نشریه تحقیقات سیاسی و بین المللی
پیاپی 16 (پاییز 1392)

The developments of the 2003 of Iraq have totally changed the political chessboard of this country as compared with the past. The United States with the aim of establishing a united secular central government implemented the first step of her policies but later it had to change her approach and implemented the second step of her policies (pursuing objectives through Cohen’s entrances). In this direction the Kurds due to their geopolitical and geostrategic importance attracted the attention of the United States policy makers. The present article by a descriptive analytical method wants to answer this question that what has been the impact of Iraqi Kurdistan geopolitics after the fall of Saddam on the United States foreign policy towards Iraq? The finding of the study shows that the geopolitical features of Iraqi Kurdistan have facilitated the United States ability to influence Iraq’s policies.

After the end of the Cold War, a new situation came into existence from the viewpoint of proliferation of nuclear materials, equipment and technical know-how. Till that time the nuclear weapons were in the hands of limited powers. With the end of the Cold War the Soviet Union lost control and supervision on nuclear installations. As a result the possibility of access of governments and non-government actors to nuclear materials and technical know-how increased. The nuclear tests by India, Pakistan and North Korea created new condition from the viewpoint of proliferation in international relations. Meanwhile the countries who possessed nuclear weapons took several measures to fight nuclear proliferation but these activities were within their own interest and they want to prevent other countries to enter the iron club of nuclear powers. Within this framework of policy of limiting other countries access to nuclear weapons one can practically notice that countries like India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel could have access to nuclear weapon. The paper wants to examine that what consequences nuclear proliferation in Asia and Europe (Russia) will be having for this region.

Discourse analysis as one of the methods of study of phenomenon in social science deals with systematic interaction of thoughts and ideas with social affairs. Each discourse system has three features viz. domination, opposition and agency and it tries to dominate all organs of the society so that it should justify its existence. When the discourse system loses its justifying power its forces try spontaneously to redefine its discourse to adapt itself with new situation. The present article in the light of discourse analysis intends to examine the differences and similarities between the Apartheid discourse in former South Africa and Israel. As such the question raised by the article is what are the differences and similarities between the Apartheid discourse and Israel? The underlying hypothesis is that in formation of Apartheid discourse in both regions two elements of foreign factor, ideology and religion have played essential role. From the viewpoint of security and identity both regimes witnessed the dominance of geopolitics of war. Both the regimes differ from each other from the viewpoint of role of geopolitics in their sustenance and the nature of their formation.

The increasing growth of private military and security firms and their presence and activities in armed conflicts scene has led to many problems especially in regard to the status of these firms and their personnel and the humanitarian laws and their responsibilities in case of breach of humanitarian laws and regulations. For determining the status of these firms and their personnel, one has to identify each case on its own and take into consideration the criteria of humanitarian international law. Whether they are considered as military personnel or the fall in the category of civilians? In regard the subject of responsibility, in case these firms breach the humanitarian rules, they will be responsible for their performances. But it also should be taken into consideration that besides these firms, the countries that are related to them and the personnel are their citizens and make use of their services and the country which these firms are active and working in their territories will also be responsible in regard to their operations.

In recent years there has been an increase on emphasis on terms like media diplomacy, soft power, soft war etc. in political literature. On this issue besides several conferences and lectures, lot of written works has analyzed the furtherance of foreign policy goals through media diplomacy. Among the existing literature the term representation has extensive theoretical backing by international politics theoricians and it has not been addressed sufficiently. The present article wants to answer this question that on which theoretical bases Hollywood as a device of American media diplomacy help furtherance of the United States foreign policy? The underlying hypothesis is that representation can explain the relation between media diplomacy and furtherance of foreign policy goals. Among the American media Hollywood has been selected as case study and the time span is Cold War era.

Integration and regional cooperation have increasingly become an important trend in Asia and Europe. In the West five decades of integration in Europe has led to the formation of a regional government which is having the power to take legal and political decisions that are binding on its members. In the East of Asia, the regional cooperation had been on the basis of ASEAN methods and ideas. In Europe regional integration is based on a strong institutional and legal framework. The European commission, Ministerial Council, European Parliament, Central Bank of Europe and the European Hague Court, constitute the strong institutional infrastructure of European decision making. In East Asia integration is based on the principles of respect for sovereignty, non-interference in internal affairs and not use of violence in regional conflicts. Why Europe and East Asia have approved different pattern of regionalism? How this pattern of regional decision making can bring change in Europe and East Asia? The present article points out that different and distinct feature of the constituting countries play important role in determining the pattern of integration and cooperation in each region. Besides that, different pattern of regional cooperation has led to adopting different approaches by regional countries to face specific challenges.

Nowadays the communication and interaction of individuals have to a great extent expanded to cyber space. The sphere of these interactions and communication are something more than exchange of emails, chat rooms or web log writings. At present the cyber social networks are doing these interactions in a more comprehensive and broader ways. The cyber social networks with their exclusive abilities and potentials like informing, awaking, strengthening the expansion of relations between individuals, the power to mobilize in different spheres (social, cultural and political) play an important and undeniable role. The aim of the present article is examining and evaluating the role of cyber social networks in recent developments of the Middle East and North Africa. How far the cyber social networks, particularly Facebook have been able to influence shaping, continuation and success of recent Middle East countries developments?