فرهاد عطایی

Reptiles are important components of natural ecosystems but because of limited dispersal ability they are sensitive to habitat destruction, road development and climate change. However, very little is known about their diversity and distribution in protected areas of Iran. In this study, reptiles of Touran Biosphere Reserve were collected, photographed and identified from 2014 to 2021. Results showed that 36 reptile species including 20 lizards, 15 snakes and 1 tortoise are living in the Touran Biosphere Reserve. Families Agamidae and Gekkonidae where the most diverse families among the lizard species and family Colubridae was the most diverse family among the snake species. Testudo horsfieldii and Varanus griseus are species with conservation concern thus they need special conservation programs.

The causes and consequences of cooperation and conflict in West Asia have been extensively discussed by international relations sholars using different approaches. The main objective of the authors is to find answers to the following research questions: 1. How have cooperation and conflict in West Asia been analyzed and explained in different theoretical perspectives in international relations? 2. Which of these approches provide a better explanation of the region’s conflict and cooperation in the last decade? Three dominant approaches of realism, liberalism, and a form of idealism (i.e., constructivism) are comparatively examined to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of their explanations of regional developments over time. It was demonstrated that realism explains conflict and cooperation in the region on the basis of international order, military considerations, and the politics of power, ideology and general analysis of normative power. Liberalism’s explanation is based mostly on democracy, type of political system and cognitive cohesion. The explanation of the sholars using the approach of constructivism is based on identity factors, ethnicity, sectarianism and security discourses of states. Realists tend to believe that subjective factors are important in the analyses of foreign policy and international relations issues. Ontological dimension of realism is not devoid of subjective elements, but realists have overlooked the process and the mechanism through which all subjective-objective elements influence the decisions and behaviors of governments. From the perspective of liberalism, many political factors (e.g., regional hegemony, balance of power, sectarianism, nationalism, type of regime and political ideology) are important in shaping a state’s foreign policy bahaviors, which evidently need to be understood in their own historical context. On the other hand, it is not clear how these factors make sense to key decisionmakers within governments and lead them to choose the path of cooperation or conflict. Perceptions and misperceptions influence how leaders decide to develop constructive or conflictive relations with other countries with which they are involved in a dispute. How the key decision-makers perceive a threat to their national security is particularly important becasue conflicts can develop and escalate between regional rivals in conflict situations. Indeed, there is a need to incorporate the context as a factor along with the perceptual and conceptual factors in the analysis of complex issues such as cooperation and conflict in West Asia. International relations theorists have tried to illustrate cooperation and conflict based on the impact of ideas. Even though they accept that ideas are a bridge between actors and reality, two problems remain in understanding cooperation and conflict in this region. First, there is no precise criterion for identifying ideas and identities that are active in constructing cooperation and conflict. Second, there is some confusion in the meaning of ideas and their fluidity and how they work, and this problem has led to overgeneralization in their analyses. The overgeneralization, excessively vague and general statements have resulted in misunderstanding. The third category of constructivist studies (i.e., discourse analysis) considers cooperation and conflict between governments as constructing the discourse order of actors. Indeed, events, behaviors, practices and decisions can be understood in the context of discourses. Despite the limitations of discourse analysis, including the lack of consensus and even contradictory explanations of the causes of regional conflicts, there is a more clear basis for judging topics and their results because of the use of a more precise methodology. In general, language in the forms of metaphors, assimilations, attributions can be an explanatory factor. Moreover, discourse analysis as a method and theoretical framework could be inventive in topic selection, delineation and results. This type of research does not have a consistent position on actors, dominant policies, and levels of analysis, since it considers everything that happens in reality. Meaning of reality and interpretation of it is central to discourse analysis. Thus, it is clear that the three approaches reveal certain dimensions of the existing challenges in the region. However, we argue that neither realism nor liberalism can provide a comprehensive explanation of the potential impacts of regional challenges such as instability, climate change, demographic change, soci-economic risks of regional disparities and so forth. Most international relations scholars have had to fundamentally revise their theoretical perspectives and incorporate some elements of constructivism in their analysis especially for the studies of the post-Cold War period. As a result of the emerging changes in the international and regional security environment and the inadequacy of different theories, the scholars within all three approaches have turned to the incorporation of new factors (e.g., cognitive-perceptual factors, identity, norms, beliefs and ideas) in their analyses, but they have failed to fulfill all methodological requirements of robust explanations.

