Public diplomacy is taken to be one of the effective means to achieve the objectives of the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The position of Imam Khomeini and his role as the Grand Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran is of great significance in introducing and directing public opinion and establishing relations with other nations and states as far as the Islamic Revolution and the ruling system of the Islamic Republic of Iran is concerned. In this article, in providing an answer to this main question that ‘What role has Imam Khomeini played in improving, fostering and making more efficient the public diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in ordrer to maintain and secure the interests of Iran and the world of Islam?’, this thesis was examined and the conclusion was made that, regarding the fact that Imam Khomeini’s high position in the politico-legal structure of the state and his high rank of religious authority and guardian jurist has played a decisive role in improving and fostering public diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and in taking further steps to increase its efficiency through engaging in discourses, accreditation, persuasion and image management. Furthermore, organizations and institutions involved in such enterprise can have this capability (capacity) and strategy to advance the objectives of public diplomacy of our Islamic nation and to increase the extent of its efficiency.

Drawing upon the analytic exploratory method and making references to the ‘Second Step of the Revolution’ Statement, the present research has been conducted to examine the axiological foundations of the Statement from the Qur’anic perspective. The findings of the research show that the ‘Second Step of the Revolution Statement’, in all its componenets, has its roots in the Holy Qur’Án and is of axiological foundation. The statement lays emphasis on the values which are relative on the one hand and which are graded in nature on the other. Moreover, the development of the Islamic Revolution rests upon this foundation that when material and spiritual values stand in conflict with each other, the spiritual interests is given priority at a national or supranational level. In this Statement one can also arrive at this axiological basis that the true perfection is something voluntary not deterministic. However, in the Statement an emphasis is put on this point that the formation of Islamic government is to be taken into consideration as a necessity for the fulfillment of true perfection, and this requires that the necessary grounds have to be paved to achieve this aim. From among other axiological foundations explored in this study one can refer to the importance of attention to rationality as a way of distinguishing between values and of ‘justice’ as the noblest social value.

Concerning the role people play in the Islamic government, Shahid Ñadr has made a peculiar statement which is diffferent from what other scholars have stated in this regard. The main question of this research is that ‘according to Shahid Ñadr, how would be the correlation between legitimacy and acceptability as far as a religious democracy is concerned.’ To find an answer to this question, an eclectic method has been used. However, in exploring Shahid Ñadr’s main theory, and in analyzing his theory, a library research method and a qualitative research method such as content analysis have been used respectively. Fom Shahid Ñadr’s point of view, Islamic government is essentially impossible to form unless its main component, i.e. infallibility, is present. This infallibility is directly guaranteed by God when one of the Infallible Imams is present and in Periods of Occultation this infallibility can be achieved by 1) the controls and supervision provided by both the people and the elites towards each other and the guardian jurist, 2) consultation (i.e., the spirit of holding consultation from the part of Infallible Imams on the one hand and that of seeking consultation from the part of people on the other) and 3) people and elites’ giving allegiance to the Muslim guardian jurist (wali-e faqih) to which Shahi Ñadr refers in Arabic by the term “jawwe Ýismat ”. To put it another way, the establishment of the Islamic government is possible when the quality of ‘infallibilty’ or what is termed as the ‘jawweh Ýismat ’ of the Muslim guardian jurist is guaranteed and this can be made possible if people’s participation in their governmental and social affairs reach to the maximum. Thus, the government of the Muslim guardian jurist is closely tied with the people’s participation, meaning that legitimacy and acceptability are closely interrelated.

In the age of virtual space, the way is much better paved to meet Islam’s transboundary claims, and to increase Islam’s strategic depth. Virtual space, as a real space, is an extention of human society in the context of information and communication technology. The main question of this research is ‘With such facilities provided in cyberspace as space-time compression which makes it possible to form an innovative sort of pure political system, what are the challenges and opportunities of such a system in virtual space, and what are the strategies of finding ways out of these challenges? Drawing upon the descriptive-analytic research methods, as well as making use of the library and Internet tools in collecting information, this research deals with the challenges and opportunities which may arise due to the formation of this kind of system in syberspace and seeks to meet the theoretical and practical challenges with emphasis on the pivotal role of the Islamic Cooperation Organization in this regard. Some of the challenges this system may face in virtual space are as follows: differences of opinion on cyber Imamate, contradiction between the Shia’s ideal forms of government with those of the Sunnis, the inconsistencies between the Imamat-Ummat system and the existing state-nation system governing Islamic countries, governance of cyberspace and their anonymous users. Meeting the said theoretical and practical challenges provides the Islamic community with excellent opportunities, the most significant of which are the flourishing of ecumenical jurisprudence (fiqh-e taqrib), political, economical and cultural opportunities.

