new strategies to achieve its effective border management. Establishing an integrated border management to achieve effective border management is one of these strategies given there are different organizations, institutes and departments that related to the border in countries. Result of this research showed that the best model for integrated border management of Iran is establishment a central organization for effective management of border in five sections: first section is military, defensive and informative; second section is social-cultural; third section is legal-political; fourth section is economic-commercial; fifth section is management of infra border management.

INTRODUCTIONThe rapid growth of population in big cities of Iran and the need for leading this overflow of population and future economic activities from big cities to new towns have necessitated constructing them. Therefore, due to the economic, social and structural issues of Iran's cities, the solution for making new towns has been proposed. The plan of constructing new towns was suggested by the welfare committee of government's employees in the ministry of roads and Urban Development. There are some issues in relation to establishing new towns and how to plan and manage them. Not only new towns have not resolved the urban problems but also some problems have emerged in the process of urbanization in Iran and new towns have brought about management gaps. In this regard, the political management ability of a community is one of the most important factors in the planning, designing, implementing and managing a new town. The management ability of a country is greater; the possibility of creating administrative, economic, political and social institutions in a city is more possible. As a result, more people have the opportunity to live in a city with satisfaction. These factors provide more population concentration in an area and on the other hand, present more services to the dwellers. Therefore, the relationship and interaction between social organization and spatial organization is an important research issue in geography and urban planning. New towns can be considered as the most prominent examples of social, political and spatial complexities; because it plays important role in the structure of political, social and economic relations in societies.
Thus, this research is going to answer these questions:• How is the political management of new towns evaluated in the current situation?
• What is the pattern of the structure of urban governance in new towns of metropolitan cities?
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKThe political management of a town is the exact representation of local government and urban system that facilitate the spatial distribution in the towns and attempt to conceive the inside and outside of urban space and as a consequence the welfare and prosperity of people are provided in their life. The existing structure of management of new towns and their duties is the product of years of focusing on the system of government and bureaucracy. This structure of management does not possess enough ability to meet the increasing demands caused by the rapid growth of urbanization and outbreak of new changes in the social, structural and economic structure of new towns. Consequently, to solve this problem, in Article 12 of the Law of creating new towns, the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development shall ensure to announce the settlement of at least ten thousand people in a new town to the Ministry of Interior. The Ministry of Interior is obliged to establish city council and municipality in that new town, even if the plan of the new town is not finished yet. Not only by establishing the Municipality, the problem is not resolved, but also the management of these towns follows a dual model that has negative impacts on the function of new towns. The management of new towns is based on the management model of political spaces (The Ministry of Interior and State Governments) and the other one is the model of New Towns Development Company.
METHODOLOGYThe present study, in terms of purpose is an applied research and in terms of analysis method is a descriptive and analytical one. In this study thirty elite people were chosen by random sampling. The twenty-eight research indicators were selected based on the literature of research and the experiences of studies and also according to the purpose of the researches on political management in new towns. The K-S test was used to prove the normality of the variables. After defining the items and their normality test, all the items were ranked and specified based on the Likert score.
RESULTS & DISCUSSIONThe findings indicate that the importance of "Justice" indicator in the model of political management of new towns has been evaluated by 37.5 percent as Very Much, 31.2 percent as Much, and the other 31.2 percent evaluated it as Average. These evaluations demonstrate the high importance of Justice in the model of political management of new towns. Therefore, in terms of importance, the priority of indicators in the model of political management is respectively: contribution, enhancing the administrative capacity, empowering the local citizens, justice, and collective identity formation.
CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONSAccording to a legal definition of duties of these management models of new cities, there are some similar functions that cause conflict and disagreement in managing the new towns. When these management models reach to an agreement in their functions, the town will develop. But the conflicts between them prevent them from focused decision makings. This gaps in the decision-making centers will have a direct impact on the functions.
Thus, these Institutions along with other serving institutions have considered some divisions based on sector plans and job descriptions, and technical and administrative problems. Now the most important problem caused by this multiplexing division is imbalance in the provision of services and lack of coordination. These factors show the increasing necessity of management.
To overcome the challenges of the new towns some strategies are suggested as fellow:• First step: to define a long-term development perspective
• Second step: to prepare an economic framework for sustainable development to reduce the risk of fragile economic structures in the new towns
• Third step: to prepare a comprehensive plan of public services to coordinate public services to local needs.
Strategic recommendations in the field of urban management are presented as these four strategies: establishing effective and developing governance structure in the field of urban management, creating coordination and interaction between institutions and organizations involved in urban management of the new cities, strengthening cooperation and coordination between inter sectorial and inter organizational, leading the objectives and organizational structure towards the developing.

