نشریه سیاست پژوهی ایرانی
سال دهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 37، پاییز 1402)

The purpose of the present research is to study effective criteria on Russia’s policy towards Islamic countries in the Middle East after Arab revolutions. In this regard, the main research question of the current study is: what factors have led Russia to adopt a balanced policy towards Islamic countries in the Middle East during 2011-2020? Moreover, the research relies on the hypothesis that during that the above time period, Russia, on the one hand, assisted Shi’ite groups led by Iran to fight against excommunication (Takfiri) terrorism, and on the other hand, expanded its relations with Sunni Muslim countries in order to prevent stimulation of religious fundamentalism in its Muslim republics. The current study which was conducted by a descriptive analytic method in the theoretical framework of constructivism, presents a rather distinctive analysis of the essence of Russia’s relations with middle eastern Islamic countries after Arab revolutions. The results indicate that since Arabic revolutions in 2011 and formation of new groups in the regional and international level in the Middle East, especially the Syrian crisis that initiated a new stage in Russia’s relations with the Islamic world, Moscow has attempted to adopt a balanced policy towards Islamic countries in the Middle East to remove the danger of Islamic extremism, avoid tension with those countries and reinforce relationship with them. Therefore, it is expected that Russia highlights the role of Islam in its foreign policy and that Russian politicians show more interest in constructive collaboration with middle eastern Islamic countries.

The present study aims to answer how transformation and smartization of the U.S military power strategy has been conducted in the Persian Gulf region since 2001. The research relies on the hypothesis that consequences and high costs of the U.S military strategies during the presidency of George W. Bush, under the influence of hard power, made later presidents in the country to follow the strategy of smart power. Along with military presence, they also attempted to rebuild the U.S deteriorated image in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf region by some strategies like diplomacy, trade, foreign assistance, and propagation of their values. The research method was content analysis and the results showed that consequences of the U.S military intervention in the Persian Gulf revealed strategic limitations of Washington’s hard power policy during the Bush presidency. Thus, Barack Obama and later presidents in the country emphasized on the simultaneous use of hard and soft power, under the title of smart power. Although their approaches were different, their most important smart and common objective was to intelligently change power balance in the Persian Gulf region, in favor of the U.S and against Iran, by coalition between Israel and Arabic countries especially Saudi Arabia and UAE in the region.

The purpose of the present study is to identify likely structures for the future international system and to understand their effectiveness on Iran’s opportunities and limitations. The methodology of the present research is qualitative that has used a futurologist scenario to identify likely structures of the international system. The main research question is: what are scenarios that can change the international system and what will be their consequences and effects on Iran’s relations and acting? The research results show that the occurrence of the scenario of a multipolar international system is more likely than a bipolar or unipolar one. In each scenario, countries have 3 general options: companionship including union or following, competition including creating balance, tolerating the challengers, and adopting an opposition policy towards the existing pole or poles in the world. The scenario of a multipolar world will bring the most capabilities and opportunities for Iran while the unipolar scenario led by the U.S will increase Iran’s limitations. On the other hand, the bipolar scenario compared to the unipolar one led by the U.S enhances Iran’s opportunities. Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will assist Iran to create more opportunities to meet its national interests through the bipolar scenario revolving around the U.S and China.

Although governments stem from the people’s will and their sustenance depend on their satisfaction, conflict between both sides in this transaction is inevitable. In this regard, the present study seeks to explain some behaviors of the governments as the more powerful side of the transactions which cause political conflicts and challenge the survival of the governments. To this aim, a descriptive-analytic method as well as historical documents and objective evidence were used to identify causes of political conflicts that come from the governments’ behavior. The research relies on the hypothesis that disorder in providing people’s basic needs, unreasonable beliefs and behaviors, and power imbalance are the main reasons for political conflicts. According to the obtained results, it seems that the beginning source of conflict between people and governments is the existence or perception of injustice. Furthermore, in a monoliteral power system where both the government as the more powerful side and people as the less powerful side seek to achieve scarce resources, usually the more powerful side takes steps to create a hegemonic system by using its opportunities. On the other hand, people who are fed up with mere obedience, always seek a chance to nullify this hegemony by any means. In general, it seems that the governments’ negligence to meet people’s needs can gradually increase dissatisfied groups in society and cause unreturnable political conflicts, especially when the government is supposed to make decisions to decrease social dissatisfaction or provide more privilege for people. It appears that the first step by the governments to control political conflict is to remove the perception of injustice in society through meeting people’s basic needs. In the next step, the governments should focus on increasing their legitimacy that requires creating freedom, in addition to maintaining their dignity and avoidance of violence. Finally, the governments ought to prevent the gradual growing of dissatisfaction in society and guide people’s energy towards participatory activities in order to avoid creation of conflicts. This issue requires the optimal conduction of the governments’ special act that is giving service to people.

The purpose of the present research is to study effective purposes and criteria of the U.S foreign policy in the Middle East from the view of smart power. The research method is descriptive-analytic and the results showed that experiences of the past decades convinced the White House politicians to adopt smart power policy for collaboration and opposition as well as peaceful methods for making relations with middle eastern countries. Therefore, a new perspective was opened in western relations with the Middle East. Smart power and all its criteria made the White House politicians attempt to follow their objectives by that. Their purposes include rebuilding the U.S deteriorated foreign policy image during recent decades, public opinion management in the Middle East, improvement and betterment of its executive policies in the region, avoidance of coalition in the region against the U.S and Israel, supporting the emergence of moderate governments based on liberal democracy, sustenance of relative peace and stability in the region according to the U.S favorites, and maintenance of military bases in the U.S allies’ countries.

The purpose of the present study is to review causes of the downfall of the labor party in Israel’s political arena. The main research question is: what have been the most important causes of the decline of the labor party in Israel within the past 2 decades? The research method is descriptive-analytic and the results showed that the labor party’s support and back up of peace negotiations in the Middle East and the failure of the talks have been the most important causes of the party’s downfall. From the view of Jewish voters, the above party has ignored Zionist values by some suggestions and conditions such as division of Jerusalem, creating 2 governments, and withdrawal from the Golan heights and south Lebanon. They hold that the extension of the Palestinian groups’ attacks is the result of the labor party’s talks which decreased the votes and social status. Moreover, some reasons like the party’s indifference to socialist values such as joint farms (Kibbutzniks) and more support to the rich class made the middle-class distance from the party and tend to rightist and religious parties instead. Therefore, it declined the power and penetration of this moderate party in the political arena of Israel.