نشریه مطالعات راهبردی آمریکا
پیاپی 9 (بهار 1402)

The power cycle demonstrates the rise and fall of major powers, and consequently, the desired world order weakens with the decline of the power cycle. The purpose of this article is to explore the relationship between the power cycle and the American world order. The issue at hand is what impact the power cycle of the US has on the world order, and the question raised is how the US power cycle has influenced the American world order on the international stage. Based on the hypothesis that if the power of the US declines, the world order will also decline with it. The relative decline of the US in the power cycle and the relative decline of the new global order indicate that the international system is moving towards multipolar dynamism. The results also indicate that as the US goes through the decline phase of the power cycle, the new global order is also weakened on the scale of the power cycle. Factors such as the 2008 financial crisis, the US presence in high-cost wars after September 11, as well as the relative share of power in the global system with the rise of global powers such as India, China, and Japan, and the emergence of regional and trans-regional powers such as Iran and Russia in the international system have confronted America with relative decline in the power cycle, which has also confronted the new global order with relative decline. The research method used in this study is the correlation method, based on a descriptive-analytical approach, and the data collection method is library-based and documentary.

Public diplomacy, unlike its formal type, aims to influence the general public and audiences who apparently have no responsibility in the field of foreign policy but constitute the body of society. This type of diplomacy has become very prevalent in recent years and forms the basis of long and stable relations to secure interests for countries. The United States is one of the countries that has incurred a lot of costs in this area, striving to use all the tools of public diplomacy to achieve its foreign policy goals and has even established a separate division within the Department of State for this purpose. As the Biden administration has declared repairing the international image of America as one of its primary foreign policy objectives, one of their most important tools to achieve this goal is public diplomacy. The important question that arises is what changes has the public diplomacy of the United States undergone during the Biden administration compared to the Trump administration? In order to answer this question, a method of scholarly study has been used, based on a descriptive-analytical approach, and the necessary information has been collected from library resources. The result of comparing these two periods shows that the U.S. government in the Biden administration seeks to use past tools and the mainstream of international media to portray the past events as an exception to Donald Trump and to work on repairing America's image in the world.

The dominant approach in communication studies across the world and in Iran, largely due to its primarily American origins that have focused on media studies, follows the paradigm of transitional communications in communication studies. This article, while addressing the issue of the transitional process of communications from the second half of the 19th century, has answered the question of what consequences this process has had in the field of communications in this country and the extension and dominance of a specific approach to communication technologies. To answer this question, in addition to explaining the two main approaches in communications, namely transitional communications and ritual communications, their extensions at the global level in the form of globalizing communications and intercultural communications have been discussed. In this regard, each of the communication approaches and their developments in the 20th century have been focused on their features and distinctions, and the globalizing of communications has been revisited as one of the various dimensions of the mega-project of globalization emerging from the American view of the world and global communications. This article, with a descriptive-explanatory approach and using document study method, has collected the necessary data for analysis. The study results show that adopting an active approach to expanding intercultural communications in Iran, especially in the West Asia region and the geographical area of Iranian culture in the long term, will provide cultural opportunities and advantages and consequently, it will have plenty of economic, political, and security benefits. Based on this, the strategic focus on the long-term expansion of intercultural communications will narrow the scope and field for the Americanization of the global project and pave the way for American detachment from global communications and culture.

Trade relations are one of the important pillars of the relationship between China and the United States. In recent years, the economic trade relations between the two countries have traversed a path of conflict and tension. Considering that China's rise to power is considered one of the most significant causes of economic conflict and tension between China and the United States, the aim of this article is to examine the impact of China's rise on its economic trade relations with the United States. Therefore, this study answers the question of how China's rise has affected its trade relations with the United States during the years 2008-2021 through an analytical and explanatory approach and data collection using the method of historical studies. The underlying assumption is that China's rise to power has caused the United States' concerns about the challenge to its global hegemony, leading the economic trade relations between the two countries during the years 2008-2021 to shift from cooperation to competition and tension. The findings indicate that the economic and trade tensions between the two countries in the years under study have significant relevance to the issue of competition in the global power arena in political and international domains. The current trend in the relations between the two countries has turned the issue of tension and mutual distrust in Washington and Beijing into a normal routine.

Hegemony is considered as one of the important and debatable concepts in the field of political science and international relations. The main goal of this research is to investigate the formation process of this concept in the field of international relations in order to reconsider the concept of hegemony in the literature of international relations. A crucial question addressed in this research is about the contemporary dimensions of the formation of the concept of hegemony in the literature of international relations. The research method is based on theoretical research process. This method aims to explore the major intellectual transformations in the international hegemony concept and, through reconsideration, to clarify the smart hegemony of America in contemporary international relations. Therefore, based on the findings of this research, it can be said that this research first explains the concept of smart hegemony as a type of institution at a theoretical level, which has four dimensions of power and seeks to reproduce its civilizational and identity discourse. In addition to conceptual and theoretical reconsideration, an attempt is made to examine the functions and dimensions of power of the smart hegemony of America in the contemporary international order.

The JCPOA aimed to resolve nuclear discussions between Iran and the West through multilateralism. The research examines the national security implications of the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, the imposition of unilateral sanctions by the United States, and Iran's reduced commitments in response to this withdrawal. The study also discusses the approval of a proposed resolution by the United States, Britain, France, and Germany in the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors, the resurfacing of the issue of extending arms embargoes against Iran, and the US efforts to activate the "snapback" mechanism in the Security Council. Using a qualitative approach based on document analysis and the collection and analysis of textual and electronic data, the research applies a theoretical framework of offensive realism to address the security implications of the US withdrawal from the JCPOA for the Islamic Republic of Iran. The findings indicate that the US withdrawal from the JCPOA led to the reinstatement of previous missile sanctions and the imposition of more severe unilateral sanctions, which had an impact on key security issues in the Persian Gulf region. Some Persian Gulf countries perceived Iran as a significant threat due to conventional and asymmetrical missile capabilities and increased regional influence, leading to a decline in Iran's national security and fueling the desire of these countries to procure arms.