فصلنامه مطالعات انقلاب اسلامی
پیاپی 38 (پاییز 1393)

Identity, values and norms are among the main elements building interests of countries in foreign policy and international relations. Any change in them may lead to change in priority of interests as well as the approaches and orientation of foreign policy. It seems Islamic Republic of Iran's foreign policy which is deeply rooted in values and causes of Islamic revolution is not an exception and despite the change of governments these identity elements have "continued" and no "change" has occurred in their foundations. Having this in mind and having known the identity and epistemological foundations of Islamic Republic of Iran's foreign policy, the current article tries to prove its claim applying "comparative" method in its three specific periods as following: 1-economic renovation period, 2- reform period and 3-conservatism.

The current article tries to answer how Islamic revolution of Iran has exerted on Muslims of Pakistan. It seems with the victory and expansion of Islamic revolution, Muslims of Pakistan have adopted Islamic teachings and have moved toward freedom and independence more hopeful than before. Political Islam has gained more prominence and Islamic movements inspired by Islamic teachings such as "Jafari movement" were formed. Muslims of Pakistan have been more influenced by Islamic revolution than other groups and they look at Iran as a patron and a role model for liberating campaigns.

This article believes that Islamic republic of Iran's foreign policy is influenced by the discourse of revolution in domestic level on one hand and by peaceful or aggressive atmosphere ruling international system on the other hand. Therefore to provide a proper analysis of Islamic republic of Iran's behaviors in its foreign policy after the revolution it is necessary to understand discourse and normative structures of Islamic republic of Iran as well as the nature of international normative atmosphere. Based on generalist constructivism and having studied the normative atmosphere, this article tries to explain steadiness or change in Iran's foreign policy both on national and international levels and provide a proper understanding of conflicting and non-conflicting relations between Iran and west.

Today governments face a threat by cyber attacks capable of disrupting communicative, economic and vital services that cause severe damages and losses. It has been years that Islamic republic of Iran benefits from cyberspace in different military and civilian sectors. Sensitive national centers such as nuclear facilities and Ministry of Oil have been targeted by individuals, groups and governments. Therefore this article tries to answer how these cyber attacks may pose security threats to Islamic republic of Iran. Finally appropriate solutions for growing security of cyberspace against cyber attacks will be provided.

Along with waves of Islamic awaking in the ME during 2011 and 2012, a series of events took place in Syria which were completely different from this wave and tackled this country with numerous problems for a long time. To display media reflection of Syrian crisis, this article has studied 95 analytic editorial from al- Alam, al-Arabyia and BBC Arabic websites in a six month period from October 1st to April 1st 2012 using discourse analysis.

General views have usually ignored the relation between the type of civil society and the type of political transitions. To address this shortcoming, the current article has reinvestigated this relation through a comparative study of revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. In the framework of this relation, this article has demonstrated that remarkable development of civil society in Tunisia and Egypt has caused democratic transitions occur within a shorter period of time and with less aggression consequently. In Libya, on the contrary, due to its weak and undeveloped civil society the democratic transition occurred in a longer period of time and inevitably with more aggression. Although the 2013 military coup in Egypt indicated that even an established civil society is unable to guarantee the consolidation of democratic transition. However, comparative studies of this article suggests that regardless of other factors, an established civil society has a positive impact on a quick transition with less aggression whereas a non-established civil society exerts a negative impact on the revolution leading to a long transition with more aggression. In second case, it has even drawn foreign intervention.

Unlike common impressions, religious democracy does not share a common meaning with non-religious (western) democracy due to the fact that the essence of religious democracy seeks unity while non-religious democracies are based on plurality. An objective example of western democracy is built upon the principle of plurality. Therefore disputes and fights have been considered as a natural phenomenon in a western experience of democracy. However, plurality is not pivotal in an Islamic democracy because the individual and the society have a transcendental common cause. Therefore a religious democracy has a unity-seeking reality. The experience of a unityseeking religious democracy made possible by the victory of Islamic revolution and establishment of Islamic Republic of Iran.

The approach of discourse with an emphasis on semantic structures of language, signs and symbols and explaining objective and subjective semantic and behavioral system is more capable of explaining Iran's foreign policy. Based on this fact and applying this approach, the current article mentions elements and configuration of Islamic republic of Iran's discourse of foreign policy according to Imam Khomeini and tries to explain principles, goals and national interests of Iran based on Imam's theoretical and practical attitude in foreign policy.