Journal of Contemporary Research on Islamic Revolution
Volume:5 Issue: 15, Winter 2023

The Arbaeen procession has gradually become a cultural and social factor in Iran-Iraq relations. Every year, millions of Iranian people go to Iraq to participate in the Arbaeen procession, showing different kinds of social and cultural interactions with Iraqi people. In addition, this religous practice can have impacts on Iran-Iraq political interaction, which is not properly addressed in the academic research. Based on this assumption, the article probe the effects of Arbaeen march on Iran's soft power in Iraq. The role of practice in foreign policy has been analyzed by some IR scholars like Iver Neumann. However, in recent years, there is a practice turn in international relations theory which emphasizes the importance of practice analysis, complementing discourse analysis. This article investigates the effects of Arbaeen procession on Iran's soft power in Iraq by using the conceptual concept of practice theory. In this article, data have been collected from books, reports and articles regarding this subject. More importantly, first-hand data have been collected and analyzed through interviews with Iranian and Iraqi elites and officials engaged in the Arbaeen procession. The article found that the Arbaeen procession strengthens Iran's soft power in Iraq by creating social ties between two countries and triggers cooperation between Iran and some Iraqi Shiite groups to manage the ceremony.

The present study aimed to etiology of land reform and its consequences based on social anomie approach by scrutinizing historical events and documents. To this aim, with a descriptive-analytical method, explain the social and economic consequences of land reforms. The main question is: ‘What was the nature of land reform and what its socio-economic consequences are?’ The main hypothesis is that farmers lost their social law (solidarity) and economic independence (self-sufficiency) after land reform. The results indicated that the reforms were not internal and were carried out under pressure from the government and abroad. The wandering of farmers after land reforms led to anomie, i.e., the lack of functioning norms and caused a fragmentation of society. Farmers in the socioeconomic realm were out of balance and suffered from socioeconomic mess. The liberation of a rural community from solidarity and the problem of a self-sustaining economy made farmers face many crises. Social crisis and economic poverty threw society into anomalies. Social crisis and economic poverty threw society into anomalies. As a result, self-sufficient farmers and villagers, with high correlations with the pre-land-reforms, consequently divided the land and villagers migration to the cities, were caught up in social anomie.

The way we look at international institutions has always been one of the most controversial issues in the field of international relations, and after the Islamic Revolution, Iran's foreign policy took a new approach to international institutions. In addition, with the recent withdrawal of the United States from several international treaties, including the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) under Trump Administration the issue of international regimes and their effectiveness has gained new political and intellectual significance. The question of the present article is what are the determining factors in the formation of international regimes, their efficiency and permanence? The hypothesis is that the three factors of power, interests, and pride simultaneously play a role in the creation, efficiency, and permanence of regimes. This article examines three major approaches to the definition of international regimes, each of which emphasizes one of the factors of power, interests, and ideas, and concludes that one-factor explanations can not provide a deep understanding of the formation and functioning of regimes. Therefore assuming that difference between propositions of the studied approaches are does not necessarily mean that they are inconsistent, we Introduce a multivariate approach that goes beyond the mere integration of the perspectives under consideration, combining the three factors into a general analytical framework and Using Islamic thought, we have considered Fitrah along with the two stimuli of fear and profit as the third side of the triangle of fundamental stimuli in determining the behavior of international actors.

Today, the debate over whether religion and religious actors can be influential in various political levels seems to be over and unnecessary. Rather, the discussions of experts are now focused on the question of how religion should be treated and interpreted. Is religion in international relations an object that can be examined and explained by various IR theories, or can religion itself act as a subject and provide an independent perspective and worldview in the form of a scientific theory for understanding and interpreting the world? In response to this question, there are two views among experts that will be discussed in this article. Some believe that it is possible to address religion in the form of existing IR theories, and others argue for the need to process independent theories by emphasizing the inadequacy of existing theories when referring to religion. While accepting the second view, this paper proposes that in the current state of IR discipline and given the inherent failure of existing theories of this knowledge to understand and interpret the behavior of religious actors caused by fundamental meta-theoretical differences, it is completely possible to develop a religious theory that can provide researchers with an independent perspective and worldview. This hypothesis, if proven, would underpin the formation of the religious theory of International Relations.

The present study aims to explore the mystical and divine thoughts of Imam Khomeini in the field of mystical and prophetic anthropology, and to explain the role of monotheistic education in human nurturing and its effects on society. Imam Khomeini's ideas on contemporary human development were demonstrated during the Islamic Revolution. Therefore, this paper uses a descriptive method to examine and explain the evolutionary path of mystical anthropology from Imam Khomeini's view to clarify the characteristics of human development in his school. Imam Khomeini sought to establish a tangible and profound relationship between Islamic metaphysical ontology, time, history, and society during the Islamic Revolution. By establishing the Islamic Republic system, he achieved such a connection and unity in terms of tangible, external, political, historical aspects. He, as a religious political leader, offer a practical and applicable Quranic anthropology that emphasizes human development in the Islamic Revolution, with an awareness of contemporary human needs and modern and post-modern developments. The Imam has a unique perspective and analysis by knowing the Quranic anthropology and earthly anthropology, linking the fixed innate needs of humans with variable social needs. In this regard, he considers knowledge, nurturing, spiritual and moral education of humans, and self-improvement as a prerequisite for societal transformation and social developments.

General Soleimani’s View on Humanistic Aspects of Resistance vs. Terror: A Thematic Analysis of His Speeches during Two Last Years before MartyrdomTerrorizing general Soleimani in January 2020 has brought the confrontation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States into a new moment which is considered by many IR scholars as a paradigm shift. The present paper is an attempt to delve into the Western, in particular American, sources in order to find how they mis-represent Soleimani as the “leader of the terrorist front”. It, then, addresses an intentionally ignored side which is grasping Soleimani’s outlook on the resistance axis in term of a transnational front with a humanitarian outlook at its heart. The paper looks to produce such an alternative knowledge by employing Atlas.ti software and reflexive thematic analysis. It covers a comprehensive list of Soleimani’s speeches and will which were given during his last two years of life. The extracted motifs lead to four major themes, including: a) the individual maturity and empowerment as a prelude to shape the resistance front, b) the dominance of the transnational and global concerns, c) the disciplinary hierarchy within the resistance front, d) resistance as a log-term social and political engine of development.