علی باقری دولت آبادی

Health diplomacy has been part of states' foreign policy for over a century. It enables countries to enhance their national interests by leveraging soft power. The U.S. has consistently been active in health diplomacy, playing a significant role in international organizations like the World Health Organization. This paper aims to compare American health diplomacy during the presidencies of Trump and Biden to provide a clearer and more accurate analysis of U.S. foreign policy. The article poses the question: what is the most significant difference and similarities between U.S. health diplomacy under Trump and Biden? To address this question, a comparative method was employed, and data was gathered through library research. The research findings indicate that Joe Biden's health diplomacy diverged from Trump's in foure key areas: America's strategy for combating diseases, Participation in disease treatment initiatives (such as vaccine donations), A multilateral approach versus a unilateral approach, Responses to global health crises and improvements in long-term global health security infrastructure. In General, the shift from Trump's unilateralism in the global arena to Biden's engagement with allies and international institutions represents the most notable difference in their health diplomacy. Despite the above differences, both presidents had similarities in the following policies: prioritizing the health of American citizens over other countries, imposing financial and medical restrictions on governments that oppose and criticize the United States, reducing the cost of prescription drugs, Antitrust Enforcement and some Medicare policies.

For more than two decades Iran's political-military relations with African countries have attracted the hub of media attention and academic research. This is in the conditions that what have played key roles to spread Iran's influence in the African continent is culture and cultural diplomacy. One of the countries that Iran has the warmest cultural relations with it is Uganda. The purpose of current paper is to examine Iran's cultural diplomacy in Uganda during the presidency of Seyed Ibrahim Raisi. We answer to two questions here: what goals Seyed Ibrahim Raisi's administration has pursued in its cultural diplomacy in Uganda? What were the patterns and cultural methods adopted to achieve these goals? The hypothesis of the article is that "Seyed Ibrahim Raisi's administration seeks to export its revolutionary ideals and values alongside spreading religious knowledge and promote Shiism in Uganda." Hagerstrand's diffusion theory has been used to examine the patterns and methods of Iran's cultural diplomacy. We used quantitative and qualitative (exploratory-explanatory). Our findings showed that Seyed Ibrahim Raisi's administration has pursued its cultural diplomacy with the focus on students, teachers, and the religious community in Uganda and applied various educational, cultural and religious programs for perusing its aims. These programs are often followed based on the two patterns of displacement and contagious diffusion, and Iran is facing serious problems in the implementation of the hierarchical pattern in Uganda.

Artificial intelligence is one of the sciences that will have the greatest impact on the world future. In the field of politics and international relations, the effects of AI are not limited to practical matters and will greatly affect the field of theorizing in the future. Among the theories of international relations, the mainstream theories will definitely have the most influence. The main question of this article is how AI has affected the main concepts and concerns of these two macro approaches of international relations theories? The hypothesis of the article is that AI has questioned some of the main propositions of these two theories. A qualitative method with an analytical-explanatory approach was applied for research. The findings show that the theory of realism needs a revision in the definition of the concepts of power, threat, security, balance of power and actors of international relations in the light of AI and new developments. Also, the claims of the theory of liberalism regarding world peace, based on two economic and political dimensions, have faced a serious challenge. In such a way, the validity of the main propositions of the theory of economic liberalism, interdependence and democratic peace has been doubted.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the world of politics and its concepts. One of these concepts is soft power. The main question of the article is, what effect has AI had on the soft power of states and their resources? The hypothesis of the research is that AI has increased the possibility of using soft power resources and has also made soft power tools more efficient and widespread. The gathered data by using the library method was evaluated with an analytical-explanatory method. The findings showed that AI, in addition to influencing the three sources of culture, political values and foreign policy, which is emphasized by Joseph Nye, has led to the improvement of the external image of states. Also, this technology has helped the states to change the attitudes and preferences of the people of other countries by using new methods and tools more easily. In addition, AI has provided the opportunities for states to create different types of textual, visual and audio contents in the shortest possible time, in different languages, with the highest quality.

Todays, diversity, number and type of crises are increasing. Passive defense can reduce the material and non-material costs of these threats. That is why in the security doctrine of states defensive-security considerations are among the most important factors affecting the appropriate selection of military sites. The location of military barracks is one of the highlights issues in passive defense. Considering that there are 83 military barracks in the metropolis of Tehran and more than half of them, 49 barracks, are located in Tehran; The question is,  to what extent do these military bases comply with the standards and principles of passive defense? Which area of Tehran has the optimal and appropriate place for military bases in the future? For this purpose, the fuzzy function and GIS software have been used for data analysis. Criteria and indicators of site selection include five groups: spatial-physical, demographic, geographical (climatic parameters, the geomorphologic and geologic parameters, the parameters of accessibility of man-made centers, infrastructure parameters and hydrological specifications), economic and military. Findings revealed in the territorial planning of Tehran military bases, passive defense has not been the focus of attention. In terms of soil type, land slope, distance from the river, faults, power transmission lines, and proximity to sensitive centers, these areas are vulnerable. According to the results obtained from the fuzzy function based on the gamma 9% Robat Karim (%25.34), Waramin (%13.64), and Shahriyar Counties (%8.24) had the optimal and appropriate locations for the construction of new military bases. Furthermore, Shemiranat County had the least suitable conditions (%73) for the construction of a military barracks based on a passive defense approach.

