نشریه مطالعات بین المللی
سال بیستم شماره 1 (پیاپی 77، تابستان 1402)

Since the annexation of the Crimean peninsula to Russia in 2014, Ukraine has taken various political and legal measures to counter this action. Specifically, it has filed numerous lawsuits against the Russia in various courts, resorting to various legal means of resolving disputes. Two days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, it instituted proceedings against Russia in the International Court of Justice. Ukraine's request before the Court is the subject of the present article: Can the use of force be resorted to prevent or punish the alleged crime of genocide? This question forms the core of the case; in a way, the litigants and the judges of the Court have expressed completely conflicting views in this regard. Of course, there are several other points that may be considered in this case that other articles will address them. However, the Court's answer to the question of the relationship between the use of force to prevent and punish the crime of genocide is a priority and can be determinative in the course of this case.

The worldwide outbreak of the COVID-19 has turned the need to pursue health diplomacy into an undeniable reality in developing countries, especially Iran. Inconsistent, short-term, and intermittent attempts have been made for this purpose in Iran; however, the goals and plans of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs are not still clear and appraisable. This study aims to determine the requirements and challenges that Iran faces to adopt a kind of successful and efficient diplomacy. In this regard, the research hypothesis emphasizes the role and importance of health diplomacy in Iran’s foreign policy as a requirement to relieve distrust and tension in relations with other countries, something which is considered a challenge. Therefore, a qualitative explanatory-analytical approach was used in this study. Moreover, a desk method was employed to collect the necessary data from two groups of printed and electronic sources in order to purposefully answer the main research question. According to the findings, Iran should consider a series of political and economic requirements in its foreign policy to benefit from a kind of successful health diplomacy. In fact, Iran’s most important requirements were identified as perceiving the importance and position of health diplomacy, formulating strategic plans, training professional diplomats, relieving tensions, and building trust. However, the most prominent international challenges were identified as distrust in Iran, uneasy and tense foreign relations, and the presence of powerful rivals on both regional and international scales. Furthermore, the domestic challenges were classified as content-related, structural, cultural, governance-related, economic, and process-related problems.

As more Muslims immigrated to Sweden in the 1960s and 1970s, a new issue known as the “question of Islam” gradually emerged for Sweden’s society and policymakers. However, up until the early 2000s, this issue was a social one that pertained to Swedish residents’ everyday lives. Islam in Sweden has evolved into a political issue and, over time, a “security issue” since the turn of the millennium. Why has Islam in Sweden evolved from a social issue to a “political and security issue” is the obvious question that arises. In order to address this question, it will be assumed that the following factors contributed to Islam’s rise as a security concern: the rise in the number of Muslims in Sweden, ideological adherences, the rise of populist and right-wing waves, polarization in Swedish society, changes to “Islam” and their effects on Swedish society, the impact of the international atmosphere (both the impact of states and Islamic groups), glaring contradictions and unidentified visions, an increase in anti-Islamic sentiment in the social atmosphere, and media propaganda are all factors. This applied descriptive-analytical research collected data in a desk study.

Balancing has been an important element of Saudi Arabia's foreign policy towards Iran following the Islamic Revolution in this country. This approach of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been mainly influenced by the threat that its leaders perceive the Islamic Republic of Iran poses to them, a perception that has been reproduced almost continuously for four decades for various reasons. The type of balancing strategy, though, has been subject to change over time between internal and external balancing in different periods. This descriptive-analytical study was conducted to answer the question: "Why has the type of Saudi Arabia's balancing strategy against the Islamic Republic of Iran changed over the past four decades?" Drawing on the dynamic balancing theory, and given the persistent threat that the leaders of Saudi Arabia perceive the Islamic Republic of Iran poses to them, the findings of this research  suggest that the change in Saudi Arabia's balancing strategy against the Islamic Republic of Iran is  caused  by the change in the  polarity in  the international system. Moreover, the tendency toward internal balancing has grown as multipolarity has arrived in this system.

Following Obama and Trump̕s strategy, Biden̕s government considered the withdrawal of America from Afghanistan as one of the priorities of its foreign policy and it quickly withdrew the country military forces from Afghanistan by September 2021. The purpose of this article is to examine the global strategy of America in leaving Afghanistan and the strategic turning to East Asia. This article answers the question with a descriptive-analytical method; why did America end its twenty-year military presence in Afghanistan after bearing huge financial and military costs? In response to the mentioned question, this hypothesis has been proposed that »powerful economic and military rise of China in the shadow of transferring the responsibility of global security to the United States has raised an unprecedented threat against the perceived global hegemony of the United States and the desirable international order of this country; Therefore, according to American decision-makers, the withdrawal of this country's military forces from Afghanistan is a strategic opportunity to turn to East Asia and create a new alliance in the Asia-Pacific region in order to control the threat of China«. The main finding of the research is that, in order to maintain its hegemonic position against the threat of China, the United States has put a strategy of coercive hegemony in its international agenda, with a focus on East Asia, by dividing the huge burden of responsibility for global security among its allies. The method of data collection is archive-based research using specialized magazines and reliable internet sources.