Although the protection of freedom has become the major concern of every democratic system, yet no legal systems have ever recognized freedoms as absolute. The main question of the article is ‘What are the criteria for or indexes of limiting the civil, political, social, economical, and cultural freedoms?’ Having distinguished between the “source” and “basis” of limiting freedoms, the article considers the source and the main factor in limiting freedoms is ‘law’, emphasizing on the point that limits of freedom are defined merely by law upon which both conventional system of human rights and Islamic system of human rights agree, and the difference being only in the content of the laws. On the other hand, the foundation on which law can restrict freedoms can be the following four criteria: ‘violation of individual’s freedom’, ‘public rights and national security, ‘public decency’ and ‘public orders’. Islamic legal system, in addition to these criteria or indexies just mentioned, the index of ‘violation of religious criteria’ as an important basis has been emphasized. These criteria or indexes can be internally expanded or narrowed down, provided that they do not overshadow the principality of freedom.

Public or citizen participation in safeguarding and running a government is one of the main constituents of Islamic political and social system. The Islamic Republic of Iran, manifesting a religious government in modern times, represents public participation in different political and social arenas to which the Grand Leader Ayatullah Khamenei has paid special attention and given special status. Given the fact that the Islamic Revolution has taken the second step (in its course of development), it seems to be necessary to acquaint with the position of public participation in continuing the Islamic Revolution. Drawing upon documentary, library, and Internet research methods and content analysis, this research aims to explain the extent to which the public participation may exert its effect on the continuation of the Islamic Revolution of Iran as far as the Grand Ayatullah Khamenei’s thought is concerned. The findings of the research indicate that, in Ayatullah Khamenei’s thought, the public participation in two political and social realms is the most important constituent in relation to the continuation of Islamic Revolution. According to him, the reliance of the Islamic Revolution of Iran on the permanent public participation can be surely taken to have been an important factor in neutralizing (nullifying) the enemies’ plot and their satanic plans against the Islamic Revolution during the past decades and a main cause of the continuation of the Islamic Revolution and a secret behind what prevents the decline of it.

The theory of ‘state of nature’ which is considered as the cornerstone of the theories developed about social contract is not the creation of the western politica philosophers; rather, one can trace it in the Holy Qur’an and in ÝAllāmah ÓabaÔabāi’s political-interpretive approach to the problem in question. The theory refers to the situation prior to human civilization (precivilization) and when there has been no political sovereignty. Considering the fact that the need for a comparative study as to the views of western phiosophers and Muslim philosophers about state of nature is badly felt, it seems necessary to make a comparison between the views of John Locke and those of Allamah Tabatabai in this regard. Drawing upon the comparative-analytical method, the article seeks to study the views of these two thinkers in order to find the extent to which John Locke’s views differ from or resemble the views of ÝAllāmah ÓabāÔabāi. According to the findings of the research, both John Locke and ÝAllāmah ÓabāÔabāi hold a view that in the state of nature, human beings were inclined to have a peaceful social life or coexistence and live together in unity and the reverse situation was something accidental. Both thinkers believe what makes human beings live a social life or have a civilized way of life is urgency. However, Locke makes references to the natural law (reason) and ÝAllāmah ÓabāÔabāi to primordial or innate nature(fiÔrah). Locke thinks the way out of the state of nature is reliance on reason, but ÝAllāmah lays emphasis on man’s turning back to religion and obedience to the divine prophets and following their teachings. Given the fact that the state of nature as depicted by ÝAllāmah is of a real aspect and Locke’s state of nature is symbolic, it seems that the ‘state of nature’ theory of ÝAllāmah is capable of meeting the objection levelled at the unreal nature of Locke’s theory.