Victory in war depends as much on the defense of barracks and logistics as it does on offense and aggression. That is why in the security doctrine of states defensive-security considerations are among the most important factors affecting the appropriate selection of military sites. Paying attention to the principles of passive defense makes it possible for military bases to provide services not only in a state of peace, but also in critical situations. In Iran, despite the bitter experience of the eight-year war with Iraq and the extensive damage to the country's vital infrastructure, until 2003, not enough attention was paid to the issue of passive defense. It was from this time on that this attitude was gradually reformed. Today, the need for passive defense for military bases - because of their role in providing security - is greater than elsewhere. Considering that there are 83 military barracks in the metropolis of Tehran and more than half of them, 49 barracks, are located in Tehran; The question is,  to what extent do these military bases comply with the standards and principles of passive defense? Which area of Tehran has the optimal and appropriate place for military bases in the future? The importance of this question lies in the fact that one of the goals of states in times of war is to strike over political, economic, demographic, and logistics centers. As the capital of Iran, Tehran is one of the most important targets in any foreign military threat. Therefore, in line with the main question of the current research, it is very important to pay attention to the issue of locating barracks and its passive defense in Tehran. In addition to increasing the efficiency and performance of military bases, applying appropriate methods in the site selection, can prevent wrong decisions and the loss of troops and the economic strength to respond appropriately to the attack. Several factors are include in military site selection studies. Some of the main factors are climatic conditions, topographic conditions, communication routes, water, land slope, security issues, and political considerations. The present study examine the site selection of military bases in Tehran and try to introduce the best places to build new military barracks. 

This research has been conducted with the aim of locating and organizing an optimal distribution of military bases. Criteria and indicators of site selection include five groups: spatial-physical, demographic, geographical (climatic parameters, the geomorphologic and geologic parameters, the parameters of accessibility of man-made centers, infrastructure parameters, and hydrological specifications), economic and military. In the first step, the effective measures in locating the military bases were evaluated by experts on the basis of their importance. Then, by fuzzing and integrating the layers in the GIS, the aforementioned area was classified for the construction of new barracks. Finally, the appropriate military site of military units were selected on the map in the ARC GIS environment through utilizing the overlapping method of effective layers of site selection.

The results revealed that according to the indicators identified in scientific research (Nouri, 2019) in the spatial planning of military bases in Tehran, the passive defense has not been considered enough. In terms of soil type, land slope, distance from the river, faults, power transmission lines, and proximity to sensitive centers, these areas are vulnerable and necessary measures should be taken to relocate them.
According to the results obtained from the fuzzy function based on the gamma 9% Robat Karim (%25.34), Waramin (%13.64), and Shahriyar County (%8.24) had the optimal and appropriate locations for the construction of new military bases. Furthermore, Shemiranat Counties had the least suitable conditions (%73) for the construction of a military barracks based on a passive defense approach. Our findings confirmed the results of other research about Ardabil (Jafarzadeh & Valizadeh Kamran, 2018), Torbat-e Jam (Saeedi et al, 2013), Marivan (Weysi et al, 20181397) and Nehbandan (Bahramabadi & Ebadinejad, 2016), Hamedan (Jamour & Malekhoseini, 2015). All of mentioned papers has emphasized the lack of attention to the principles of passive defense in the territorial planning of military bases in Iran.

The presence of military bases and barracks within the urban fabric, along with the horizontal expansion of the cities, have brought about many problems in the missions of the garrison and reduced its effectiveness, which in itself poses a serious threat to the proper functioning of the missions considered. It seems that the expansion of cities and civil conditions in the near future will require the relocation of many military bases in Tehran. In selecting an appropriate and optimal place to build military centers, security, and defense considerations are vital. Using the principles of passive defense in the construction of these military sites will increase the efficiency of these units and strengthen their security for dealing with military threats and crises. A review of research on the territorial planning of military bases in Iran confirmed three issues: First, the number of such studies is very small and does not include all major cities. Second, passive defense in the territorial planning of military bases in Iran has been neglected. Third, the metropolis of Tehran has not been the focus of attention in these studies. The results of the current paper confirmed that the western and southwestern regions of Tehran have suitable conditions for construction of military centers with a security approach and passive defense and the necessary steps should be taken as soon as possible to transfer military bases. The recurrence of military threats against Iran by Israel and the United States in recent years and insecurity in the Middle East doubles this need. The authors suggested that the construction of military bases in the designated areas should be done with utmost care so that, firstly, the urban development in the region is not disrupted by the establishment of these bases. Secondly, the citizens do not lose their sense of calm and security. In order to create a sense of peace and security among the people of the region, it was recommended to build government-leased houses for military personnel in the above-mentioned urban area.

