فصلنامه روابط خارجی
پیاپی 14 (تابستان 1391)

One of the most important issues relevant to the formation and expansion of developments in the Middle East is the role of new media, the Internet as well as virtual and social networks. Media, the Internet, and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter enhance awareness among the different walks of society and especially the youth in regional countries. They direct the attention of people to what is going on in their surroundings and accelerate the pace of developments. Directing public opinion in social networks is carried out in two stages; first, networking in virtual space and second networking and participation in real space. Therefore, as we witnessed, the role played by social networks in community building in some regional countries created crises and along with other factors, paved the way for the reforming of political systems or overthrowing of regimes in the region. This article, while studying the characteristics of media and social networks, evaluates their role in developments in the Middle East.

Israel, since its recognition by Egypt and during more than half of its history, has enjoyed close ties with Cairo. These relations expanded under the presidency of Mubarak. Egypt, as one of the most important Arab countries in the Middle East and the Islamic world, has a significant intellectual and cultural impact on other Muslim countries. It also plays an important role in regional and international relations by controlling the Suez Canal, the main sea route for trade between the East and the West. Internal developments in Egypt and the fall of Mubarak's regime have ushered in a new period in the political life of the country, changing its domestic politics and foreign policy orientation. This article, while studying Egypt-Israel relations from the establishment of Israel in 1948 to the overthrow of Mubarak in four historical periods, analyzes the impact of Egypt's internal changes on Egypt–Israel relations and the future of these ties. The main hypothesis of this article is that Egypt will continue its relations with Israel with some nuances after the passage of a revolutionary transition period and normalization of its internal and external affairs. In fact, Egypt and Israel will continue their ties at the official level, but tension and pessimism will be prevalent at the people–to–people level.

The role and importance of people in the Islamic Revolution and its extra-national nature and goals have contributed to the attaching of priority to public diplomacy in the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the different eras of the Islamic Republic's foreign policy, a great emphasis has been made on having a connection with people and nations on the international scene. However, during the principlist era, this kind of interaction has been expanded and public diplomacy has gained more importance. This article tries to answer the question of the causes of the increase in the role and status of public diplomacy in the foreign policy of Ahmadinejad's government. One hypothesis is that the president's character and personal interests, increasing role of people in international relations, cultural and extra -national nature and goals of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, revolution in communications and information, increasing role of non-state actors, and change in the nature and discourse of power in the international relations have contributed to the enhancement of the status of public diplomacy in the foreign policy of the principlist government.

Theorists of international relations have conceived "globalization" as international relations without paying attention to the fact that the globalized world is not simply about "human-to human" and “human-to-environment" relations. “Environment -to-environment" relations are also important. This problem arises when we see that researchers’ views on globalization depend on defective processes used for generalizing some concepts known as globalization. This article, while reviewing theories related to globalization and especially the views of international relations thinkers on it, studies self–made defects, shortages and reductionism to explore a new concept titled "neo- globalization".

This article aims to explain regional challenges facing the realization of the doctrine of China's peaceful rise with an emphasis on geopolitical difficulties. The declaration of the doctrine of peaceful rise as the grand strategy of China's foreign policy in 2003, aimed at dominating "threat perception" and establishing regional stability as a prerequisite for China's economic growth and development, is the main axis of Beijing's diplomatic activities in the beginning of the new millennium. This article poses the question of why geopolitical challenges in the East Asia are the most important obstacle to the realization of the goals of the doctrine of China's peaceful rise. The authors, using an explanatory–analytical method, believe that contrary to geo- economic and geo- cultural challenges which have been managed efficiently by Chinese officials, the field of geopolitics has the greatest potential for strengthening "threat perception" of regional countries regarding China due to its complexity and its relation to power politics. The article explains "threat perception" and the doctrine of peaceful rise as well as indicates challenges facing the realization of this doctrine.

Iran's relations with China are increasingly gaining importance in Iran's foreign policy as a whole. Given this fact, this article tries to explain variables shaping these relations. In other words, the main question posed by this article is which factors shape Iran-china relation in the present circumstances? The author believes that some overlaps in the foreign policy of the two countrie's economic and military exchanges as well as cooperation in the energy sector are contributing to the expansion of bilateral relations. On the other hand, China's strategic choices and its cooperative relations with Western powers are among restrictive factors regarding Iran-China relations. The author believes that restrictive factors have played a more important role in shaping the political relations of the two countries in recent years. Thus, these relations have become more restricted compared to the past and trade relations constitute the most important area of cooperation between the two countries at the present time.

The authors use a descriptive-casual method to show the correlation between indicators of “political instability of the Middle East” and “tourism industry of Iran” after September 11, 2001. The main argument is that as attitudes and considerations of tourists toward their destinations are a determining factor in tourism, any failure in successful marketing programs will deeply affect the whole tourism industry of the destination in a very negative way. The results of the authors’ survey show that some indicators of the political instability of the Middle East such as war, terrorism and instability of political regimes have the most - most meaningful - correlation with the stagnancy of tourism marketing in Iran after September 11, 2001.

International relations, as an academic discipline which emerged and developed in the twentieth century, has sought to answer questions and address concerns originating from the modern thoughts and lives of human beings. This includes reasons for war and international insecurity as well as ways to establish peace and security, which are among the most important questions that mainstream theories of international relations have sought to answer. Utilitarian rationality and a tendency for scientific positivist methods are the main features of mainstream theories; these are deeply rooted in modernity. Therefore, modernity's assumptions have a determining role in the construction of international relations theory. During the last decades, a wide range of international relations scholars have challenged this dominant approach. While some thinkers such as post-modernists have adopted a pure relativism, others -including the advocates of critical theory - believe that it would be possible to propose a more moral and humanistic reading of modernity through a revision of its content; thereby shifting the theory of international relations from utilitarian rationality to a moral and justice–oriented rationality.