نشریه غرب آسیا
سال دوم شماره 1 (پیاپی 4، بهار 1403)

Due to its geopolitical and geostrategic location, West Asia is considered one of the most important and sensitive regions of the world since the last century. Apart from the issues arising from the oil competition of big countries, the West Asian region has witnessed various political, social, economic, and military events and changes in recent decades. That is, the eight-year imposed war by Iraq against Iran, Iraq's military aggression against Kuwait and its political and military consequences, the formation of a new world order after the second Persian Gulf crisis, and the US attack on Afghanistan and Iraq as a turning point in the field of politics. It is considered regional and international. The Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraq, as two important and influential countries in the West Asian region, was the main topic of this article, and the question was how the pattern of friendship and enmity between these two countries can be drawn in the field of energy? The proposed hypothesis was that the two countries of Iran and Iraq, with the ups and downs they had in their relations; In the field of energy, they were able to change the patterns of friendship and enmity in West Asia. The findings of the research indicate that the two countries of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraq were able to achieve a high level of convergence by entering into the issue of joint oil and gas fields and by emphasizing convergence in the field of energy, and this convergence by reducing tension in The West Asian region has helped to increase the level of regional security.

The collapse of the fourth Republic in Afghanistan was a shock. Despite having advanced equipment, the government of this country did not last more than a month against the Taliban attack. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate and explain the domestic causes of the collapse of the Republic in Afghanistan. The main question is which factors played a major role in the collapse of the Republic in Afghanistan? It is assumed that the factors related to the government level in the four political, military, economic and social dimensions played the main role in the collapse of the Republic in Afghanistan. The findings show that political causes (lack of legitimacy of the government, lack of legitimizing ideology, state-nation gap, national identity crisis, political corruption, lack of effective diplomacy); economic causes (bribery and administrative corruption, reduction of investment, capital flight and poverty and unemployment); social causes (discrimination in employment, moral corruption, politicization of identities, lack of social cohesion and brain drain); and military causes (weak leadership due to lack of meritocracy in the army, lack of strategy in war, politicization of the army) were the main factors of the collapse of the republic in Afghanistan.

This article deals with the continuation of Iran's economic underdevelopment from the perspective of institutionalism. Over the centuries, Iran has experienced various political systems, but despite the decline and emergence of successive political systems, it still suffers from economic underdevelopment. Therefore, in this article, the main question of the research is proposed as follows: What are the fundamental factors that have caused the continuation of Iran's unfavorable performance in the economic field? In response, this hypothesis has been proposed that the limited access order and the lack of transition to the open access order is the fundamental factor explaining the continuation of Iran's unfavorable economic performance. The research method in this article is the historical method and the method of data collection is library. The findings of the article show that the order of limited access has affected Iran's incentive system over the centuries in a way that, rather than encouraging creativity, innovation and work, it has encouraged rent-seeking and the growth of individuals at the expense of the whole. This explains the lack of synergism of the achievements with the overall interests and as a result the continuation of Iran's unfavorable economic performance. In other words, throughout history, the dominant political groups have had the opportunity to change the motivational structure of the whole in the direction of general prosperity or organize it for their own interests at the expense of the whole, and the first model has not been adopted.

After the Islamic Revolution, the foreign relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran underwent a fundamental change, which can be observed in the formation of new boundaries in international relations different from Iran’s foreign relations during the Pahlavi era. What is noteworthy is the different type of foreign relations in the different periods of the political system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the second period, characterized by the idealist ideology-centric rule, and the third period, characterized by the pragmatic rule. The fundamental question arises as to what factors have been influential in shaping the different foreign relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran in these two periods. The findings of this research are based on the proposition that the influential factors in shaping the different foreign relations of the second and third periods include the different weight and significance of four key variables: the structure of the international system, domestic needs, the attitudes of decision-making elites, and geopolitics in defining national roles and goals. In fact, the different weight and significance of these four fundamental variables have led to the definition of different national roles and goals in the second and third periods, and as a result, have directed and ultimately led to the different foreign relations of these two periods. The research method in this study is descriptive-analytical, and the data collection method includes library, documentary, and online sources.

In August 2021, Afghanistan faced a political crisis as it fell under Taliban control. One of the key factors contributing to this crisis is the lack of recognition for the Taliban government as the Islamic Emirate, which has significant implications at the domestic, regional, and international levels. Given its proximity to Afghanistan, Iran has been significantly impacted by the developments in the region. Consequently, Iran has focused its foreign policy on constructive participation to help resolve the crisis. The current situation in Afghanistan presents a new crisis, raising the question of what role can Iran play in managing the political crisis under the Taliban's rule? However, Iran's traditional influence on social and political groups opposing the Taliban, coupled with its active participation in regional and international organizations, could form the basis for its mediation efforts to facilitate a dialogue between conflicting parties. Through a descriptive/analytical-qualitative approach and data gathered from library and internet sources, this study sought to examine the plausibility of this hypothesis. The research results suggest that the Taliban recognizes the need to resolve the crisis through political means to maintain its political life and fulfill international obligations. As such, the group welcomes any actions that move towards this goal. Iran is also taking constructive measures to manage the crisis and align its foreign policy agenda accordingly.

August1947 marked the date of Pakistan's independence. But this nation's relations with Afghanistan have been incredibly up and down from the time of its formation till now. This tense relationship could have been influenced by a lot of factors. However, it is evident that the blackness of these interactions has been negatively impacted by the Durand boundary line issue. Despite, numerous platforms of convergence, this boundary has led to tensions and a path of divergence for both bordering countries. The focus of this research is to evaluate the Durand border dispute on the turbid relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In this respect, a query regarding the impact that Afghanistan's border assertion based on the Durand Treaty had on Afghanistan-Pakistan affiliations can be posed, and what regional consequences it has brought? It seems that the prolonged border claims of the Afghan government related to the Durand border line has led to an increase in their hostility of relations with Pakistan. In this regard, the growth of extremism, the spread of insecurity, and the increase in migration are among the regional consequences of this conflict. And in this regard, the growth of extremism, the spread of insecurity and the increase in migration are among the regional effects of this conflict. The descriptive-analytical qualitative method has been used in this work. The findings of the research show that the Durand border strain between Afghanistan and Pakistan has had a significant negative impact on the relations of both countries in the political, security, economic and cultural aspects, and has caused heavy costs to furthermore, the growth of extremism has led to the spread of insecurity and increased migration as multiple regional upshots.