نشریه جستارهای سیاسی معاصر
سال چهارم شماره 1 (پیاپی 7، بهار 1392)

The present paper is based on the question of the place of public diplomacy in America’s Middle East policy with a focus on the Presidency of Obama. It was hypothesized that public diplomacy always had great importance in America''s foreign policy toward the Middle East. Since the Bush administration''s foreign policy legacy for Obama was a poor public image of the United States among Muslims and in the Middle East، Obama introduced the recovery of America’s soft management in the Middle East as one of the pillars of his change strategy. For example، in Obama''s Middle East policy towards the Islamic Awakening، although the main objective is still presenting American values and ideas، there is a change of approach. The same goal is pursued not through the war of ideas as in the Bush era، but through the logic of symbolic multilateralism with an emphasis on interests، where they claim to advocate values such as democracy and popular demands.

Constructivism is one of the recent approaches in the field of Social Sciences، which has become a theory “different from the mainstream theories of the field of International Relations” in a progressive evolution. Since this theory، from a general point of view، is a paradigm mainly with postmodern assumption and representative of a particular insight into the world and its relations، this critical study reevaluates the epistemological value and methodology of constructivism in comparison with the meta-theory of Theosophy. It is evident that the research has a philosophical status and of the second-order knowledge. Through the evaluation of meta-theoretical claims، it emphasizes that “the world of constructivism and its epistemological quality” is the world of conventions and relativism. It avoids “truth” through certainty of construction and mixing it with “pre-interaction conventions and real perceptions”. It prescribes a secular theory through limiting the boundaries of knowledge in intersubjective understanding. On the contrary، in Theosophy، based on the ontology corresponding to the detail and division in constructive and unconstructive perceptions، truth، due to its nature، is not contingent upon the construction [credit] of individuals or communities، and the Universal Intellect recognizes only one truth، which can be reasoned through meta-paradigm criteria and “poly-methodic logic”، and denies plurality of truth in itself.

This paper attempts to identify the interests of different contenders in the Iranian constitutional revolution. The innovation of the research is that no research has ever been done on the revolutionary mobilizing groups in the constitutional revolution within the framework of a specific theory. The general approach of this paper was historical and its theoretical framework was Tilly’s Mobilization Model. The method of this research was deductive and at the same time based on historical document analysis، which included books and articles. In other words، the motivations of the constitutional revolutionary groups and organizations were identified and analyzed through the application of the concept of interest and the analysis of historical documents. The timeframe of this research begins from the bastinado of sugar merchants to the issuance of the decree for the constitution.

Explaining the concept and nature of politics is an important task of political philosophy. One cannot engage in other topics of political philosophy without understanding it. The concept was discussed from the perspective of the scholars of Transcendental Wisdom، which is considered as one of the most influential philosophies in Iran and the existential philosophy of the Islamic Revolution such that it had the highest interactions with the political community of Iran and its developments. An attempt was made to discuss the concept، types، features and necessity of politics briefly in order to understand the view of Transcendental Wisdom towards politics and its role in creating such developments. An emphasis on guidance and change in human beings along with the adherence of politics to the religious law are some of the features of politics in Transcendental Wisdom، the realization of which will create an ethical society.

Spinoza was the most prominent philosopher of the age of Radical Enlightenment in a way that it has been considered equivalent to Spinozism. Spinoza’s political philosophy can be analyzed along the great tradition of Florentine Republicanism and in the framework of Modern political realism. The main point of this republicanism or political realism is a comprehension of Civitas or Respublica relied on an assessment of relations of power. In other words، the main focus of Spinozan political realism is the concept of power or Potentia، and this political philosophy، with the centrality of the concepts of power and conflicting structure of social forces، relies on a special metaphysical system، the central idea or concept of which is Conatus. It is with such an idea that a thinker like Deleuze calls Ethics a treatise about power. We suppose as a proposition that each political philosophy depends on a kind of metaphysical apparatus and a conception of the main ideas of metaphysics and/or theology. On the other hand، there is a direct relation between metaphysics and/or theology and political philosophy approaches. The main questions here are as such: What are the characteristics of Conatus as one of the main elements of Spinozan metaphysical system? What kind of political philosophy can be formulated in Spinozan system with Conatus in base? The main clime here is that Spinoza’s special perception of metaphysical (and physical) concept of Conatus creates a kind of political realism different from mainstream real politics detached from ethics. We will see that Conatus is not a natural drive or an element related to the psycho-physical constitution of human beings or creatures; rather، it is related to the divine and emotional realm of human life and establishes ethical elements، such as joy، love، and friendship، in the public realm or Respublica.

The present paper tries to readout Mirza Kouchak Khan’s tought and political positions، respond to this question that what is his political structure and ideal regime. Research method is based on data gathering and historical studies. Research draws two different dimentional conclusion. In national aspect، justice، anti-authoritarianism and religious attitude and in international aspects، preserving the integrity and nationalism. According to Kouchak Khan ideas، he belived in constitution which according to internal and international pressure had a turning to republican.