فصلنامه روابط خارجی
پیاپی 44 (زمستان 1398)

In the opinion of many scholars, international law has grown and formed in the pursuit of the goals of the great powers in the recent century. On this basis, the role of the great powers in the formation and development of international law is somewhat vague and contradictory. In this toward, the question is: Why and how great powers of the international system are determinative In the formation and expansion of international law? it seems that the great powers, due to the position they possess in terms of their capabilities, through institutionalization, the formulation of treaties, the interpretation of norms and by normalization, they play a key role in shaping and expanding international law. legal rules and international institutions can reduce the cost of maintaining the system and increase the legitimacy of the actions of great powers. So the present study claims great powers are shaper, stabilizers and advocates of legal rules. The present study intends to study the role of international powers in the creation and expansion of international law based on a descriptive-analytical method and using historical data and utilizing library practices.

Energy as one of the most important global issues and natural gas due to its unique characteristics, especially in the manner and route of its transmission, is of great importance in this century. Hence, in the context of geoeconomics, concepts such as energy security, energy producers and consumers, gas transmission lines have a special place in the geo-economic discourse. The EU's high consumption and growing energy demand due to resource shortages and, consequently, the need to import energy, especially from Russia, the world's largest holder of gas resources, is a factor in Moscow's geopolitical power as a means to an end. Make increasing efforts in the political and economic spheres. In addition to Russia and the European Union, the study also considers transit countries through which Russian gas passes through pipelines as a third influential player. The main question of the article, given the above issues, is what geopolitical components have led to the formation of cooperation and conflict between Russia and the European Union over the energy issue? The article claims that the atmosphere in the geo-economic relations between the two actors in the face of the Ukraine crisis, the pipeline projects, the third energy package, and the Union's antitrust investigation against Russia, usher in a new era of geopolitical competition and cooperation. This will figure out Russia and the European Union. The research method in this article is descriptive-analytical and a tool for collecting information on libraries and cyberspace.

The economic structure of countries is also influenced by foreign policy. Diplomacy is considered as the first role of economic development. Therefore, improving Iran's relations in the region is more important, which has not received much attention in previous studies. The aim of this study was to investigate and identify the themes and challenges of the strategic role of economic diplomacy in the development of Iran's foreign trade. Through semi-structured interviews with experts, experts and activists in the field of foreign trade, the main themes and themes of economic diplomacy were extracted and categorized by analyzing themes. The theme was identified as the challenges ahead, the final themes are: the weakness of the structural system of foreign policy in the context of attracting and transferring "capacities" and "economic opportunities", imbalance of functions of economic institutions in promoting the development of foreign trade in international markets. Destroying the value chain in the use of internal capacities and increasing unproductive activities.

Until 2000, the UAE acted primarily as a follower of Riyadh in its security and regional politics. Since Khalifa bin Zayed’s coming to power in 2004, the UAE's foreign policy has entered a new phase as a result of factors such as the relative stabilization of the UAE's role in regional and international order, the accumulation of wealth and the strengthening of relations with the United States. The hallmark of this period, which was completed with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, is the introduction of a new definition of the Regional Role of the UAE. Under these circumstances, the UAE launched its regional project in the form of new movements in the geopolitical sphere of Middle East and North Africa. Mohammad Bin Zayed has made some changes in the UAE's regional politics since taking office. The United Arab Emirates, led by Mohammed bin Zayed, has pursued an interventionist foreign policy aimed at promoting Abu Dhabi as a regional power. The main question of the present study is what changes have taken place in the UAE's regional politics since the inauguration of Mohammed Bin Zayed? The findings of the article, based on the propositions of decision theory, show that the evolution of the foundations of UAE foreign policy, including changes in perceptions, perceptions, and in general the interests, identities and preferences of decision-makers. The relative power of this country at the regional level and the international system has been a factor that has encouraged Abu Dhabi to play the role of new regions based on its active presence in regional crises. The research method in this article is explanatory and the required information is collected by library method and using internet resources.

Geopolitical character of Caspian basin as well as opposing views among coastline actors, stemming from post-Soviet developments, have paved the way for the interventionist and peripheral actors to hold their influence over the basin. As an important part of Caspian geopolitical system, thus, the interventionist and peripheral actors are increasing their influence over the basin, through politico-security relations with coastline actors. Meanwhile, actors such as USA, European Union, Israel and China, being in the interventionist circle, as well as countries like Turkey, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Afghanistan, being in the Caspian peripheral circle, might impact the mutual relations among each other or relations among the coastline actors. This survey is based on the question how the geostrategy of interventionist and peripheral actors in the Caspian basin may impact the I.R.I national security. The hypothesis is that the interventionist and peripheral actors, through developing military-security relations with the coastline actors play a part in militarizing the basin and will challenge the I.R.I national security. Here the method is a descriptive-analytical one, and through data collecting methods like library research and internet surfing, this article examines the security-military attitudes and measures of four main interventionist actors and five peripheral countries in the Caspian basin and their impact on I.R.I national security.

As Putin came to power in 2000 and adopted a policy of balancing in international relations, Russia's foreign policy toward the Middle East changed. Russia's relations with Israel have also undergone a significant upheaval, and after about 40 years Russia and Israel expand their relations. Various factors such as Israel’s refusal to criticize Kremlin’s actions in Chechnya and Ukraine, as well as its non-compliance in Western sanctions against Russia, and the development of trade-economic relations in the Middle East have led Putin to expand relations with Israel, especially in the early years of his presidency. An examination of Russian-Israeli relations from various aspects shows that, the relation between the two, though weak, is positive. Trade relations are limited to the trading of raw materials, and hi-tech trading is limited because of Israel's foreign policy model. Military relations are also the weakest link between Israel and Russia because of Israel's heavy dependence on the US military industry. And despite important strategic issues such as Iran, Syria and Palestine, which hinder the expansion of their relations, the two sides are working to strengthen their relation.