مجله پژوهش های سیاست اسلامی
پیاپی 5 (بهار و تابستان1393)

The mission of the Prophet (PBUH) and his great and civilization-building movement in the field of international relations and diplomacy has created fundamental affirmative changes and has left behind novel and innovative conduct (sirah) and traditions and has become the cause of the spread of Islam in many countries and nations. However, this question still remains: what is the dominant nature of the Prophet's diplomacy and what are its instances and functions? (Question) Accordingly, the present paper relies on the claim that the basic nature of the diplomacy of the Prophet's government is mostly of public and software diplomacy in which spiritual, cultural and reform aspects are dominant and outstanding. Such an issue shows that in the Islamic system, the main duty and function of diplomacy is the monotheistic and cultural reformation of people and purifying them in all national and global levels. (Hypothesis) The aim of the present paper is to present brief evidences of the aspects of the public diplomacy of the Prophet's government (Objective) using descriptive and documentary analysis methods. (Methodology) Monotheism (Tawhid) has been the basis of the Prophet's public diplomacy and this diplomacy, having a cosmopolitan and reformist attitude and with the aim of the realization of Unified Community (ummah), has utilized proper and peaceful advertising and psychological strategies and thereby, has organized a pervasive, global and successful invitation. (Finding)

After the Islamic revolution of Iran and the establishment of a religious democracy, the question about the background of theoretical arguments of compatibility or incompatibility of Islam and democracy turned to a fundamental issue in the realm of legitimizing the new system, the issue that has not been fully answered relying on ideas and theories released by second Pahlavi thinkers. However, can the theory of religious democracy be traced back in the ideas of Islamist thinkers before the Islamic Revolution? (Question) Ideas of Allameh Tabatabai and Dr. Shariati about democracy, as representatives of both traditional and modern thoughts, can be pioneers of theoretical dialogues and preliminary theorizations in this field. (Hypothesis) This study aims at analyzing the theoretical bases some of the ideas of traditional and modern thinkers of Islamist trend before the Islamic Revolution which is applicable in the formation of religious democracy patterns. (Objective) By the use of a descriptive- analytical method, this study attempts to elaborate those ideas and suggest their relation of their ideas to the post-revolutionary elitism. (Methodology) Efficiency of the theoretical pattern of responsible democracy of Allamah Tabatabaei and efficiency of committed democracy of Dr. Shariati before the Islamic Revolution and the endency towards the pattern proposed by Imam Khomeini (RA) is the new point of the present paper. (Finding)

The idea of Islamic unity, especially in the last two centuries, has been the concern of some Muslim scholars and intellectuals for a long time. Yet, despite preparation of internal and external conditions for the convergence of Muslims and also the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution's emphasis on the necessity of establishing a Universal Pole of Islam, which is religiously and intellectually essential and is a historical ideal, a proper understanding of Islamic Union formulation and its road map is not available. Moreover, the lack of significant publications in this field has added to the difficulty of escaping this crisis. In these circumstances, can we present the requirements and solutions of fulfilling the Universal Pole of Islam in a clear theoretical model by examining the situation and location of Islamic countries? (Question) Achieving Universal Pole of Islam requires the establishment of religious-democratic governments, unity of Islamic governments and independence from other international powers and organizations. (Hypothesis) The purpose of this article is to show how Islamic countries can provide the first introduction to formation of an international Pole of Islam by resorting to religious democracy. (Objective) Presenting a framework for establishing the Universal Pole of Islam, using the basic theory approach (Methodology), for effective role in the geometry of global power by maintaining the sovereignty of Islamic countries through the invitation to global acceptance of the Islamic government is the achievement of the present paper. (Finding)