Economic and political convergence at the level of the region and neighbors can be seen as a new nature of relations between countries after the Cold War. This is because some countries no longer have the desire to continue being dependent on the Western or Eastern bloc and were looking for a new experience in cooperation and closeness with each other. Iran and India were not exempt from this view. India's geopolitical position and the lack of political and economic convergence with some of its close neighbors can be seen as a suitable situation for other countries such as Iran. Therefore, this research with a descriptive analytical method and using reliable library and internet sources seeks to answer the question, what role can India play in economic convergence with Iran from a geopolitical perspective? The results of the research indicate that three factors have caused the economic convergence of Iran and India, which are: India's divergence with China (border disputes and access to nuclear weapons), India's divergence with Pakistan (Kashmir conflict, river water issue, conflict Kargil and the conflict in Siyajn) and the special situation of Iran and Chabahar port and the non-intervention of the United States of America.

The Indian economy is in dire need of investment in infrastructure and manufacturing. However, Dehli has declined to join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), citing concerns that the project may escalate regional rivalry and conflict, violate national sovereignty, and accord with Beijing's ambitious policies. Some suspect that the establishment of naval installations in the Indian Ocean and the fortification of the China-Pakistan land route are parts of a larger plan by Beijing to encircle India. This article provides an analytic review of the BRI, examining its economic, military, and geopolitical implications. It also delves into India's perspective on the matter, exploring why the country views Beijing's institutional arrangements, including the BRI, as a major threat to its national interests. Using the descriptive-explanatory approach and basing our reasoning on structural realism's first and foremost tenet—that capabilities, not objectives, shape the international system—we have put the following hypothesis to the test: The significant economic success of this project is a logical assumption; however, this initiative may also serve as a guarantee for China's regional influence and military or security presence in the Indian Ocean, shifting the relative balance of power in Beijing's favor. Findings indicate that Dehli's opposition to the initiative stems from its sovereignty and territorial integrity concerns.

The growing number and population of immigrants, especially after the Second World War, made different administrations pay special attention to immigration, its outcomes, and relevant policies. Meanwhile, the immigration policies of the United States of America have been much more dynamic and serious than those of other countries. These policies have consistently held special importance to every administration and political party in the US. In fact, the immigration policies of the US have historically been subject to change induced by both domestic and international conditions, incidents, events, and overarching national goals. Among the factors affecting the immigration policies of the US are the end of the Cold War, the September 11th attacks, the 2007–2008 financial crisis, the competitive atmosphere of the international system, and the shift away from a unipolar order. This study aims to address the following question: how effective is the administration’s affiliated party in changing immigration policies and laws? For this purpose, a qualitative-comparative approach was adopted in this paper to analyze the security and economic factors underlying immigration policies in the four elected administrations of Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump. The paper also aims to identify the similarities and differences in their approaches and the changes made to immigration laws and policies during their respective tenures. According to the research findings, the immigration policies of the US are not solely affected by the affiliated party. Rather, factors such as security and economic considerations are involved in shaping these policies.

Moderate approaches (social constructivism, critical theory, and the English School) emerged in international relations (IR) theory following intellectual developments and sociopolitical transformations in the second half of the 20th century. Setting the stage for new approaches to challenge positivists, these developments shaped the “Third Great Debate,” which fairly involved moderate approaches. Like post-structuralists, moderate theorists opposed rationalists and put forward their own distinct ontological and epistemological arguments against the mainstream. This comparative study sought to explore the epistemological basis of moderate approaches with regard to three epistemological concerns: the possibility, nature, and purpose of knowledge. Accordingly, the main question addressed by this study was: How do moderate approaches in IR regard the possibility, nature, and purpose of knowledge?