Ensuring the socio-political rights of citizens is one of the obligations of governments, which is clearly mentioned in the internal laws of countries. But guaranteeing these rights sometimes faces external obstacles. One of these obstacles is unilateral and multilateral sanctions. In spite of the fact that the states imposing sanctions always deny such an effect, but most of the researches conducted in this regard have rejected this proposition. One of the countries that has experienced the longest and most extensive unilateral and multilateral sanctions is Somalia. This article aims to answer the question: what effect did the sanctions have on the socio-political rights of Somali citizens? The hypothesis of the research points out that sanctions affect ordinary citizens more than the political system and its leaders. Therefore, they violate the socio-political rights of Somali citizens. To answer the research question; we used the global indicators of the right to life, the right to health, and the quality of governance during the period of sanctions against Somalia. The gathered data was evaluated with a documentary-descriptive method. The research findings empirically showed that the right to life and the right to health has been severely violated in Somalia during the years of sanctions, and the sanctions have not been able to bring about any improvement in governance indicators in this country. Also, from the theoretical dimension, the findings of other researchers regarding the negative effects of sanctions on human rights were confirmed.

European countries coined the concept of health diplomacy in the 19th century and became the leaders of other countries in this regard. Over the past century, these countries have taken a series of measures to strengthen global health diplomacy in the light of the World Health Organization. At the beginning of 2020, the members of the union, like the rest of the world, experienced a widespread outbreak of Covid-19 within their countries. This article raises the question, given the extensive history of European countries in health diplomacy, what has been the performance of EU health diplomacy during the Covid-19 outbreak? The hypothesis of the research was based on the proposition that "European Union's health diplomacy has been effective and successful in dealing with Covid-19". A qualitative method with emphasis on the analytical-explanatory method was used to evaluate the hypothesis. The data were also collected by the library method. The findings show that the EU, contrary to expectations, did not succeed in global health diplomacy. They did not achieve significant success in any of the dimensions of post-covid health diplomacy, i.e. mask diplomacy and vaccine diplomacy. Instead of turning Covid-19 into an opportunity to strengthen its international presence and take over the leadership of the world, the EU fell into nationalism and regionalism. Also, the coronavirus pandemic showed that the propositions made by liberalists regarding the cooperation of governments and interdependence can be doubted in critical conditions and in the center of publication of these theories i.e. Europe.

Saudi Arabia is one of the most important ideological states in the Middle East region, and the Wahhabi sect has played a large role in the process of forming and continuing its political life; As the main base and refuge of the Salafis, it has always played a major role in the production and reproduction of a regional and extra-regional jihadist discourse. The present research seeks to answer the key question of how “the political” is formulated in the government discourse of Saudi Arabia and what effect has this formulation had on the foreign policy approach of this country in the region (during the years 2011-2017)? The hypothesis tested by the research is that “based on the political discourse ruling the Saudi Arabian regime (with the central signifier of Sunni Wahhabi Islam), Saudi Arabia's reading of the concept of “the political” is Antagonistic/hostility (based on friend/enemy). Therefore, the reproduction of this approach in the field of foreign policy made this country put the policy of eliminating "others" (including the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic movements supported by this country) at the top of its priorities. This, in turn, has fueled the formation and strengthening of radical Salafi-Jihad groups and the spread of political violence in the region”. For testing and explaining the Main Variables of the Research, Carl Schmitt's Theory of the Concept of the Political and Laclau and Mouffe's Discourse Analysis Method have been used.

Various works have been published on Iran's foreign policy; however, no research has been published on the martyr Beheshti's views on Iran's foreign policy. Meanwhile, the role of the martyr Beheshti in drafting the constitution and foreign policy of Iran is undeniable. So, the main question of the article is what was the martyr Beheshti's view on the future orientation of Iran's foreign policy and which orientation did he think is best? The main research hypothesis emphasizes the nonalignment. To answer the question and to test the hypothesis, the martyr Beheshti's views were adapted and applied to the three orientations of isolationism, nonalignment, and alliance mentioned by Holsti on foreign policy. Also, we surveyed neutrality as a fourth orientation in the foreign policy of states. The method used in this paper was a mixture of quantitative analysis (frequency counting of indicators related to the four orientations of foreign policy) and qualitative analysis (interpretation of findings and comparison). The research findings showed that the two orientations of isolationism and neutrality have no place in the martyr Beheshti's thoughts. Among the other two orientations, nonalignment gains the first place with 73% frequency and the alliance the second place with 27%. The important point is that martyr Beheshti has prescribed alliance not with the great powers, but for Iran's relations with Muslim countries and the Third World.

