فصلنامه اندیشه سیاسی اسلام
پیاپی 1 (بهار 1389)

Territory is one of the key elements in understanding international affairs in the coming centuries. While there are evidences of an increase in deterritorialization and hyper-nationalism in the world, it seems that the political rules and regulations in the Middle East will be based on territory-centrism, which belongs to the modern era. This study aims to analyze the events, currents and changes in this part of the world using a nonrealistic approach; in other words, while the expansion of transnational processes is not denied, the re-territorialization in this region by nation states is demonstrated from a novel point of view. The argument in this paper is based on the point that both deterritoialization and re-terrioialization of currents and events will remain a lower priority in comparison with the classical and modern principle of territory-centrism in the Middle East. Distinct geography and geographical facts in the Middle East, compared to those of other regions, especially the European Union and North America, have given rise to the present essay which tries to defend the durability and permanence of territorycentrism and its role in the Middle Eastern affairs.

In the present study humanism is archeologized. Initially the concept of humanism is examined, and then it is demonstrated that humanism has numerous and even contradictory meanings. The four major humanistic discourses discussed here are the classical humanism of ancient Greece, Renaissance historical humanism, enlightenment philosophical humanism, and twentieth century modern humanism. At the end of the paper the relationship between humanism and religion, and also humanism and postmodernism are discussed. In its broader meaning humanism can be considered as an emphasis on understanding and interpreting existence through human understanding without accepting the dominance of factors such as religion and religious texts.

PHD student of international relations at Allameh Tabatabyi UniversityThe parallel between the foreign policies of the United States and Israel in the Middle East has always been an important issue for the experts in foreign policy and international relations. This controversial parallel has caused the authorities on the foreign policy of the United States, and even policy-makers who support this policy, like Israel, its media and the lobbies that advocate them, to justify this trend in their foreign policies. In this paper some evidence to support this relationship is provided, then all the reasons and justifications for this relationship are presented, and finally the reasons given for this policy are divided into two groups and examined thoroughly. The first group includes reasons which justify why Israel is the United States’ strategic ally in the Middle East. In the second group this particular relationship is discussed based on moral reasons; the latter group contains four reasons. Eventually, some evidence and arguments are presented to demonstrate that these reasons and justifications are fallacious, and as a result, their veracity can be questioned. It should be noted that the writers of this paper believe that powerful Zionist lobbies play an important role in the foreign policy of the US towards Israel. Although the present paper doesn’t deal with this issue, by refuting the opposing reasons this argument can be strengthened.

People’s political right guarantees their security and freedom against public and individual power. One of the factors which guarantees Iranian people’s will in running their country is their political participation in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Political participation is an asset which enables people to pave the way for development and prosperity through exercising their will and free election. This right has been protected in the constitution of Iran, and other domestic laws, and also in international documents like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Islamic Human Rights Declaration, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The writer of this paper tries to identify and analyze the components of political participation of people through examining domestic laws and international documents.

Political life, the necessity of defining favorable society and introducing a true model of it have always been among the important topics of different traditions of political thinking. The main focus of each of these traditions has been human, as the major inhabitant of favorable society or city, and his role in establishing and perpetuating it. From this point of view understanding human is one of the preliminary issues for every political thinker. The political ideas of Imam Khomeini are discussed and analyzed through the same method and with an emphasis on the general framework of anthropology and its status in his political thinking. By developing a particular understanding of human, both in individual and collective life, Imam Khomeini managed to acquire a special form of political thinking which provided the basis for the establishment of the political system of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Identity and identification are among the important factors which influence the political geography of a country, region or the international system. Identity is formed on the basis of convergence among humans and the geographical, cultural, social and political attitudes in order to establish an independent nation or state. Although Islamic world is composed of different ethnic, national and religious identities in regions spread out across the globe, the strategy of the world in establishing borders in the Islamic world has not developed on the basis of historical and nationalistic conformity and homogeneity of human and natural environment which can be regarded as a means for challenging the authority of governments in the Islamic world. By adopting a critical attitude and an analytical-descriptive approach and examining the strategy of the West in supporting special identities in the heart if the Islamic world (the Middle East), this study aims to highlight the interests of the western countries and their objectives in changing the political geography of the religion. The results of this study indicate that in order to achieve their strategic interests in the Middle East, the western countries purposefully interfere in the establishment of the political borders and overemphasize particular ethnic and religious identities, in order to impede the development of the existing ethnic groups, and put a lot of pressure on the countries of the region to make them comply with their policies.

In the last two decades there has been a widespread criticism of the intellectualand operational aspects of the Islamic movements in the Middle East. This has brought about some changes in the Islamic movements’ approaches since the 1990s. These changes have endowed Islamic movements with a wider arena to play their role in domestic and regional levels, and as a result they have had a major role in the domestic and regional political changes. The present study aims to assess the position of these movements in theoretical and analytical frameworks by examining their performance in the Middle East. Based on the results of this study it can be concluded that in the last two decades, Islamic movements have manifested themselves in the form of Islamic resurrection and as sociopolitical reactions to domestic and regional events and structures. This position not only reflects defiance and resistance to foreign forces, but also denotes the claim for civil society and democracy. The main question here is, in what ways have the Islamic movements been influential in domestic and regional changes of the Middle East after the Cold War? The hypothesis of this paper is that the Islamic movements have played a part in strengthening civil society and establishing democracy through figuring out the circumstances and engaging in political struggles against governments. These movements have also figured prominently in reviving Islamic identity, fighting the presence of Israel and the influence of the foreigners in the region. This paper I will: 1. Study the theoretical frameworks of Islamic movements, especially liberalistic and constructionist approaches 2. Extract the analytical indexes of the Islamic movements of the Middle East from the above-mentioned frameworks 3. Examine the domestic performance of some Islamic movements of the Middle East in Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq 4.Focus on regional and international aspects of the Islamic movements of the Middle East.