فصلنامه سازمان های بین المللی
پیاپی 1 (بهار 1392)

With the emergence of transnational and multilateral arrangements as major means of international negotiations and cooperation, questions have arisen about membership and participation in such arrangements: how to interact with them, and how to assess the impact of transnational institutions on national interests of member states. The present paper reviews the theoretical frameworks related to this issue before analyzing the role of the Islamic Republic of Iran in regional and international institutions and discussing the necessity of establishing a desirable and effective relations with international organizations. In doing this, the experience and scope of the presence and activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran in these organizations have been divided into three periods: from the victory of the Islamic Revolution to the end of the Iraq’s war against Iran in 1988; from 1989 to 2004, and from 2004 up to the present time. The paper enumerates common features of these three periods as well as their differences to delineate an overall picture of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign policy with relation to regional and international institutions.

While enumerating the strengths and weaknesses of the Non- Aligned Movement (NAM), out of all the existing hypotheses about the role and functions of this mechanism, the present paper focuses on the possibility of optimizing the function and accelerating, if possible, the restructuring of NAM, especially by taking advantage of the chairmanship of the Islamic Republic of Iran over the next three years. It offers a number of contextual and applied proposals in order to explore and analyze this hypothesis. The paper concludes that following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the NAM has been increasingly marginalized. Prominent members of the movement, including India, Indonesia (both among founding members of the NAM), South Africa and even Saudi Arabia have been assimilated in the G-20 group. Other big powers like China, Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico become more and more inclined toward peaceful coexistence with the hegemonic powers. Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic of Iran pursues a unique approach to realizing the principles and goals of the movement. The paper examines some proposals to evaluate the quality of Iran’s impact on the movement as chairman of the 16th Conference of the NAM and a member of its Troika.

The main goal of this paper is to describe and expound the effects of globalization of democracy at international level on the real nature of international players and their performance in international organizations. The main question of the paper is: “What impact does the globalization of democracy have on international players in international organizations?” In response, the paper claims that “globalization of democracy has given birth to transnational democratic norms, thus, leading to plurality of players in international organizations”. The present study also poses a number of secondary questions, including those about the quality of globalization and its effect on national democratic states, emergence of nongovernmental players and their functions within international institutions. To do this, a descriptive-analytical method has been used in this research.

Multilateral export control regimes are among major tools used by developed Western countries during the past six decades to maintain their technological supremacy under the pretext of preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. These regimes have grown and developed unprecedentedly in both quantitative and qualitative terms especially in the past decade following 9/11 terrorist attacks. Opponents and proponents have offered various viewpoints on the legality or illegality of these regimes on the basis of the international law. This research first presents a theoretical framework for the assessment of those viewpoints. Since both opponents and proponents have emphasized on the relationship between these regimes and international nonproliferation regimes, their implications for availability of equipment and material related to weapons of mass destruction, conventional weapons, missiles, and dual-use goods and material are briefly discussed. Finally, developments of these regimes in addition to viewpoints of proponents and opponents about legality and illegality of export control regimes are explained using a comparative study of commitments of states members of these regimes and their commitments under international nonproliferation treaties. The conclusion is that such export control regimes, which have been developed by their members to create monopoly on technical know-how and technology, are incompatible with commitments of member states under international law.

Master’s Degree in Public International Law; Qom University Occasional violations of international law occur as the United Nations and its peacekeeping forces carry out their important responsibility and mission for protecting global peace and security. Remedial mechanisms become more complicated when the actions of peacekeeping forces are attributed to the UN as a result of certain principles of international responsibility. On the one hand, the UN’s responsibility toward victims of such violations requires the world body to be answerable while, on the other hand, its immunity to trial in national and transnational courts, has barred victims from taking legal action. Although the UN has taken steps to solve this problem in order to restore the credit it has lost as a result of the actions of its forces as well as its immunity, the proposed mechanisms have posed new challenges, thus, making the UN target of new criticism. Such criticism seems even more justified as a result of the promotion of human rights in international community and alterations in the aforesaid immunity. The present paper discusses the necessity of introducing new mechanisms or reforms by the UN which would make the existing mechanisms more efficient and fairer.

During the past two decades, many states and groups of states have offered proposals for structural reforms in the UN Security Council. Some proposals seek to increase the number of permanent members of the Council. The G4 –Germany, Japan, India and Brazil – seems to stand a better chance in this regard. This paper discusses special opportunities for permanent membership of this group in the Security Council while considering challenges facing it. All four countries enjoy comparative advantages in their own geographical regions which give them the chance to seek a permanent seat in the Security Council. On the other hand, they face two kinds of obstacles: regional and international obstacles. This research aims to answer this question: What are the opportunities and challenges facing member states of this group in their effort to gain permanent seats in the Security Council? First, the necessity of structural reforms in the Security Council is discussed before analyzing the situation of these states and future outlook of the Council’s structure in the light of the existing situation of the international system.

The concept of justice has been always among the most important concepts in domestic and international systems and great efforts have been made to administer it in both areas, especially after the World War II. Nonetheless, in most cases, justice has not been administered to leaders, especially in the Third World countries. However, since 2002, the Statute of the International Criminal Court has become binding for its Member States and this has been a major development in the administration of justice, especially with regard to political leaders with immunity and has paved the way for discussing the concept of transitional justice. The present article aims to expound the concept of transitional justice, its conditions, goals and mechanisms, as well as the impact of its enforcement on the restoration of peace and stability in transitional societies. The main argument of the article is that enforcement of transitional justice in transitional societies, especially by taking advantage of a combination of domestic and international courts, including the International Criminal Court, can pave the way for the restoration of calm and stability to transitional societies while sending a message to other totalitarian leaders who violate human rights.