Iran's educational system is trying to increase students' political awareness regarding the Islamic revolution, holy defense, etc. The question that is raised may be taken as: What is the level of political awareness of the upper secondary school students in Yasouj city regarding sacred defense? And what is the relationship between political awareness and the variables of gender, social class and level of education? The research method is a quantitative method using the method of collecting information in the form of questionnaire. The research sample includes 445 students of Yasuj city during the period October 1400 to October 1401, who were selected by stratified random sampling and based on Cochran's formula. The formal validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by political science and social science professors, and a pilot study was conducted to measure its reliability. The findings of the research showed that the political awareness score of all students is lower than the average. Also, students' political awareness towards political figures had the highest average among the four dimensions of the political awareness variable.

Health diplomacy is one of the aspects of modern diplomacy that has become popular in many countries of the world after the coronavirus pandemic. The purpose of this article is to examine the role of health diplomacy in maintaining and continuing China's economic growth as the coronavirus spreads in the country and the world. The main question is how did health diplomacy help China maintain its economic growth while other countries struggled with a recession? The main hypothesis of the research is that the functions of health diplomacy, such as increasing relations with other states, restoring international prestige, creating opportunities for economic benefits through export development, etc., helped China to maintain its economy dynamic. A qualitative method with an analytical-explanatory approach was applied for research and a library method was used for data collection. The findings show that China has achieved the following goals in the light of health diplomacy: it has gained new markets in developing countries; it has created international prestige for this country. It has portrayed a responsible and benevolent role from Beijing. As a result of these policies, the desire to buy health goods made in China increased in 2020, and China exports increased.

Among the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus, the Republic of Azerbaijan has special importance for Israel due to its geographical location and being on the west and east routes. This regime has started relations with Azerbaijan for three decades and has entered a new stage in recent years. Given the above explanations the question arises, where is Azerbaijan's position and role in Israel's national security strategy? And what is Israel's approach to the development of relations with Azerbaijan? The underlying hypothesis is that Israel's approach to relations with Azerbaijan can be understood in light of the concept of strategic depth and the pursuit of Israel's security needs. From this point of view, the development of relations with Baku is important for the continuation of Israel's life. The results show that Israel seeks to turn Azerbaijan into the strategic depth of this regime in the South Caucasus to overcome its geopolitical weaknesses and repel its military threats. Also, this measure helps Tel Aviv to strengthen its deterrent strategy against Iran. Israel's nesting in Azerbaijan and the development of these relations in military-security dimensions can affect Iran's national security and lead to Iran's distance from Azerbaijan and make colder relations between the two countries. To conduct the article, the explanatory method has been used and the data was gathered through the library method.

Sanctions are a component of the dominant diplomacy in the contemporary world. In fact, the different countries employ sanctions as a means to advance their interests in foreign policy. The United States of America has consistently used sanctions as a method of addressing countries that do not align with its interests. The Islamic Republic of Iran and Venezuela are among the countries sanctioned by the US. Since the onset of the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979, the United States has sanctioned Tehran, citing various reasons such as the alleged support for terrorism, violation of human rights, and attempts at acquiring weapons of mass destruction. After years of negotiations and diplomacy between Iran and the world powers, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was finally signed in 2015. As a result, some US sanctions against Iran were lifted. However, following Donald Trump’s election as the president of the US and his withdrawal from the JCPOA, an order was issued on May 8, 2018 to re-impose sanctions against Iran.Another country under the US sanctions is Venezuela. In fact, the US sanctions against Venezuela began during the presidency of Hugo Chávez and intensified in 2014 with the allegations of corruption and misuse of Venezuelan financial resources. With the election of Nicolás Maduro as the president of Venezuela in 2018 and the beginning of protests against his way of governing the country, the US stepped up its sanctions against this South American country. Donald Trump, who had previously declared his support for Maduro's protesters, attempted to impose restrictions on Maduro’s administration in the political, economic, and social spheres by issuing sanction orders, bills, and laws. The simultaneous imposition of sanctions against Iran and Venezuela raised the following questions: What are the similarities and differences between the sanctions imposed on these two states? Additionally, what impacts have these sanctions had on their economies?

 Theoretical Framework:

Sanctions are classified as limited, moderate, or extensive actions based on their scope and as economic or non-economic decisions in terms of content. Sanction theorists frequently assess the economic impacts of sanctions within the realm of macroeconomic indicators, which encompass factors such as inflation and currency rates, export and import rates, economic growth, unemployment and employment rates, and other significant economic indicators. Furthermore, sanctions can have non-economic impacts on the target country, directly and indirectly affecting its cultural, political, and social values. This study analyzes the economic impacts of the sanctions imposed on Iran and Venezuela with a particular focus on the foregoing categories of sanctions. The key aspect of sanctions is the process by which they can prove effective. In other words, what measures should be taken to enhance the effectiveness of sanctions? In this regard, a conceptual framework was developed in this study to identify several factors that affect the effectiveness of sanctions. These factors include the number of allies of the sanctioning state, the degree of focus on vulnerable areas of the target state, the experience and adaptability of the target state to the applied sanctions, and the type, content, and intensity of sanctions.

