مجله رهیافت های سیاسی و بین المللی
سال پنجم شماره 1 (پیاپی 35، پاییز 1392)

In the context of paradigmatic shift, we are facing with constrained and also extensive interpretations of IR concepts. Thus generally defining, functions of IR concepts mostly depend on paradigm and theories which are used to explain and analysis of various aspects of IR. However, in the process of conceptual shift, we should expect some changes in agency – structure, levels of analysis and so on which are basically related to ontology, epistemology and also methodology of theories and approaches in IR.

Competition and cooperation have been dual dimensions of international relations throughout history. Competition directs attention toward the importance of the material capabilities. Cooperation, because of its character, leads focus toward the significance of the agent. According to the structural theory, security, as the most valuable good, originates in the context of order, in which the player enjoys a distinctive status. Distribution of capabilities has to occur in a way that brings about influence. With emphasis on the importance of identity of the agent in shaping the phenomenon and events, that kind of order ought to be created which demonstrates the least amount of identity conflict and inter-subjective similarity. An order of this kind brings about a promising domain for shaping security needs. Congenial international relations for each player assuredly depend on the possibility of making security. What is the most suitable framework to establish security is viewed as the main question of the article. Understanding the multidimensional character of security and knowing determining role of material and social aspects in shaping security, the hypothesis is: The environment with least identity conflict and highest status for the player creates the most suitable security surrounding without any doubt.

This article examines the concept of secularism in the thought of Marsilius of Padua. Marsilius, employing two dimensions of the Christian theology (i.e. trans-political and political essence of the theology), presents an interpretation of the Holy Scripture that leads to “depoliticization of theological authority”. We call this theory “Institutional Secularism”; because it implies the separation of the church institution as church institution from secular coercive power. This article shows that the concept of secularism, in its historical origin, is inseparable from peculiar properties of Christian theology. In the first place, secularism is a “Christian affair”.

This article tries to articulate ‘Moderation Discourse’ based upon post-structuralism approach and discourse analysis (DA), Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory and Van Dijk’s model. To this end, first, we sketch out and discuss the theoretical and methodological principles of the study of discourse and discourse analysis and we do our utmost effort to show how a notion can take a vast array of meanings, changing into a structured totality, we call discourse. Then, we present a picture of the main political discourses shaping Iranian identity since the Islamic Revolution reaching Moderation Discourse. To fix the meaning of Moderation Discourse, we analyzed Imam Ali’s ideas and teachings relating to the governance of justice and stretch out a net of floating and empty signifiers around a certain nodal point. Then, a unified system of meaning different from other discourses is created. Chain of equivalence and horizontal differences are constituted to determine conceptual in-groups and out-groups. Attempts are made to transform elements into moments by reducing their polysemy to a partially fixed meaning. We adopted certain defined practices of attraction and exclusion in the form of contingent and permanent considerations. So to understand what Moderation Discourse is, we fully delimit and define its meanings, and to establish and embody it as a totality and a role model of governance, details and principles of Hazrat Ali’s formula for good governance is added.

Social movements, revolutions and street riots are uprising, sudden and surprising phenomena. That is why there is always a concern that these phenomena are very complex and unpredictable in how to begin, parameters and the way we can predict them. In this study, the theoretical and conceptual systems, chaos theory and comparative method are used to answer these questions. In comparative method, political and social phenomena are compared to biological, technical and mathematical ones and through chaos theory, their similarities are explored.

In the middle ages, the area of “economic” was regarded as a branch of divine knowledge within the prevailing frame of thought of the church. Thus clergymen could supervise its details. The tyranny of the church led Luther back from his Augustinian thoughts to a critical approach towards Catholic Church beliefs. Weber discovered the relationship between Ascetic Protestantism and the spirit of capitalism; a worldly asceticism that looks to modify and control the world. Experimental results perfectly verify the validity of Weber’s argument. The main subject of the present study is that, although acknowledging the major role of Luther in the transition to a new era and Weber’s true and subtle allusions to this subject, it seems that in the religious reformation era and because of the necessity of time, great reformers also rose from the Catholic Church. Therefore, the main question of the research is whether we could find a sign of the emergence of capitalism in the Catholic Church. The main hypothesis of the article states that a part of the liberalization and historical secularization occurred inside Catholicism in which Jesuit Catholic sect played an important role. The process extended so far that Jesuits clergies legitimated gavel and their researchers became the missioners of free economy in the world.

In this paper, the mutual relationship between social capital and sustainable national security is assumed. So the main question of the research asks about the role and contribution of social capital in the extension and deepening of national security in Iran’s last decade. In line with the research that has been done in this study, whether objective evidences, previous studies, gathered data and/or expert opinions, it has repeatedly proved that social capital, in Iran, is not in an ideal situation and this poor condition of social capital or in other words, people’s suspect in political institutions has provided numerous difficulties in strengthening and consolidating security statements. A wise policy could encourage the creation of social capital and social capital could increase the impact of government measures. At the end, a stable security in national and transnational era would be reached.