INTRODUCTIONGeographical space of Iran, in spite of geographical and human diversity and its large extent, is managed in the form of a unitary and centralized political- administrative structure. However, the unitary political-administrative structure is (Theoretically) desirable for countries that made up a homogeneous nation and have fewer spatial (geographical-human) Plurality and differences. Moreover, achieving sustainable development is at the forefront of the goals and plans of any state, and development in its common concept should include the equal and relative development of territorial space in all economic, political, cultural and social dimensions. In this regard, experience has shown that the use of the unitary and centralized political - administrative structure as executive mechanism of the country in the geographical dimension and political management of space has led to the formation of unequal power geographies (the evacuation of opportunities and means of power from the periphery - Especially ethnic areas - and their concentration in power centers), which is clearly seen in the development of topography of Iran geographic space on both a national and a regional and local scale. According to this, this paper, with studying the political, economic and cultural dimensions of development in Iran, tries to examines and analyze the effects of centralization on the formation of regional inequality in Iran.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKCentralization is a form of political-administrative organization, in which centralization of power and the non-assignment of authority to lower levels of territorial- administrative division cause to make misunderstandings and disproportionate expectations with environmental-geographical capacities and thus the formation of spatial inequality. Usually, these spatial inequalities can be found in: the imbalance between the public and private sectors, due to the excessive body of government’s involvement in affairs and the marginality of local and popular capabilities; sectional inequalities, for example, between services, agriculture and Industry; Social inequalities, for example, between different urban and rural areas; geographical-population inequalities among different regions of the country; Inequalities between different dimensions of development, ie, the unbalanced backwardness and improvement of development in various political, economic, cultural and social dimensions; Economic inequalities, for example, the gap between the modern and traditional sectors of the economy, between the income levels of different population groups; regional inequalities, such as imbalances between marginal areas and development poles; as well as inequalities in development geography, including the imbalance between population and resources / available opportunities, saturated spaces, capacious spaces, pristine and forgotten spaces / ie, abandoned spaces, or, in other words, the areas of interest and neglected spaces.
METHODOLOGYThe method of this research, based on its theoretical nature, is descriptive-analytical, and for collecting research findings, library resources are often used. Also, in order to better understand the issue, the level of development or spatial inequalities between the provinces of Iran during the years 1986, 1996, 2006 has been studied, And in general, evaluating a set of different indicators in the political, economic and cultural sectors and according to the resulted from the statistics available for each province, the status of each province is identified in the framework of descriptive maps in terms of political, economic and cultural development at the level of Iran, as well as of calculation of the integrated development of the examined indexes.
RESULTS & DISCUSSIONIn this paper, the spatial inequality is considered as the difference in development leves between different regions of Iran. This paper examines the issue of spatial inequality in Iran in three areas of political, economic, and cultural development in relation to the effects of the political uitary system and centralization. As, the study and analysis of the findings of this paper shows that despite the diverse ethnic, religious and ecological-geographical attributes in Iran, in the unitary and centralized structure of Iran, assuming homogeneous country's space (especially cultural); use of the single law for the whole country, uniform implementation of laws in the country on the basis of the homogeneous geographic space and the nation; centrality in the process of planning and budget and expenditures of the country (especially economic); regulation and control over all institutions and organizations under central government; applying political decisions and legislation in the center; ignoring geographical differences in national policies; establishment of a top-down stream of rule and the role of local institutions under the control of the central government in all political, economic and cultural spheres have led to the formation of unequal geographies of power (the evacuation of opportunities and means of power from the periphery - especially the ethnic areas - and their centralization in power focuses) in Iran, and the current process continues, despite the relative and very low adjustment.
CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONSAccording to the results of this study, the origin of many of the spatial problems in Iran must be sought in the nature of this structure (Centralization). So that, this structure can be regarded as a painful disease and the greatest problem of spatial structure and spatial organization process (political-economic-cultural) in Iran. This clothing has sewn for the territorial body of Iran in the Persian Constitutional Revolution Era through developing of a political Centralization aimed at establishing political unity in Iran, and is still the only political, economic, and cultural clothing of Iran spatial structure. Of course, today's in Iran, the structure of the Islamic Republic of Iran is not legally centralized in nature, since its constitution opened the way out of centralization and the constitution of Iran offers a great capacity and capabilities to escape from this painful disease and resolve spatial inequalities are present in Iran's geography, and indeed, very geographical-ecological realities of Iran are considered in the constitution., especially useing the geographic knowledge and insights. Thus, apparently, the origin of the continuity of the centralization clothing on the geographical body of Iran, from past to the present, can be sought in the lack of geographic knowledge and insight in the nature of macro and micro decision-making, and in other words, the type of operation of the Iranian space management system. However, centralization is a fact of Iran spatial structure that can not be denied by any means. Reality which even now has become a dominant paradigm in the eyes of the government, the academic community, and public opinion in Iran, and apparently there is simply no way out of it.