This research adopts a comparative approach, which is a scientific inference method that involves systematically juxtaposing similarities and differences among social phenomena, whether for descriptive or causal purposes. Moreover, an analytical-explanatory method was used for data analysis, and a desk method was adopted for data collection. The necessary data including the laws of the US Congress and the executive orders of the US President were extracted from electronic databases. The effects of the sanction laws on the political and economic systems of Iran and Venezuela were then clarified through publications and economic data showcasing the economic situations against these two countries.

According to the results of analyzing the economic statistics of the two countries presented in the above table, Iran encountered a decline of 47.9% in its daily petroleum production, whereas Venezuela witnessed a more substantial decrease of 76.9%. In the realm of exportation and importation, Iran experienced a decline of 47.5% and 15.3%, respectively. Similarly, Venezuela encountered a decrease of 48.5% and 44.7% in these areas, respectively. Regarding foreign investment attraction, Iran experienced a decline of 53.86%, whereas Venezuela suffered a more significant decrease of 60.67%. Additionally, the inflation rate in Iran had a significant surge of 277%, whereas it skyrocketed by an astonishing 114,000% in Venezuela compared with the pre-sanction period. In fact, Venezuela is experiencing the highest inflation rate in the Western Hemisphere. Regarding the unemployment rates of the two nations, the situation is somewhat complex. The unemployment rate in Iran only experienced a minimal change in comparison with the period before sanctions. However, in the case of Venezuela, this rate surged by 22.2% compared with the pre-sanction era. In addition, the Iranian rial's value against the US dollar decreased by nearly 303%, whereas the bolivar's value declined by 149%. Lastly, Iran’s economic growth reduced by 235.1% as a result of the sanctions, whereas Venezuela's economic growth decreased by 47%.  Upon the careful analysis of the legislative measures enacted by US Congress and the executive orders issued by the US President, alongside a comprehensive assessment of the economic conditions prevailing in both nations subsequent to the implementation of sanctions, there are evidently notable resemblances in the nature and substance of the sanctions imposed on Venezuela and Iran. However, the adverse outcomes of these sanctions have had more pronounced impacts on Venezuela than on Iran. In relation to the subjects and substances of sanctions, it has been observed that the sanctions imposed on Venezuela primarily focus on industrial sectors such as petroleum, mining, shipping, government officials, and to a certain extent, the banking industry. Regarding Iran, in addition to these areas, financial, nuclear, and military sanctions have been affected. Furthermore, Venezuela has faced sanctions imposed by the US Congress and the US Treasury as well as several European and American states. In the case of Iran, however, the US Congress has been less involved, and there are no multilateral sanctions in place against Tehran. Regarding the rationale behind imposing sanctions on the two nations, it is evident from the findings that Iran has consistently faced allegations of engaging in destabilizing actions in the Middle East, engaging in perilous military endeavors, and pursuing nuclear activities, among other concerns. Nevertheless, Maduro's administration has faced allegations of corruption, repression, and violations of human rights. Simultaneously, it is important to acknowledge that corruption, mismanagement, censorship, and internal repression have consistently served as justifications for implementing sanctions on both nations.

 Conclusion and Suggestion:

According to the analysis of alterations in diverse economic domains including daily petroleum production, export and import activities, foreign investment influx, inflation rates, and other pertinent economic indicators subsequent to the implementation of sanctions, it becomes evident that Venezuela’s economy exhibited a higher degree of vulnerability in comparison with Iran’s. This is due to some factors including Venezuela’s greater reliance on petroleum sources and gold mines as well as the corresponding greater focus of sanction agents on these matters, the country’s severe internal conflicts, the greater scope of Venezuela’s sanctions that of Iran, and Venezuela’s less experience in dealing with sanctions. The foregoing findings do not imply that the adverse economic situations of the two countries since 2017 have been exclusively attributable to the US sanctions, nor do the findings substantiate the complete efficacy of sanctions. Sometimes, incorrect economic policies or the improper implementation of policies, e.g., inadequate budgeting process reforms, failure to decrease dependence on the dollar, lack of diversification in exports (particularly non-petroleum exports), and failure to invest in economic opportunities and platforms, have resulted in dire economic conditions. The overall effects of sanctions on governments are contingent upon a multitude of political, economic, social, and cultural variables as well as domestic, regional, and international circumstances. Hence, despite the implementation of comparable sanctions on two given states, identical outcomes cannot be anticipated. Notably, although sanctions severely weaken the economies of sanctioned nations, the two cases examined in this study (i.e., Iran and Venezuela) demonstrate that the exertion of economic pressure does not change the political conduct of governing bodies. Therefore, it can be argued that, in contrast to the intentions of those who imposed sanctions, the impacts of sanctions will primarily be felt by casual citizens rather than statesmen. In order to have a clearer analysis in this regard, it is suggested to comprehensively compare the experiences of other states under similar sanctions with those of Iran and Venezuela.

