فصلنامه راهبرد
پیاپی 68 (پاییز 1392)

Peace in its common sense، which means the absence of war، is a beautiful aspiration toward which the humanity and international community has been striving. Peace and tolerance enjoy a special position in the Iranian culture and literature. Tolerance means showing respect for diversity of cultures in the world. Peace is a universal ideal and helps human beings to live in a calm atmosphere away from any concern and challenge. Up to the present time، peace has never been an absolute concept and، like war، has had its roots in our worldview and our attitude to the world. To create and do research about peace with the goal of promoting understanding and agreement among conflicting groups and recognizing various grounds for the establishment of peace، have been among mental concerns of Iranian poets and writers. Both in international arena and in international literature، tolerance is compatible with respect for human rights and humans have the right to live in peace. This study delves into the concepts of peace and international peace in an effort to explain tolerance and peace that is inherent to the Iranian culture within an ontological context. This paper explores the works that the Iranian poets and scientists have produced in the past centuries، both in verse and prose، to prove that their understanding of peace and tolerance transcends race، nationality and religion. It also aims to answer the question about position of the Iranian concept of peace and tolerance within the broader concept of international peace and tolerance. The main goal of this research is to explore and refine the Iranian culture of peace and tolerance and link it to international pace and tolerance.

Public diplomacy has undergone great changes in the past years in terms of the model used for its implementation. As a result، the previous model which had been in vogue since the outset of the public diplomacy، is now considered traditional and is being gradually replaced with a new model. The transition from an image-based model of one-way asymmetrical communication to a dialogue-based model of two-way، symmetrical communication; the transition from an information framework which considered communication as a linear process for the transfer of information aimed at convincement or control to a relation-based framework which sees communications as a social process for establishment of relations and promotion of coordination; and the transition from monologue to dialogue in the process of influencing the foreign audiences are considered the basic elements of changes made to the previous model of the public diplomacy. The hypothesis used by the authors to explain the aforesaid changes is that rapid progress of communication technologies، on the one hand، and institutionalization of the idea of plurality of cultures، on the other hand، have led to this changes. The authors believe that the ideas of Jurgen Habermas about strategic action and communication action can provide a suitable theoretical framework for scrutinizing the transition process of the public diplomacy from its traditional to modern model.

The increasing dependence of global economy on energy، especially hydrocarbon energy resources، and the importance of safe، secure and sustainable access to those resources have made the security of energy supply and transit a matter of utmost importance for countries. A large part of the known energy resources of the world are located in regions which are characterized by increasing political instability and widespread security threats. On the other hand، energy transfer lines often cross the most insecure regions of the world and are considered easy targets for radical groups. All these issues in addition to the willingness of certain countries for taking advantage of energy as a political tool have added to the importance of energy in political and security equations of the world. The present paper aims to expound the importance of energy security and discuss its impact on international equations.

Relations between Iran and the West have been characterized by tension following the Islamic Revolution in Iran. During this period، the Western countries (including the US and Europe) have used various tools to confront Iran. Undoubtedly، sanctions constitute one of the most important and most commonly used tools that the West has used against Iran during past years. Since sanctions are a common phenomenon in international relations، they can be applied through various models and strategies. The main question of the present paper is which model applies to sanctions imposed against Iran and which fields are especially affected by them? The hypothesis that has been offered in answer to this question is that sanctions imposed against Iran can be expounded through two models of “preventing access to resources،” and “political collapse،” with government structures and economy being the main fields that they target. Findings show that most sanctions imposed against Iran aim to prevent the country’s access to necessary resources and their severity has been gradually increased to target many government structures and، in recent years، the very lifeline of the Iranian economy. The authors argue that there are also signs to show that the political collapse model has been also applied within framework of the imposed sanctions.

Foreign policy is an important area of public policymaking. It is a “dependent” concept affected by various factors. This paper expounds “rationality” as one of the most important determining factors in foreign policymaking. Since foreign policymaking has been entrusted to political elites of the society، their rationality will determine the type of foreign policies made and their strategic consequences for their respective societies. The situation of foreign policymaking in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and China، whose leaders enjoyed various degrees of rationality، determined different fates for those countries. This case reminds us of the importance of the quality of foreign policymaking and its impact in increasing the national power or causing structural weaknesses and subsequent reduction in political legitimacy. The consequences of foreign policymaking in the former Soviet Union led to its collapse while in China، the government’s national power increased. The difference should be sought in the degree of rationality of the two countries’ political elites.

Countries are led by their geopolitical genome. If geopolitical genome creates a correlation between the goals pursued by the political players and geographical advantages of other countries، it will pave the way for international and regional cooperation. The Persian Gulf region، as a unit، is like a living creature with tissues، cells، a nucleus and a genome. For example، the islands in the Persian Gulf are like cells while the situation of military and civil groups on those islands constitutes the nucleus. The geopolitical genome، on the other hand، is the factor which determines strategic and geopolitical significance of an island in the minds of politicians. This paper aims to answer this question: “What kind of strategy will be able to activate geopolitical genes which give rise to convergence in the Persian Gulf?” It seems that a strategy based on recognizing geographical and human realities of the region as well as careful study of the geopolitical genome that affects the foreign policy of regional countries will be able to bring about the aforesaid activation.

