نشریه مطالعات سیاسی جهان اسلام
پیاپی 40 (زمستان 1400)

The authors try to evaluate Israeli army self-claim as “the most moral army in the world” based on Michael Walzer’s “Just War” theory. This claim is the main justification used by Israeli officials to justify IDF activities. Walzer is chosen since he is known as the reviver of “Just War” as well as the main patron of IDF ethical code.

This research uses critical analysis method. In this respect, the conformity of IDF activities and Walzer’s Just War is analyzed from internal and external points of view. To come up with the above-mentioned goal, Walzer’s theory is evaluated in terms of solidarity between Walzer’s communitarian approach and “Just War” factors, as internal criticism. As the external one, IDF activities are analyzed in practice based on Just War theory (without considering its internal problems). 

This paper shows that IDF has widely violated Just War theory which is the cornerstone of its ethical code. This violation has occurred in jus ad bellum as well as jus in Bello. Given the intentions of getting into the war, “Self-Defense” cannot be entitled to the regime, esp. in the West Bank, due to lack of collective life for Israeli settlers, legal authority etc.

The conclusion obtained from examining IDF activities with the glasses of Just War theory is that the major IDF justification (IDF as the most moral army in the world) is nonsense. This immorality undermines IDF self-image as well as antagonism against resistance movements as “unethical actors” from academic approach.

The recent and significant shifts in Saudi foreign policy from an aggressive stance towards Iran and Syria to a policy of dialogue and engagement especially after the Democrats came to power in USA, raise questions about the reasons of the shifts. While Saudi officials have previously declared that the negotiation with Iran is useless and not possible, today they try to recover their relations with Tehran. Accordingly, the present study aims to evaluate the foreign policy of these two major poles of the Islamic world, and therefore, seeks to elaborate the reasons of the conspicuous and significant shifts of Saudi foreign policy towards Iran.

As a methodological framework, the study uses the method of document content analysis. The opinions and views of experts as well as the official and unofficial positions of Riyadh have shaped the basis of our analysis.

The Democrats' rise of power in USA as well as Iran's determination on its policies have changed Saudi foreign policy.

Numerous factors have led to this change in Saudi Arabia's approach, including accepting Iran's regional power and surrendering to the realities of new regional circumstances.

The main purpose of this article is to explain how gender justice works in government and executive institutions of the Islamic Republic of Iran and seeks to answer this question: what are the main challenges of government and executive institutions in relation to gender justice?

The method used in this study is descriptive- analytical based on Institutionalist theory utilizing documentary and library data to answer the main research question.

  The results indicate that dual sources of legitimacy and legal barriers are major challenges of the government in dealing with gender justice.

Findings of this article declares that in the study of gender justice in the 5 sections, namely, government attitudes, laws, decrees, regulations and development programs, the signs of justice are mixed with the signs of gender justice in order to create a positive feeling in the performance of government. However, in practice, there has been no significant relationship between gender Justice and the general orientation of government and executive institutions, which indicates the weak and unacceptable approach of this period at the macro level.

The main purpose of this research is to explain the function and threat of the terrorist group of the Army of God in Sistan & Balochistan and reactions of Iran to the terrorist group. 

The method used in this research is descriptive-analytical and collectiong information from the United Nations, Judicary of Iran, the High Council for Human Rights Center of Judiciary of Iran websites; and secondary data and library resources. The main question is that how has the Army of God acted and threatened Iranian Shia state and people in Sistan & Balochistan? How has Iran reacted to it? The hypothesis is that the foreign countries supported the Army of God with modern military technologies and finance, and Iran combated terrorism.

Findings of this research indicates that the Army of God has benefitted from ambushes, kidnappings, suicide bombings, and assassinations to kill the Iranian Shia state and Shias living in Sistan & Balochistan. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps combatted the Army of God Group. Iran also sought to have the support of the international community, the United Nations in specific and reinforced border security with bi-lateral cooperation with Pakistan.

This research concludes with the assertion that Army of God’s religious extremism in Sistan & Balochistan has been connected to violence experienced by the Shia communities living along Sistan & Balochistan of Iran. It is further posited that religious differences between Shia and Sunni Muslims have reinforced sectarian conflicts.

The present study seeks to make a comparative study of women's political participation in the Islamic Republic compared to other Islamic countries and regions. Political participation in this study is beyond mass participation based on participation in electoral processes and voting  or participating in demonstrations, but effective participation of women in  managerial and executive position and decision-making processes.

The method used in this research is descriptive - explanatory using statistical data from reliable domestic and international sources such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the World Economic Forum, the United Nations Development Program, as well as statistics of domestic institutions and organizations such as the Vice President for Women.

In this regard, the present study is divided into two parts. In the first part, some effective factors underpinning women's political participation, including educational and training factors, economic variables including women's gross national income, as well as women’s occupational and employment status and finally security backgrounds as an  Important factor  in women's political participation is examined. In the second part, the women’s political participation status in the form of elite is examined by two indicators, the number of women parliamentary seats, and also the women's political empowerment index, which is a more complete indicator than parliamentary seats.

The results show that despite some appropriate contextual factors among Iranian women, including higher education, acceptable presence in the economic and productive sectors, as well as improving in their security backgrounds and the middle position of them among Muslim countries women in terms of this variable.but, the level of their political participation is less than expected and acceptable and is in the bottom ranks.

 Yemen is a country from antiquity with a civilization belonging to the pre-Islamic era. During the Islamic history they became Muslim but they kept their tribal life traditions, tribal rivalry and fight, for instance, in this country are not a new phenomena.Since early nineteenth century certain foreign forces too found themselves somehow interested in the Yemenis life, notwithstanding their colonial dominance intention which they were planning to establish in this territory.
Today Yemenis are confronted with so many internecine wars between the domestic rebels and factions in one hand and the foreign troops on the other.In this article we study the historical roots of this sectarian war, while the other main purpose of this study is to assert the harmful impact of foreign States interferences on independence and territorial integrity of Yemen.

 In dealing with issues comprising different components which in turn involve more parameters with different variability, as it is the case in this study concerning the intrinsic cultural elements affecting the courses of events in Yemen beside the foreign interferences, the discussions on the methodology usually outreach the mere formalism, debating the virtues of extensive approach against the restrictive approach, taking into account the particular features of  the research subject, this article is prepared using “data analyzing system” based on the “contextual approach”.

 The scope of our research shows that, today Yemen is on total disarray on the verge of territorial disintegration and foreign interferences, particularly foreign military interventions are being considered as the major cause of this calamity.

 Actually the majority of Yemenis are in a dire situation regarding the necessary means of life. UN Security Council expresses its alarm over innocent civilian people’s fate and, more importantly, all parties involved in Yemen war continue to commit gross violation of international law.