The present study seeks to explain and evaluate the components of the generation gap in interaction with virtual social networks with emphasis on the political component (Case study: Citizens of Tehran(. From this perspective, after expanding the conceptual space of the subject, An integrated theoretical approach has been used to explain the subject.Using a survey study, the research datas were selected using a researcher-made questionnaire from 384 citizens with age15 years and older in Tehran who were selected using the cochran sample size estimation formula and multi-stage cluster sampling method. The instrument was validated through Qualitative formal content validity. The Reliability was Also estimated by Cronbach Alpha.The descriptive findings of the study have shown that the average of the total index of differences in the values of the generation gap is low among the studied age groups and therefore indicates the generation difference rather than the generation gap.Besides that; The inferential findings of the research in the Bivariate analysis section have shown that the duration of more use, news, scientific and educational use, having a Instrumental motivation (purposeful) in the use of virtual social networks, has caused a generation gap (generational difference) between different age groups. Also, the research findings in the multivariate analysis section showed that the independent variables of duration, type of use, motivation and purpose of use and age had a significant effect on the dependent variable at the error level of 0.01..

Power is one of the concepts that have been defined from different aspects. The division of power into different types of hard, soft, intelligent, etc. indicates the wide range of views about this concept. The study of power, sources and methods of its application in line with Western ideas has also been done in Islamic studies. The main question of the article is, what are the characteristics of the mentioned power in the hadiths of the Shia imams? The hypothesis of the article is that a set of signs can be deduced in the hadiths of Shia imams, which lead us to the concept of transcendental power. The semiotics method was used to answer the above question and the aim of the article is to identify the signs of power in Shia hadiths. The findings of the research showed that the source of power, the holders of power, the purpose of power and the ways of exercising power are different from the conventional types of power in political theories, which are known as hard, soft and network.

One of the U.S aims for the assassination of Soleimani was to put an end on Iran influence and regional power. Now, after three years of this assassination, the question arises that what effects did the martyrdom of Qasem Soleimani has had on Iran influence and power in the region? The underlying hypothesis of the current research is that the assassination of Martyr Soleimani has not seriously affected Iran regional influence and power. The article is based on the comparative-analytical method and structure-agent theory. The findings show that contrary to the expectations of the American authorities, the assassination of Soleimani has not ended Iran regional power and influence. Iran still has an active presence in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq. In Syria, Bashar Assad has started the process of de-escalation with the Arab states and is following up the process of rebuilding Syria’s cities with the participation of Iran. In Yemen, both sides of the conflict - Ansarollah and Saudi Arabia - have agreed on a temporary ceasefire and are preparing for political talks. In Iraq, the ending of the anti-Iranian government of Mustafa Al-Kazemi and the formation of the Mohammed Shia' Sabbar al-Sudani government, has paved the way to Iran to peruse its aims.

The worldwide outbreak of the COVID-19 has turned the need to pursue health diplomacy into an undeniable reality in developing countries, especially Iran. Inconsistent, short-term, and intermittent attempts have been made for this purpose in Iran; however, the goals and plans of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs are not still clear and appraisable. This study aims to determine the requirements and challenges that Iran faces to adopt a kind of successful and efficient diplomacy. In this regard, the research hypothesis emphasizes the role and importance of health diplomacy in Iran’s foreign policy as a requirement to relieve distrust and tension in relations with other countries, something which is considered a challenge. Therefore, a qualitative explanatory-analytical approach was used in this study. Moreover, a desk method was employed to collect the necessary data from two groups of printed and electronic sources in order to purposefully answer the main research question. According to the findings, Iran should consider a series of political and economic requirements in its foreign policy to benefit from a kind of successful health diplomacy. In fact, Iran’s most important requirements were identified as perceiving the importance and position of health diplomacy, formulating strategic plans, training professional diplomats, relieving tensions, and building trust. However, the most prominent international challenges were identified as distrust in Iran, uneasy and tense foreign relations, and the presence of powerful rivals on both regional and international scales. Furthermore, the domestic challenges were classified as content-related, structural, cultural, governance-related, economic, and process-related problems.

ince the beginning of the twentieth century, with the rise of the AKP in Turkey, its foreign policy has undergone major changes, and efforts to dismantle its neighbors and peaceful relations with the world have become the strategic focus of Turkey's diplomatic apparatus. In this regard, reconciliation with Syria was on the agenda of foreign policy, and the two sides established extensive economic cooperation. But after the civil war in Syria, Ankara gradually began to support opponents of Bashar al-Assad's regime and its effects on Turkey's internal sphere. This study seeks to examine the domestic implications of Turkey's foreign policy in Syria using the Boomerang conceptual and conceptual model. The findings of the study show that AKP politicians intensified control and censorship in Turkish society after interfering with Turkish internal affairs, and with the elimination of the voices of dissidents and critics, they sought to expand authoritarianism. In this sense, Turkey not only failed to achieve its goals in Syria, but also faced domestic crises that systematically altered the effects of the boomerang effect on the functioning of the Turkish government and interior.