More than several centuries ago, Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi designed a philosophical-political system based on the link between intellect and sharia (revealed religion) whose result (utopia) enjoys such a theoretical certitude and strength that it was reproduced in the works of subsequent philosophers. But in practice, there is no city or society which is organized based on al-Farabi's utopia during this millennium. What are the difficulties of the objective realization of such a society? (Question) The main claim of the present paper is that even if an exact theoretical explanation of the Islamic-indigenous science is presented, as long as this science is not adapted in a system of Islamic lifestyle and complex process of living with the society and politics, it would remain at the theoretical level and would have the same destiny as al-Farabi had. (Hypothesis) Raising such an issue is important since it shows how we can identify the difficulties of the scientific realization of the theoretical fields of the Islamic knowledge and try to solve them (Objective) which is possible in the light of comparing the views of al-Farabi and Ibn Khaldun in breaking social deadlocks. (Methodology) Strategies, which Ibn Khaldun followed but al-Farabi didnt, can guide present day societies. (Finding)

The foreign policy of each country displays its approaches and ideas towards the international system and relations. In the Islamic republic of Iran, the role of the leadership in foreign policy is special and paramount. This article tries to present his viewpoint to foreign policy in the framework of the discourse of "Interactionism against the Dominating System", an issue which has rarely been investigated independently so far. Therefore, the following question is raised: How the discourse of foreign policy of the Islamic Republic is shaped in the thought of Ayatollah Khamenei? (Question) From the writer’s viewpoint, this subject can be understood in the framework of the interactionism against the dominating system discourse which he has also mentioned in his speeches. (Hypothesis) Through analyzing the Supreme Leader’s speeches it can be proved that this discourse follows Imam Khomeini's approach and is based on interactionism against the dominating system. (Objective) The theoretical approach of this article is the critical discourse analysis theory as Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe and Norman Fairclough have represented. (Methodology) The results of this article are as follows: the solidarity of the foreign policy on the negative and positive bases, having an independent and anti-domination nature, and using the ideological-strategic tendency.

New religious thinking, as one of the characteristics of contemporary era, is a twin of modernism. New religious thinking had got many claimants, so far as each thinker adjusts the concept of religious innovation in a way that limits the circle of new religious thinking for the presence of others. However, this issue would, in turn, challenge any criterion for evaluating various trends of new religious thinking; therefore scholarly efforts for distinguishing between necessity, possibility and theoretical approach have not been carried out yet. The manner of conceptual separation of various types of new religious thinking is the question that this paper tries to answer. (Question) It seems that by formulating the trends of new religious thinking in the aforementioned areas, we can answer this question. (Hypothesis) Therefore, the goal is to conceptualize the components of the plurality of new religious thinking, having the capacity to be evaluated and compared. (Objective) Thus, the present study tries to identify the fundamental issues related to each trend of religious innovation including the relationship between religion and modernity and reproduce them from their starting point within the three concepts of necessity, possibility and theoretical approach. (Methodology) Rejecting inward and outward evidence-based views and merely by emphasizing on conceptualizing, this paper intends to present a specific categorization of the trends of new religious thinking.

Since World War II, America has practically stepped into the path of the world’s authoritarianism, however, during this period (Cold War) America based its foreign policy on Europe which is not investigated in detail. Ergo, the reason for its approach towards the Islamic Middle East, after the event of September 11, 2001, turned into a matter that the present paper has attempted to explore it on the basis of evidence derived from America’s National Security! Thus, in this article we are faced with the following question: what are the primary reasons for the Islamic Middle East focus in America’s foreign policy by emphasizing on the strategy similarities and differences of Bush and Obama?(Question) It seems that the answer to this question should be considered due to the change and transformation of the international system’s structure of this country’s major strategies.(Hypothesis) In this paper, through understanding the primary reasons for the focus of America’s foreign policy towards this region, we attempt to offer a new image of America’s foreign policies for the Islamic Middle East based on the similarities and differences between the national security strategies of Bush and Obama.(Objective) Reaching this objective has become possible through using the comparative and analytical method.(Methodology) Achievements made in this article are: discovering the similarity of national security strategies of Bush and Obama in elements such as supremacy, effort to become hegemonic power and failed attempt to utilize the intelligent power and discovering their differences in determining declared threats and also in Bush’s unilateralism and Obama’s multilateralism.(Findings)