نشریه تحقیقات سیاسی و بین المللی
پیاپی 8 (پاییز 1390)

The civil society is one of those topics which has attracted the attention of many thinkers and different discipline like law, political science, economy, management and sociology are covered by this topic. The civil society is that part of social life which is organized, voluntary, independent from government and based on legal system or rules which is accepted to the participants. The civil society is a public sphere between the government and citizens in which the dialogues and processes, activities, movements and organized social institutions exist in an autonomous and voluntary shape on the basis of a systematic rule. The civil society in the direction of its function acts in support of government and strengthens it. It also can oppose the government when it violates the rights of the citizens. The present article tries to answer this question that how the indigenous model of civil society is in Islamic Republic of Iran and what are its characteristics? For attaining this model the researcher first extracted a set of effective elements from theoretical debates and literature of research, and then they have drafted the first and preliminary model and in this regard made use of Delphi method in three stages. In the first stage of Delphi the view point of observers about suitability of these elements have been collected and they have been asked if possible add more elements to them or reduce some of them. In this direction the main aspects of civil society like participation, rule of law, clarity, efficiency and effectiveness, accountability, acceptance of responsibility, justice and bringing consensus along with their determinants and indexes are determined and other indexes were added to the first model by the observers. In the second stage of Delphi the observers have decided the degree of importance of each element along with the new indexes and the average of first stage answer. In the third stage of Delphi for the reason that all the elements have been considered important from the view point of the members, hierarchical method of analysis was employed to determine the coefficient of importance, their relative weight and the degree of their impact. At the end the conceptual model has been introduced and explained.

The observers and critics of oil and politics are of the belief that where ever there are oil reserve and war occurs, this war is certainly relating to oil. The imposed war of Iraq against Iran occurred between two major oil exporting countries in the Persian Gulf region, a region in the world which is famous for its enormous oil reserves. Taking into consideration the above fact one can find the link between this war with the wealth and oil revenue of the two countries and also the existing oil in the Persian Gulf region. The present article is trying to examine the relation between oil and the developments relating to commencement, continuation and the end of the war in a systematic and precise manner. The article also examines the impact of oil revenue and the consequences of the change in oil balance in the Persian Gulf after the victory of Islamic revolution on political situation and the calculations of Iraqi leaders and it shows how oil has helped the commencement of the war by Iraq. Likewise the article analyzes the role of oil in supplying the war expenditure and sustaining of economies of Iran and Iraq and the consequences of third oil shock, the intensification of oil tankers war, to show how these conditions had impact on continuation and later end of the war.

The present article is examining the security strategy of the United States vis-à-vis the Saudi Arabia during post-cold war period, the 11 September events and the recent uprising of the Middle East region. What is famous as the alliance, friendship and cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia had not been free from serious tensions. The Saudi Arabia’s expectations to receive arms and the US no support of Israel and the United States expectations about observance of human rights in Saudi Arabia and providing air base and supply of oil are among the factors that have given serious stress and strain to the cooperative and friendly relations of the two. Unlike what it appears, the cold war between the United States within the framework of combination of realism and idealism had always been problematic. From the viewpoint of both sides, these relations are a necessary alliance but they are quite fragile. The present article is trying to support this hypothesis that the security strategy of the United States vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia after September 11 events had undergone certain changes. It changed from tense cooperation into the policy of containment-suppression. But this strategy did not last long and it could not also continue. After calming down of the post 11 September emotional eruption due to the objectives and interest of the United States it changed from an aggressive position to more moderate form which existed before.

The question of membership or observer membership in regional and international organizations has important consequences and implication on economic and political interest of the countries. The African Union is one of those organizations that its observer membership has put opportunities and challenges before the foreign policy organization of Islamic Republic of Iran. The present article wants to examine Iran’s observer membership of African Union. What are the opportunities and challenges or Iran’s membership of this organization? The underlying hypothesis is that this membership is having dual effect. On the one hand, it can create several opportunities and on the other hand, it can have certain challenges. Therefore, the Islamic Republic of Iran should avoid the probable negative implications and by assessing these challenges, should avail herself the interests and opportunities derived from the observer membership to full extent.

The aim of the present article is to study unity in diversity in India. The assumption of the article is that India is a country with diversity. The article examines the unique aspect of diversity in Indian society. These aspects of diversity in Indian society are religion, ethnicity, language etc. The underlying hypothesis is that despite this diversity India is a united entity. In this regard the uniting factors are enumerated and examined also in this direction the elementary and secondary uniting principles and foundations are discussed and their roles in uniting the Indian society are underlined. In the third part the factors that threaten the unity of Indian society are discussed. These factors are Hindu nationalism, religious conflicts, regionalism, state-centre conflicts; and the central government is trying to control them. The finding of the study shows that despite the presence of certain factors which threaten the unity of India, the unity in diversity is prevailing. In other words notwithstanding diversities, the unity is the dominating aspect of Indian society.

From the time of military attack on Afghanistan by international coalition led by the United States in 2001, a decade has passed. The consequence of this attack was the fall of the extremist regime of Taliban. After that, the holding of Bon 1 conference on 5th December 2001 drew the process of development before Afghanistan for a decade. From that date many developments have taken place which major part of them had security and military nature. Parts of the agreement of Western countries were reconstruction of military and security organs of Afghanistan. In this regard the presence of the United States and its allies within the framework of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been more prominent. They are determined to seek the support of other countries and several international agencies to proceed with the project of state building, to build a strong and stable central government and sustained society in Afghanistan. Certainly taking into consideration the peculiarities of the exclusive society of Afghanistan the formation of security organs and their functioning can be a key lever of central government in bringing stability in Afghanistan. The present article intends to examine the policy of state building in Afghanistan and formation of the structure of a new armed forces and the impact of these measures in creating security and stability in that country.

The People’s Republic of China, after the passage of three decades of Maoist revolution changed its macro-economic, political and ideological orientations. The aim of the above changes was the survival of communist party in China and promotion of its power and influence outside. This turn in policies which included improvement of relationship with West and neighbouring countries and attraction of foreign investment and technology was conspicuous and decisive, especially in the field of economy and it led to a rapid economic development of China. The economic development strategy of China was pursued by renouncing many socialist values and socialist economy principles and it strengthened the values and principles of free market. Although this economic development has promoted the international status of China but it has led to internal challenges in political arena especially in the long term. As the tangible achievements of development policies yields fruit these challenges show themselves. Thus there is a need for a reform or a change in the political structure and these changes are among the most important challenges for China.

Iran, during the contemporary history and after coming in touch with progresses in the Western world, realized her shortcomings and after a lot of ups and down tried to step in the direction of the development. This attempt which started during Qajar period did not lead to any comprehensive written and planned development until Pahlavi period. In fact the first experience of plan development in Iran dates back to 1948. It was from this year that Mohammad Reza Pahlavi started planned programme for economic development of the country. In this way during his reign (1941-1979) he implemented five plans for economic development of the country. The present article by defining the concept of development and planning in the process of economic development believes that the fifth plan for economic development (1973-1978) took up a strategy (strategy of industrial development and open door policy) for economic development which did not match with political-economic conditions of Iran. The lack of economic programme for the increasing revenue coming from oil during 1970s, neglect of the agriculture sector and developing dependent capitalist system led to migration of population from rural areas to urban area. In this way public dissatisfaction and other repercussions of discontentment grew. These developments prepared the ground for crisis and elimination of the regime in 1979.