Pakistan's relations with Afghanistan have seen many ups and downs. One of the critical points in this relationship occurred during the Taliban rule in Afghanistan (1996-2001). During this period, Pakistan became one of the main supporters of the Taliban. A policy that had to be abandoned soon after the US attack on Afghanistan. With the Taliban set to regain power in 2021, what impact has the Taliban's rise to power had on Afghanistan-Pakistan relations? What factors have influenced these relations? The hypothesis of the study is that the Taliban have not been able to meet Pakistan's political expectations and that this state of affairs has created challenges in the relationship between the two countries. By Using a qualitative method with a descriptive-analytical approach and a library method for data collection, the research findings show that, contrary to Pakistan's expectations, the Taliban's rise to power in Afghanistan has not led to a reduction in border tensions on the Durand Line, the abandonment of separatist claims in Pakistan's Pashtunistan state, or a downgrading of Kabul's relations with Iran and India. Therefore, Pakistan seeks to maximise its security, economic and political interests in this country through a policy of exclusion towards India and Iran and targeted and selective interaction with China and U.S.

Studying Iran's foreign policy is one of the most interesting topics among the people and the academic community. This behavior is not specific to Iranians and can, also, be seen among other foreign researchers concerning Iran's foreign policy. Luciano Zaccara is one of the authors who has surpassed her counterparts in addressing this issue and has edited a book on the “Foreign Policy of Iran under President Hassan Rouhani’s First Term”. The lack of translation of the book into Persian encouraged the author to introduce the work and critique it in terms of content and form. What makes the book prominent is the participation of some well-known authors in writing the chapters, addressing some areas that have received less attention in Iranian research, such as relations with Africa and the pathology of Hassan Rouhani's foreign policy. Lack of theoretical framework for the discussions, incoherence between the contents of the chapters, and ignoring the scientific neutrality by some authors of the book are among the weaknesses of the work.

Different classes and groups played a role in the victory of the Islamic Revolution. The question is that what was the reaction of the clergy to the most important political developments of the 1960s and what relationship existed between Imam Khomeini and the clergy during this decade? The hypothesis of the article is that in the first half of the 1960s, the clergy had the most actions in the country's political arena, and in the second half, its reaction to political events decreased. To answer the main question, a quantitative-qualitative method has been used. In the quantitative method, all the correspondences of Imam Khomeini between the years 1961 and 1970 were statistically arranged according to the audience, date, and content, and in the next step, these correspondences were analyzed using the qualitative content analysis method. The research findings showed that in the second half of the 1960s, Imam Khomeini became concerned about the inactivity of the clergy and their attention to educational issues or less important issues. The statements of Imam Khomeini confirm that the clergy did not support the revolution uniformly and the actions of some of them were harmful to the movement in this decade.

One of the serious debates of the 21st century about the start of wars by governments is whether they are just or unjust. As if from a theoretical point of view, it has been discussed among thinkers from the distant past and has continued until now. To understand the changes that have taken place in these ideas and also the difference between the Church Fathers and the Shiite jurists; The present study compares just war in the ideas of St. Augustine, Michael Walzer, and contemporary Shiite jurists. The present research is theoretical-applied in terms of nature and descriptive-analytical in terms of study method. The data collection method is based on two methods library and questionnaire. For this purpose, the views of eleven jurists and the authority of imitation have been examined based on the questionnaire and their written works. The results showed that there are more commonalities between the views of Shiite jurists and the ideas of St. Augustine than Walzer's ideas about just war. At the same time, all three ideas were most similar in terms of the goals of a just war and the issue of helping oppressed nations, and most of all in terms of the terms of a just war and the reasons for its legitimacy. The findings also show that Augustine and Shiite jurists introduce the rulers and God as the decision-makers for a just war. Walzer emphasizes the role of public opinion, the people and the UN Security Council as decision-makers.The theory of just war is one of the most important theories of pacifism and the establishment of an ideal society in political philosophy, which was designed and developed by philosophical and jurisprudential thinkers.Just War, St. Augustine, Michael Walzer, Contemporary Shiite Jurists, Jihad

The purpose of this study is to critique one of the latest works on Iran's foreign policy by Farhad Rezaei. The questions of the research are: Has the author of the book could survey the subject in a scientific method? How much of the collected data has validity and the results of the book are reliable? To what extent has this work been able to answer the ambiguities and questions in the minds of Iranian and foreign audiences and be effective? To answer the above questions, first, the main idea of the different chapters of the book has been addressed and criticized. Then, in two separate sections, the book is criticized in terms of content and form. Each of these sections includes two sub-headings: the book's strengths and weaknesses. In the end, the authors stated their general evaluation of the book. The research methodology is descriptive-analytical and conducted by library-based data.

