نشریه مطالعات فرهنگ دیپلماسی
سال دوم شماره 2 (پیاپی 6، پاییز و زمستان 1402)

The present research is aimed at studying the impact of economic development on political development and expanding democratic values in People’s Republic of China. The article examines the role of political development and the emergence of the private sector in political development in the People's Republic of China between 1989 and 2023. According to the research hypothesis, despite the government’s efforts to increase the participation of the private sector, the middle class, and the civil society in managing different sectors of the country, there is no sign of the tenants of western model of political development – such as multi-party system, separation of power, and free elections – in China; furthermore, the private sector has increased the level of political stability in China. The findings of the present research indicate that the growth of private sector, the middle class, and the civil society has not led to serious opposition against the Communist Party of China and the expansion of democratic movements; in other words, the Communist Party of China has been able to preserve its legitimacy and prevent serious opposition through establishing close relations with non-governmental sectors and imposing strict supervision on them. Moreover, this kind of relation between the Communist Party of China and the non-governmental sectors has led to the maintenance of political stability during the last four decades. Therefore, the political and social development model in China is fundamentally different from what has been considered as political and social development in western countries. This research was done on the basis of library sources and the research method is explanatory-constitutive.

Theory is the most important tool for analyzing human actions and phenomena of international relations. Practice Theory is one of the most recent efforts in the field of theorizing international relations and has attracted many fans. Rather than being considered as a structured and articulated theory belonging to a specific person, Practice Theory, is considered a new theoretical field with its own metatheoretical issues. Generally; The main focus of This Theory is on the analysis of international political relations by highlighting specific procedures and patterns in which human actions take place. Undoubtedly, the most important metatheoretical element of any theoretical framework; It is its ontological basis. Based on this, in this research, by describing the ontological foundations of the Practice theory, we are trying to answer this basic question: What are the criticisms and in what dimensions are the ontological foundations of the Practice theory and, if possible, how can these flaws be resolved? The tested hypothesis is as follows: despite the claim of its supporters, the Practice Theory does not have an independent ontology and the emphasis on common bodily procedures and standard verbs in international interactions is ultimately another expression of the construction of the social world; By adopting a constructivist approach and basically a deep constructivist understanding, it explains all the ontological claims of Practice Theory well, and in fact, This Theory should be examined under constructivism and not even neo-constructivism. The method of conducting this research is Analytical-Explanatory and with an emphasis on criticizing the views of practicalists.

Foreign policy is a set of views, policies, strategies, criteria and positions in the international world. The aim is to examine and compare the foreign policy from of the candidates` point of view. The main question is what is the view and stance of each of the candidates towards foreign policy. The research method is content analysis and its type is a case study on the fourth debate on "foreign policy". The statistical population and the sample also include 20,622 words. The findings of the research show that the candidates did not use scientific terms in explaining the political manifesto sufficiently and they did not have a scientific program about theory, hypothesis, policy, perspective, etc. The candidates mostly shared opinions about harmony, unity, justice and participation and paid attention to the geopolitical situation of Iran, but they differed from each other in terms of methods and attitudes and focused more on discussion, controversy, defense, negation, proof, protest, claim, criticism, towards each other and have tried to prove their superiority or drive the competitor out of the field with more rhetorical tricks.

In the developments of recent decades, cultural diplomacy has found a special place in the field of international relations in order to improve relations between countries. Cultural diplomacy, as a tool of foreign policy of countries that is in charge of the art of promoting and developing culture, has a great impact in providing the fields of joint cooperation and recognizing and introducing cultures and exchanging cultural values and consolidating and stabilizing good relations between governments. Therefore, the purpose of the current research is to determine the government mechanisms for promoting the cultural diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in modern Syria, and the research question is proposed as follows: What are the government mechanisms for promoting the cultural diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in modern Syria? In this research, the descriptive-analytical method has been used. The statistical population of the research included 20 international relations professors and experts in the qualitative part, and 80 cultural managers and consultants in the quantitative part. The results of the research show that the government mechanisms of promoting cultural diplomacy c. A. Iran in modern Syria includes financial mechanisms, scientific and academic mechanisms, tourism mechanisms, cultural mechanisms, and cultural mechanisms were determined to be the most important mechanism in their ranking.And the indicators of cultural mechanisms, in order of ranking, included the following: holding cultural weeks, publishing Persian books, publishing Persian newspapers and publications, establishing Persian book sales centers, establishing Iranology and Shia studies centers in Syria, and providing the necessary facilities to increase access to Iranian cultural products for the Syrian people, and holding scientific and cultural meetings between the two countries.

The 2023 agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia in Beijing and emphasizing the use of diplomacy caused many reactions, and some tied it to stability in the Middle East. The question of the research is how the agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia in Beijing and the emphasis on using diplomacy to resolve disputes can be evaluated and what effect does it have on stable stability in the Middle East? The purpose of the research is to analyze the necessary grounds for the continuation of diplomacy and its relationship with stability in the Middle East. The research method is descriptive-analytical; Its conceptual framework is formulated using realist literature and the relationship between sustainable stability, diplomacy and the role of balance of power is explained in this context. The findings of the research show that as long as the main players of a region have a revisionist attitude towards their position and seek to expand their spheres of influence, it is a sign of the existence of domination thinking and the absence of the idea of diplomacy in them. The existence of the idea of diplomacy among the main players in the region can create lasting stability, and the tactical use of diplomacy often leads to temporary stability. Although the 2023 agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia in Beijing can be an important step for the peaceful resolution or management of some current disputes, the high aspects of the tactical nature of this agreement can be seen, and this agreement does not necessarily come from the idea of diplomacy.

This research has been done with the aim of studying the role of broadcast media in voting behavior in the first reform government using the perspective of dominant ideology theory. Regarding to the fact that after 1997 elections, the press and broadcast media have undergone significant changes and the country's political environment has also witnessed the conflict between reformist and conservative discourses. Then the present research seeks to provide an answer to this question: By considering the theory of dominant ideology, what effect did the media's advertising approach have on the voting behavior of the people during the first reformist government in Islamic Republic of Iran? Using the qualitative content analysis method, the prioritization of official media and media related to political currents in four national elections from 1998 to 2001 has been investigated. Based on the findings of this research, it can be claimed that holding a passionate election and maximum participation was the first priority of the political system and currents. The comparison of the election results and the approach of the media and the volume of advertisements confirms the theory of dominant ideology in the role of media advertisements in determining priorities and influencing minds. Also, the official media and the conservative movement emphasized the importance of elections in strengthening and strengthening the system, and the result of the election was less important for them than for the reformist movement.