نشریه مطالعات راهبردی بسیج
پیاپی 60 (پاییز 1392)

The concept of soft war has been more and more referred to in the statements made by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, where he referred to university instructors and scholars as commanders who are involved in countering the enemy’s soft war. Economic soft war is a most important aspect of the soft war which has been less considered in the literature of soft war, despite being increasingly relevant and focused by enemies. The present research has been conducted with the aim of understanding the nature and objectives of economic soft war, and introducing the capacities and constraints involved in managing the scene thereof, using the questionnaire tool, and answering the research questions using statistical methods- descriptive and inferential. The results of this research have been described by focusing on the principles of preventive crisis management in the economic soft war at three levels, namely institutional, instrumental and cognitive-human in domestic and external dimensions for each of the three areas- namely people (public opinion), elites, government and governmental authorities. The research results indicate that the economic soft war can be considered as interchangeable with the undermining or collapse of values, beliefs, and behavioral models of an economy whose objectives can be categorized in the form of values and production models; values and consumption patterns; and values and the economic managementpattern including the formal and informal structure of the country’s economy. Finally, the results of the research recognize 51 parameters as capacity, and 33 ones as constraints, summarizing how they are used in explaining the conceptual strategy and model of the subject under study.

Today, regional and international processes based on anti-hegemonic forms rely on revolutionary methods existing in the west Asia (Middle East). Under such circumstances, the Americans face resistance forces in an inevitable manner where resistance is considered as the most prominent feature of the Middle East; it follows that the United States is finding its security as threatened by challenges, which are realized in the Middle East. These challenges originate, on the one side, from the internal conditions governing the countries of the region, and are associated with the West’s various interests and preferences on the other, as well as its treatment of the Islamic concepts which has caused Islam to transform into the pivotal issue at international level, especially during the security arguments held in the west. The political language of resistance may appear in countries which have a particular cultural capability, and leverage the idea of resistance and the response to the unequal social atmosphere to help them engage with the processes of threat. On this basis, this article is aimed at explaining the main features of two concepts-namely, “the domination system” and “Islamic awakening” on the one side, and explaining the consequences and impact of the concept Islamic awakening on the domination system on the other. The main hypothesis in this research is that Islamic awakening has managed to alter the equations of power and political relations between the regional and transregional states, and that it will cause the formation of a new block of power, which will culminate in a change into the power relations (unequal distribution and new coalitions and alliances) in the International system. The research method is analytical-historical and descriptiveexplanatory using a combination of interdisciplinary concepts and areas in the fields of strategic studies, the analysis of foreign policy and comparative policy.

As the movement of Islamic awakening took place in the west south of Asia, many internal and foreign thinkers have addressed the capacities in the model introduced by the Islamic revolution of Iran, as an effective factor that helps create, promote and sustain the recent events. The recent developments in the west south of Asia in the form of people-led revolutions have been successful in creating a novel outlook that can be employed for/by the Islamic revolution to enable the expansion of such revolutions. There are common points like anti-Zionism, anti-despotism, and strengthening the Islamic-national identity existing between the Iranian revolution and other regional revolutions. The most important thing which these revolutions have in common with the Islamic revolution of Iran is that they are people-led in nature revolving around Islam and religion. Along with the Islamic revolution’s capacities like justice-centeredness and objection to any domination, this very thing can count as a realistic and logical model for these revolutions as a part of the efforts to shape people-led and Islamic governments. Iran’s publicly announced supports to resistance groups in the Middle East and the positions taken by the Islamic Republic of Iran against Israel’s actions on the one side, and the weak stands taken by the Arabic countries, on the other, against the Zionist regime has firmed up the desire in the regional states to establish a people-led and independent government in the same way it has been established in Iran. In a general glance, deconstruction of traditional institutions and the old methods of governing, and turning to the views by justice and freedom that stems from an Islamic way of thinking forms the gravity of these movements. This research seeks to study the way the uprisings called “the Islamic awakening” in the south west of Asia have been informed by the Islamic revolution of Iran as a model, and to explain that the different dimensions of this issue and the type of dominant views in these developments.