Some states declare neutrality in conflicts of two or more countries. States that take a neutral position are entitled to some rights on the one hand, and obligated to some duties on the other. Given the increased use of sanctions and their effects on the human rights of the people of the target country, this study sought to answer whether a neutral state is legally allowed, based on international law, to impose sanctions against a belligerent country. Accordingly, the main question of this study was how neutrality can be explained in relation with sanctions against a belligerent side in a conflict. This descriptive-analytical study focused on Switzerland, a state with permanent neutrality, as a case study to examine the hypothesis that in the current era, the neutrality paradigm is mostly influenced by political, security, and economic necessities and interests of states, reducing the legal aspects of neutrality to a topic of secondary concern. Furthermore, international and regional pressures inevitably force even permanently neutral states to participate in enforcing sanctions. Therefore, with the continuation of this trend, neutrality can be expected to distance itself from its traditional description in the future, arriving at a more extensive domain of definition.

Peace and security, development and welfare, human rights, environment, migration, terrorism, and health are now among the transnational challenges that have remained unchecked due to structural and normative problems of the world government system. These challenges have been identified as various cases (e.g., multiplicity of institutions, their poor collaboration and uncoordinated performance, insufficiency of conventional arrangements for transnational management of problems, instability of equilibrium in power, lack of integrity in administration of global governance, anarchic extremity, liberal bias, normative contradictions in execution of human rights, democratic legitimacy and violation, and adaptation to or negligence of global transformations). Due to its unique characteristics, the rights-based world government can integrate, coordinately manage, and develop a hierarchical collaboration system between the relevant activists in order to achieve integrity and unity in structures and procedures. Accordingly, this government is able to manage and tackle the foregoing challenges. This study aims to address a serious question: what major challenges does the global governance face now in the absence of the rights-based world government? Bibliographical references are used in this paper through a descriptive-analytical approach to identify the dimensions of unfavorable global governance and determine the necessity of establishing the rights-based world government to tackle the major challenges to this type of governance.  The research results indicated structural and normative challenges to global governance, something which necessitates the establishment of a universal state to solve these major challenges.

The increase in business transactions has been accompanied by a rise in the abuse of the international trade system by criminal organizations to transform their illegal revenues into apparently legitimate earnings. Due to its extensiveness and complexity, the international trade system is vulnerable to money laundering. Trade-based money laundering has interested many anti-money laundering (AML) institutions, especially the FATF, because of its hidden angles and mysterious methods. Different countries are internationally committed to fighting against money laundering, for this crime has many adverse effects on the integrity of financial markets. Hence, this descriptive-analytical study aims to identify the most prevalent methods of abusing the international trade system and identify the most vulnerable sectors to trade-based money laundering by reviewing the reports and investigations conducted by the major AML institutions worldwide. Next, Iran’s commercial system is analyzed to investigate fundamental challenges threatening the business sector due to trade-based money laundering in Iran. The research results showed that economic rents emerge as a result of Iran’s currency policies and international sanctions which have made foreign trade prone to crimes and money laundering. Therefore, attempts at lifting sanctions and redesigning economic policies, especially in business and currency sectors, can play a key role in preventing and combating the abuse of the international trade system for money laundering.

Investigating the possibility of change in the structures of the international system by modifications in the Waltz model of the structure is the main goal of this research. The main question is how to make Waltz's model capable of explaining the structural change in the system. In order to answer this question, the concepts and variables affecting the international outcomes are identified by evaluation and doing a review of Waltz theory and the critics and commentators to offer the proposed plan of this research while being loyal to the Waltz model for a better understanding of the change of structures in the international system. Our results show the stillness of Waltz's model to changes in the structures of the international system, especially in the ordering principles and functional specification. Also, the results show that the Waltz model needs modification due to the lack of the structure of the process. We define a tolerance within two extremes for ordering principle in the first element of the political structure of the system and units, then we change the direction from the principle of difference and similarity to the principle of differentiation and separation in the second element of the political structure of the system and units and finally, we add a third structure called the structure of the process. The triple structure of the international system is presented as the solution of this research to explain the structural change and the emergence of alternative systems.

The tragic nature of the death of the mighty tsarist and Soviet Union eras is one of the few points of commonality among active political spectrum and social trends in the Russian Federation. This feeling emerged as a desire to turn Russia into a great power, particularly in the current discourse of Russia's foreign policy, known as Putin's Eurasianism, and has been followed and intensified, especially in the second term of Putin's presidency, since 2012. Accordingly, Iran's place in Putin's Eurasianism has been promoted, manifested by growing Russia's nuclear support and cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, Russia's behavior in this matter remains contradictory and paradoxical. Therefore, this research aimed to find the effect of Russia's position in the world power structure on Iran's nuclear issue. This analytical-descriptive research showed that Russia’s foreign policy shifted its doctrine from Westernism to Putin's Eurasianism. Accordingly, Russia's position has a more significant effect on Iran's nuclear issue.