نشریه مطالعات سیاسی جهان اسلام
پیاپی 31 (پاییز 1398)

This study has been conducted with the aim of finding the cultural bases of ethnic challenges in the Islamic world with emphasis on Azerbaijan Iran and tried increasing national solidarity. Accordingly, the main question this article is that what is the most influential cultural ground in formation and growth of ethnic challenges in Azarbaijan, Iran?

research method is a qualitative and quantitative combination of data collection through library method with survey tool and field method with in-depth interview. The data analysis method was also used to describe the data and quantitative content analysis after accessing all the results obtained from library sources and in-depth interviews.

Findings of the research indicate that emphasis on the language of a country, cultural discrimination, and the non-implementation of Article 15 of the Constitution for the abandonment of Turkish speakers with 39% were the most important domestic cultural ground, and the impact of satellite channels in Turkey and Republic of Azerbaijan with 32% and superior Turkish identity in the vicinity of Azerbaijan with 31%, were the most important external grounds in formation and growth of ethnic challenges in Azerbaijan in Iran.

The results of the research show that in order to create greater national solidarity, the cultural components of the Azerbaijani people within the country must be recognized and respected so that foreign countries can not provide a basis for creating ethnic challenges in Iran.

This article aims at analyzing how the imagination of a country form a region have caused the formation of a new geopolitical vision a and how this formation has led to an expansion of country bound up to that region. To do that, the article first presents a theoretical background and explains how china's imagination from central Asia is formulated. The article then applies this analysis to the case of China relations with Central Asia with respect to how this imagined geography shapes the priorities of china foreign policy in the region.

The method in this research is descriptive-analytical and data and information are required by the library method and summarize historical data.

Article findings show that: Given the historical background of China-Central Asia relations and cultural commonality, China's imagination of Central Asia is positive and China is seeking to exploit the geopolitical capacities of Central Asia to strengthen its political and economic power. Besides, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, geopolitical codes such as security, economics and the formation of a great game have led to deepening China's relations with Central Asian countries.

Examining the characteristics of the geopolitical image of China from Central Asia has shown that the country uses several geopolitical codes to extend its connection with the countries of the region. However, among these codes, there are specific codes that Beijing uses to adjust its relations with the countries of the region, which include the great game, economy, and security.

Regional cooperation between Iran and the Muslim countries in the Eurasian region has been an important aim for different Iranian governments especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of these countries. Looking at some features of new regionalism theories, the present article aims at considering the role of such an approach in providing an appropriate framework in order to understand the regional cooperation in the Eurasian region. In fact, the main question of the present article is the way Iran and the Eurasian Muslim countries could achieve convergence in identities and norms and also cooperate with each other despite the disparity in defining common interests.

The method used in this study is descriptive-analytical and uses the theoretical framework of neo-regionalism to analyze the areas of cooperation and difference between the two countries.

The author argues that Iran and most of the Eurasian Muslim countries could have achieved a shared definition of identities and norms governing the patterns of their foreign relations with taking advantage of cultural convergent capabilities.

To conclude, the possibility of shaping such a kind of regional cooperation is examined and it seems that based on neo-regionalism framework, this policy will become possible when the level of analyzing the relations between these countries change from a micro-level of bilateral relation or a macro-level of global relations into a middle-level one within a regional relation and in a “Cultural Eurasia” context.

South Korea’s relations with the countries of the Muslim world can be seen as having mutual and common interests for both sides. Relationships that are remarkable in the context of relations between a middle power and a great civilization, but in many cases have been challenged due to the considerations of great powers, especially the securitization of issues in the Islamic world. Accordingly, the main question of the paper is that, how do the securitization issue has affected South Korea’s relations with the Islamic world? And also how successful have been the efforts to desecuritize these relations? The research method is descriptive-analytic and documentary and reliable internet based sources have been used to collect the information. The findings of the study indicate that although South Korea’s relations with Islamic countries have been under the influence of great powers – especially the United States- in numerous cases, both sides have tried to along with maintaining their strategic ties with the great powers, facilitate the desecuritization of their relations by efforts such as developing public-cultural diplomacy, strengthening economic ties and interdependencies, and also adopting an impartiality or non-interference approach in each other’s affairs and crisis. Islamic countries and South Korea have tried to enhance their relations in different aspects including cultural exchange, economic cooperation and non- intervene approach toward each other that has contributed to the enhancement of their relations and also affected the securitized nature of their relations.

The emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was something no one could have predicted prior to the 2003 US Invasion of Iraq. A combination of skilled former Iraqi military personnel, eschatologically savvy Islamic clerics, and an army of domestic and foreign fighters have created the ultimate terrorist pseudo-state. By some estimates, over 25,000 foreigners had gone to fight in Syria between the start of the civil war in 2011 and September 2016. This compares with the far lower numbers that participated in conflicts such as the Afghan war (1979-1989), the war in Bosnia (1992-1995), or the war in Iraq (2003-2006). Not only is the number of foreign terrorist fighters far larger and the rate of flow far faster than in these previous wars, but so too is the range of the countries from which they come. Since ISIS announced in June 2014 that it had re-established the caliphate, the group has mounted a concerted campaign aimed at expanding its presence and influence beyond Syria and Iraq. It has declared the formation of wilayats (provinces) in Afghanistan/Pakistan, Algeria, the Caucasus region of Russia, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and West Africa, while carrying out attacks in several other countries in the surrounding regions. The group has also appealed to Muslims from across the globe to join its cause, with thousands of foreign fighters answering this call to arms.

In the ensuing Egypt revolution on 25 January 2011, no one guesses the military dictatorship could turn back to power within the next two years. Political structure in Egypt since the 1952 Revolution that was won by the heading Free Officers Movement has tilted toward an oligarchic system. It is an intricate web of power that includes an integral part of the state such as the executive, parliament, the judiciary, the military and the rest. It is significant to be mentioned that the role of the military in manipulating political equations is so much striking than the others. In other words, the system of checks and balances has only been written as a part of the Constitution. Since the theoretical framework of the current essay is Historical Sociology (HS), its methodology relies on a crossover style. On the one hand, it follows the deduction manner; on the other hand, it pursues the induction one. The power always has been in the hands of military men in spite of holding elections in Egypt within roughly the last seventy years. This situation that is not strange somehow in the Arab world is called the “deep state”. Although people in Egypt vote for electing their own representatives in parliament, power are concentrated in a particular group. Ostensibly, there is a power rotation but its result is not tangible. The portrayal of the deep state in this country than other states in the region has been remarkable following Arab uprisings. Muslim Brotherhood coming to power despite military antagonism, resisting the Supreme Constitutional Court to elected president and finally ousting Morsi's Administration by a military coup d’état on 3 July 2013 are only parts of the deep state role in the country during last years.

This article examines how has the Iraq War changed the balance of power and the relationship of power among the different actors in the Persian Gulf region? Different avenues of research have shed light on the relationship of power in the region among the regional states. However, this article explores the relationship between the Iraq War and the shift in the power of the states and transnational actors in the region.

Margaret Levi’s analytic narratives methodology (2002) is applied in this article to first, extract the actors, their goals, their preferences and the rules that influence their behavior. Second, a shift in equilibrium at one point in time that produces new outcomes at a different point of time is identified. Third, constraints and incentives by narrating the sequences and processes of events are explored.

The article explores: first, the period between 2000 and 2003, the three polarity powers of Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia were balanced by the United States (US). This is a continuation of the balance of power policy that dominated in the region during the past decades. Second, between 2004 and 2011, a security shift changed the distribution of power among the small and great regional states, the US and the transnational actors in the Persian Gulf.

The findings, hence, indicate more heterogeneous and multi-angular actors are exercising power in the region, such as the small state of Qatar. The transnational actor, not only now exercises power in the region but they are also threatening regional states.