Unequal economic and social development, the amount of economic benefits gained by the center and periphery have had, and still have, bad effects on social life, economic security, and the deprived regions. So, as a part of the efforts to restore these backwarded regions, the idea of construction Basij has been set forth by the Supreme Leader as one of the strategies of eradicating poverty, which can be examined through three aspects: namely contributing to the just distribution of facilities in deprived regions and winning collaboration, leading the young force and the general voluntary services, and finally influencing the development of the infrastructures of the sustainable security. This article has been written with the aim of “analyzing and explaining the activities and actions made by Construction Basij in contributing to sustainable security” with a descriptive-analytical method. The results show that, the activities conducted in generating jobs, construction, health and treatments, education, natural resources and agriculture, culture and environment have proved efficient in facilitating and enabling the process of sustainable development, and supporting the deprived classes of the society. In this process, Basij has been able to provide a comprehensive and total security by presenting a viable picture of the Islamic System in meeting the primary needs of the deprived regions, fighting poverty and deprivation, winning public collaboration, improving the social satisfaction, promoting the social capital, producing power and soft security at national level. The author believes that the development of the scope of activities made by the Construction Basij as a national strategy can realize the missions given for guarding the revolution and bridging the gaps which the Islamic system is to face by winning public collaboration and cooperation, while underpinning the infrastructures of sustainable development (in different dimensions, namely social, cultural, economic, political, psychological, physical, national, and local).

The concept of identity has, in recent years, been increasingly influenced by information technology and communications, with virtual space having a strong role in shaping or altering the users’ identity, specially the youths. Identity has its roots in the common history of people, objects and places. Historically important events such as wars, festivals, ceremonies, markets, life styles, language (like Persian), a famous mount (like Damavand), a tree (like cypress), a color (like red or blue), and…are the most important building blocks of national and ethnical identity. In virtual space, no geography exists, for this is a place where all of these objects are defined differently which would cause them to be devoid of value-based and meaningful content. So, the virtual identity is distinguished from the objective identity in a serious and deep form. The present research is the result of a study of the relation between the virtual space and religious and national identity among the students of Yasuj university. In so doing, a sample volume of 340 people were determined using survey method and Cochran formula, and the relation between these two variables was measured. The research findings showed that the students who are more exposed to virtual space, have less strong national and religious identity than their peers who make lesser use of the virtual space. In other words, there is a reverse relation between virtual space and the students’ national and religious identity.

Any constructive and effective interaction between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the world under sanctions requires international trade strategies in alignment with causes and values based on the Islamic regime’s long-term interests, so that the suitable ground could be set for the creating of change inside the system. The starting point of this process will be to smartly consider the capacities to meet the challenges within international norms and rules on the one side, and the fundamental values and basics on the other. So, the nodal question is what strategies will be suitable for the Islamic Republic of Iran so that it could both keep to its objectives and causes, and counter the economic threats driven by the sanctions. This article determines the key factors by studying the economic capabilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran, determining the major parameters (domestic and foreign) effective on the economically convenient pattern of interaction with the world, and assessing these factors from the perspective of dealing with the regime’s fundamental objectives. Then, it sets out to extract the suitable strategies, and ultimately determines the attractiveness coefficient of such strategies with regard to the domestic and foreign circumstances by establishing correspondence between them using SWOT model, (strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities and threats). The results achieved indicate that the Islamic Republic of Iran should attain progress and meet the external threats and internal weaknesses by making advantage of the national sources, the efficient and religiously faithful human resources, the scientific capacities and capabilities, controlling the informal economy, creating a change in methods, making continuous improvements in programs from an internal point of view, as well as improving the efficiency, making continuous and orientational movements in diplomacy as wellas maintaining active presence in the global and regional treaties and bodies, interacting with international economy within the framework of national dignity and expediency, and making use of transit capacities and opportunities for achieving direct access to open waterways from a foreign point of view. All these results indicate that the Islamic Republic of Iran can counter the existing threats including the sanctions by using the resistive economy approach in its global interaction with the world, while being able to advance its causes and objectives at the same time.