Since the Soviet Union broke up into 15 independent republics، the Russian Federation has been trying to make arrangements and structures in order to boost convergence among the former Soviet republics while seeking a dominant role among them. Collective Security Treaty Organization is one of those arrangements، which has put promotion of regional security on its agenda. The main question of this paper is to what extent Russia has succeeded to create a common security identity among the member states within framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization? To answer the question، this hypothesis can be brought up that the main goal of Russia is to establish a political system in Central Eurasia by means of this organization. The country is trying to make other regional countries depend on it. There are different views as to whether Kremlin has been successful in the past two decades to achieve its goal. The fact that the organization has been turned into a means of support for Russia’s policies and has enabled Moscow to continue its military presence in such countries as Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan is a success for Russia. In fact، this organization has been able to act as a local police in order to promote the policies of Russia.

The ongoing financial crisis in Europe has weakened convergence among the European Union member states and many analysts believe that the future outlook of the union is bleak. The present paper aims to answer the question about the future perspective of economic and political convergence in Europe. It assumes that a progress in European convergence is related to improved economic situation of the bloc. As a result، future outlook of the European Union will depend on total or partial improvement as well as stabilization or worsening of the economic situation in Europe. Various scenarios can be considered in this regard which have been briefly discussed here. In addition to the main hypothesis، the paper also raises a secondary hypothesis according to which new political conditions following the collapse of the Eastern bloc and the elimination of the common threat posed to its member states are major impediments to political convergence in Europe. The author banks on the logics of consequentialism، proportion and justification to provide a process-based analysis of the outlook of future convergence in the European Union. The findings indicate that any advance in economic convergence in Europe will depend on a prosperous، or at least stabilized، economic situation when economic indices would not point to crisis. According to three kinds of logics used to explain this hypothesis، it is under such conditions that the member states can meet their interests. The resultant solidarity among them will give birth to a single identity which determines the behavior of the member states. They will subsequently settle their disputes in specific fields through consultations taking into account that the continuation of convergence process is the best possible option. On the contrary، under conditions of economic crisis، the interests of various member states contravene and subsequent divergence harms the single European identity. When differences become profound enough، some members will stop on the course to convergence or even consider getting out of the union.

Following terrorist attacks on September 11، 2001، the issues of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction have gained more importance for the West and have posed the most significant security threat to the United States and the European Union in the past decade. The US and European Union have always underline the importance of such threats and the need to deal with them. Both sides had at first different views about how to confront such threats، but in the course of time، those differences were reduced and cooperation for fighting such threats increased. Today، they have no difference with regard to the necessity of fighting terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. The question raised in this paper is what factors have increased cooperation between the US and EU in fighting terrorism and weapons of mass destruction? It seems that considering such threats as “common threat” by the US and EU، changes in leaderships and policymakers on both sides، as well as the nature of these threats and efforts made by the United States and EU to maintain the international status quo under the pretext of fighting these threats are the main factors that have increased cooperation between the US and EU.

The dispute settlement system used by the World Trade Organization (WTO) was born out of Uruguay round of negotiations after the establishment of WTO. The most important goals of the organization include creating an effective mechanism for friendly settlement of disputes، reducing the range of unilateral measures and taking advantage of a multifaceted system for dispute settlement. In fact، one of the main disadvantages of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)، which was introduced in 1947، was the absence of a solid mechanism for judicial settlement of disputes. That flaw was corrected in Uruguay round and an effective system of dispute settlement was introduced. This paper aims to answer the question about whether WTO’s dispute settlement system can play an effective role in the settlement of trade disputes. It concludes that by using two main tools; that is، a dispute settlement system and supervision over the implementation of decisions، WTO plays an effective role in fair settlement of trade disputes. In other words، all member states of WTO are entitled to resort to the dispute settlement system. On the other hand، the dispute settlement system is authorized to supervise the implementation of its decisions and making sure that the plaintiff states have been satisfied.

This paper focuses on the reasons which prevent formulation of a charter of citizenship rights in order to answer this question: “What obstacles and problems are facing the government for the formulation of a citizenship rights charter and getting it passed by concerned institutions?” To answer that question the “execution analysis” approach to public policymaking process has been adopted. The paper first explains the concepts of citizenship and citizenship rights in the Iranian laws، including the Fourth Economic Development Plan Law، before expounding various factors which have prevented the implementation of Article 100 of that law. These factors include absence of effective supervision over the implementation of the Fourth Economic Development Plan Law (esp. articles 100 and 130)، absence of consensus on the main topics of the charter، and invalidity of the fundaments and goals of citizenship rights.