For most non-academics, foreign policy is one of the most obvious aspects of politics. Most people believe that they have enough knowledge to comment on foreign policy, and this is a main reason that discussion on Iran's foreign policy is one of the hottest conversation topics among Iranians. The nature of these debates is mostly intense and lively criticism of foreign policy of the country in an unscientific manner. At the same time, as expected the foreign policy issues are evaluated by experts and experienced researchers in Iranian academic circles. The two research questions to be answered in the present paper are as follows: 1. What is the status of critiquing  Iranian foreign policy in academic research in Iran? 2. What are the weaknesses and  strengths of  these critiques? In the hypothesis, we argue that the characteristics of education and political culture of Iran have contributed to the shortcomings of the works addressing foreign policy of Iran in a proper manner.In the article, critical thinking has been adopted as the theoretical framework, because critical thinking is the analysis of known facts, evidence, observations, and arguments with the goal of assessing and forming an opinion about certain issues. In other words, critical thinking is a mode of thinking about any subject or problem, by which a person improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them. Critical thinking is a rich concept of high value that has been developing throughout the past decades.  The term critical thinking has its roots in the mid-late 20th century, but its adoption as an educational goal has been recommended because of  respect for students’ self-reliance and the need to prepare students to be successful in life as well as for democratic citizenship. The so-called critical thinkers have the dispositions and abilities that lead them to think critically when appropriate.To answer the main research questions, quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis were used. A representative sample of papers published in the Foreign Policy Quarterly in the period 2016-2021 was taken. The reason for choosing this journal as the focus of our study is that it has been publishing research on Iran's foreign policy and related topics for many years. Out of 129 articles published during this time period, 51 articles specifically discussed issues related to Iran. 28 articles were on political-security issues, 8 articles on economic issues, 9 articles on political-economic issues, and finally 6 articles had considered all four political, political, economic, social, and cultural dimensions of foreign policy analysis. In the first step, we evaluated the content of these 51 articles on Iran's foreign policy carefully and completely. Of the 51 articles, only 23 directly focused on Iran's foreign policy, and only one paper was written with a critical approach. The findings revealed that all these articles had serious shortcomings in one or more issues which needed to be underscored in order to conduct a thorough research. Inadequacies were observed in the following areas: careful literature review to show historical background, use of an appropriate research method, adopting a theoretical framework, recommendations for future research or for  policy choices, attempts to make predictions about the future by using methods such as scenario building.The authors conclude that the origins of the lack of critical thinking must be searched in educational and cultural domains: First, it was argued that enough attention have not been paid to critical thinking in Iranian schools and universities. Therefore, the students are encouraged to accept and praise viewpoints in an uncritical manner instead of learning to be critical thinkers. Likewise, Iran's educational system is such that it does not welcome critical research for publication. Therefore, authors prefer to focus on topics that are more likely to be accepted and published in journals instead of working on critical articles. Unfortunately, the researchers are not influenced by strong personal and scientific motives for fact-finding and problem-solving, and are mostly concerned with  job requirements and other mundane variables. As a result, the papers are not sufficiently innovative since the topics are occasionally repetitive or with little value for policymakers or scientific community. The predominance of the positivist approach in teaching students in universities is one of the other weaknesses that has discouraged researchers to welcome critical works. Thus, the researchers who generally use conservative and non-critical approaches do not seek to change the general direction of politics and help the reconstruction of power relations. In addition to the educational factor, Iranian political culture has contributed to the lack of interest in critical works being conducted and published. Authors’ feelings of insecurity to express different opinions and fear of the consequences of expressing different thoughts have made them to endorse ideas instead of criticizing ideas and policies. Although it is now generally accepted that critical thinking can be taught and cultural weaknesses can be overcome, not enough effort has been made to change this problematic aspect of political culture, which has reduced the motivation for researchers, students, and university professors to engage in debates and critiques in academic journals. In Iranian universities, instead of teaching critical thinking, students are taught how not to get into trouble by adopting a conservative stance which avoids criticizing the views of others. Low level of tolerance in Iranian society for being criticized is another cultural weaknesses, which has led people to be more conservative. Another underlying factor for inadequate attention paid  to critical research goes back to the lack of encouragement by the officials in Iranian diplomatic community who do not think they need academicians to conduct this type of research. Instead of welcoming criticism of policies and programs, foreign ministry officials have sought to hire academics who defend the current state-of-affairs, and justify the existing programs and policies.

Sanctions are one of the foreign policy tools of states to change the behavior of other states and pursue their national interests. The United States is one of the countries that has used the most sanctions against other states. The purpose of the present study is to measure the impact of sanctions on Iranians after the withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA. The main question of the research is, what effect did sanctions have on the public health of Iranian citizens during the period of 2018 to 2022? The hypothesis of the research indicates that sanctions severely affect public health and its components. Quantitative methods and questionnaire tools were used to evaluate the article's hypothesis. The statistical sample of the research was made up of 400 citizens living in Yasouj city (stratified-random method) and two samples mean test, regression, Pearson correlation coefficient, and... were used to analyze the data. The findings of the research show that there is a significant relationship between the US sanctions and the public health of the Yasouj citizens. Also, the results showed that there are no significant differences in variables such as age, gender, and marital status between men and women.