Examining the Objectives, Approaches and functional areas of soft war with emphasis on the soft war against Islamic Republic of Iran

The social and political developments in the contemporary world and human achievements in the field of technology have made a new kind of conflict as “soft war”. In other words, capacities of perceptional and persuasive impact for changing behavior and structure of society are changed into one of the most successful methods of conflict that is more effective than military war. But the complexity of the conflict and its denial by some institutions that are designers of backstage has created doubts among the elite. This article attempts to explain theoretical-functional approaches through objectivation of soft war. Therefore, first we compare between impact of hard and soft war. Then, we analyze functional approaches at trends of soft war against Islamic Republic of Iran in the political, economic, social and cultural fields. In this research, we examine some political approaches including; “depth-oriented” and “Huntingtonian” Theories, social approach derived from the ideas of Gene Sharp, an economic approach based on the theory of “smart power “and cultural approach drawn from the theory of “artistic power” have used in this article.