نشریه مطالعات خاورمیانه
سال پانزدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 55، پاییز و زمستان 1387)

Change in the international system and increased importance of communications process in it have led to the inefficiency of traditional outlooks on the system. It raises the basic question that how the new system can be analyzed. According to the new analysis, which environment do the states including Iran, as its units, face in the foreign policy realm and how do they formulate their foreign policies? The author is of the belief that the network theory enjoys significant efficiency. Accordingly, one can analyze the international system within the framework of global network consisting of geopolitical, geocultural and geoeconomic networks. On this basis, network environment will be able to analyze the state's foreign policies including that of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The question of Turkey's accession to the European Union has given rise to numerous debates in academic and executive circles in the country. The power centers in Turkey seek a type of national consensus on the subject, but serious domestic, regional and international obstacles still exist in its way to attain this goal. The existing obstacles include religious, political, economic, regional and international ones. Religious-identity issues appear to pose the biggest difficulty in this regard. Considering these obstacles, basic scenarios for the future of Turkey in the European Union can be developed including moving ahead speedily, minimal diversion from the road, grand constant clash, and the secondary path all of which are discussed in the article.

This paper deals with the quality of interaction between the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) living world and the process of globalization and cultural imperialism, as well as their repercussions. On this basis, the conditions of this region are studied in terms of such topics and factors as cyber cultural imperialism, world political economy system and expansion of global governance. According to the author, MENA cultural policies indeed constitute various forms of the interface between non-Western living worlds and the West. As different interpretations of political Islam have taken shape in the West, various cultural strategies have emerged in the Islamic living world, too.

Possessing long cultural and political history, Egypt enjoys a salient place in the Middle East and North Africa in a way that developments in the country are observed with precision and sensitivity. Despite experiencing economic growth in the past few years, Egypt has seen intensified economic hardship and resultant public discontents in 2008, questioning state policies and Husni Mubarak's governing style. Nonetheless, the author believes that this event cannot be considered as a turning point in Egypt's history, because the government has been able to control the situation. By constantly suppressing various groups, it has prevented the public frustration with the economic situation from turning into a profound transformation in the political system. Public discontent will be unlikely to bring a change until the question of Mubarak's succession is resolved.

The American society is closely involved in the fluctuations arising from energy economy. Despite a century and a half has passed since the exploration and scientific extraction of oil in the country, U.S. dependence on imported energy is being increasingly exacerbated. The Middle East and most notably the Persian Gulf basin as the reservoir of world oil and gas play a crucial part in securing energy for the United States and the industrialized world. Such dependence has continued in spite of all efforts made by U.S. political and economic officials in order to find reliable and economic alternatives, leading to a reduced reliance on such reserves. A survey of the statistics of world consumption trend demonstrates intense need of the United States and the industrialized world to the energy coming from the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea reserves; that is an important strategic region that plays a critical role in world energy economy.

The strategically complex security environment in the Middle East has led to a kind of coordination among Israel and certain groups of the Kurds living in north Iraq. Having long adopted the alliance of the periphery doctrine, Israel has tried to expand its relations with the non-Arab countries and ethnicities of the region. These groups, in turn, have sought to attain the cause of independence, using Israeli and U.S. leverage. By explaining the bases of such coordination, the author examines the ups and downs of such ties and explores the policies adopted by Iraq's neighboring countries towards the subject. According to the author, Iraq's complicated situation following the removal of Saddam Hussein and the neighboring state's policies have caused that the realization of a goal shared by Israel and such groups entailing the establishment of an independent state in north Iraq would be undermined.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Caspian legal regime and how to exploit its gas and oil resources gained special importance. Despite different formulas have been proposed so far, no general agreement has been reached due to various reasons including the interference of extra-regional powers. Hence, a kind of ambiguity is observed on the exploitation of Caspian resources and on expanded regional cooperation. Describing the positions of Caspian littoral states and examining their respective legal arguments, this paper proposes strategies for securing Islamic Republic of Iran's national interest, which can be useful for better understanding of Caspian legal and economic questions.