The evolution of human rights standards in today’s globalized world has given rise to the issue of women’s rights and gender equality. In today’s world where the role of women in social and economic life is increasing, the issue of gender equality is becoming increasingly important. One of the most important steps taken by the Soviet government was to carry out fundamental reforms to improve the social status of women. An action that began in 1918 but in practice failed to improve the situation of women. The revolutionary government succeeded in increasing women’s employment and participation in the national economy but failed to achieve women’s equality. In the post-Soviet period, the situation of women, in general, did not change. In this article, we discuss the socio-political empowerment of women in the South Caucasus. After reviewing the status of women in the Soviet Union, we will look at the post-Soviet period and the position of women in the region in the political, cultural, economic, educational, and health dimensions within the conceptual framework of empowerment of women. The main question is what is the situation of women in the South Caucasus today? The findings of this study show that the situation of women in this region in terms of political, social, cultural, educational, and health rights is close to international standards but has not been fully realized.In the post-Soviet period, in most of the newly independent states in the Caucasus, there is little evidence of an improvement in the status of women, but in some areas, the status of women has deteriorated since the Soviet era. In this article, we examine the situation of women in the Soviet Union in 1917-1991 and the post-Soviet period in 1991-1999 in Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. We first look at the situation of women in the Soviet Union in general and then at the situation of women in the three newly independent countries in terms of political, cultural, economic, educational, and health criteria. The question of this research is what is the situation of women in the South Caucasus today? One of the theoretical topics that are widely considered and used today is the issue of women’s empowerment. The situation of women in the South Caucasus is examined in this article in the context of this discussion. Empowering women strengthens their social, economic, cultural, and political status. When women have income and financial security, they gain power and self-confidence. They create accessible economic growth by creating new jobs as well as expanding the talents and human resources available in a country. Employed women are the new drivers of sustainable growth in developing countries. The most important challenges for women’s empowerment are; Increasing access and control of resources, equal property rights, increasing political participation. This concept of women’s empowerment is rooted in the human empowerment approach, where individuals can make decisions about their area of function, where they can feel like a valuable part. We now turn to the situation of women in the South Caucasus, taking into account the various aspects of empowerment mentioned above.In sum, the measures taken by the Soviet government were to ensure the real equality of women with men in society, in cultural life, and production. Social development in the Soviet Union aimed at building a classless society by increasing interest in the needs of every human being was concerned with the problems of personal well-being and cultural development. The protection of women, as a prominent factor in the Soviet government’s general social policy, was designed to integrate them into the socialist system, but that government failed to ensure gender equality. What happened in practice was the emphasis on using the productive labor force of women and raising the birth rate in the service of the increasing population for industrial development and strengthening the Soviet military. Gender equality and the promotion of a decent attitude towards women were not among the priorities of the Soviet political elite, as other goals such as political survival and rapid industrialization took precedence. Eventually, Gorbachev’s reform plans - the last attempt at the relative success of the Soviet system - failed. Women faced structural discrimination during the Soviet era. In the post-Soviet period, the transition from a totalitarian government to a democratic and free-market government worsened the situation of women in the South Caucasus. Today, there is no national policy to address the situation of women. The government has not attempted to change this situation because it sees gender equality as an issue that was addressed during the Soviet era. Lack of effective mechanisms to ensure the proper implementation of laws leads to discrimination against women in all areas. Although men and women are equal in the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia, there are no strong mechanisms for achieving this in the daily life of Armenian society. Women in the South Caucasus have little activity in the economy or politics. Women’s participation in politics is limited due to social and economic pressures including childcare, lack of financial resources, opportunities, and capacities. Traditionally, women have preferred social work to politics. In both countries there is a traditional view of the presence of women in society; A view that wants more women at home and away from social, cultural, and political activities. In general, in the post-Soviet period in the countries of the South Caucasus, to date, there is little evidence of the development of democracy and the improvement of the status of women, but in some areas, such as employment, the situation of women has worsened since the Soviet era. Improving the status of women requires political will, financial resources, a change in attitudes toward the status of women in society, a strong civil society, active political parties, and public awareness. This path has not yet been implemented in the south Caucasus, despite minor constitutional changes.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was established in 1996 at the initiative of China to solve border problems of five neighboring countries, and today, after 23 years of its creation, has become a major regional agreement. With 20 percent of the world’s oil and 50 percent of the world’s gas reserves, it has the potential to become one of the world’s largest international economic and energy hubs in the coming decades, managing and controlling much of the world’s energy. A study of statistical data from the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization shows that its members have the potential to become one of the world’s largest international economic, commercial, foreign, energy and military investment hubs soon. Extensive geographical Territory, too many populations, vast energy resources, possessions of nuclear weapons, strong armed forces, having veto power in the United Nations Security Council, and other factors give the organization great economic, political, and military potentials. It has both the largest gas producers and the largest consumer members, so it is the mainstay of future competition for energy resources management. After reviewing the past developments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, this paper examines the organization’s capabilities in terms of economic and energy security and shows how this limited regional agreement has become a huge regional cooperation organization. The article hypothesizes that despite its great potentials, this organization will not become a global economic and strategic hub. In this article, we review the energy transmission routes in the Shanghai Space Agency, the regional conflicts that threaten the security of these routes, as well as the organization's two-decade developments, and review the goals and policies of China and Russia. The study found that geographically, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is one of the largest agreements ever made, with a large portion of the world’s population, energy resources and the world economic market. We also reviewed the evolution of the organization’s goals, ranging from resolving border disputes between China and Russia to economic cooperation and securing energy transmission lines. Taken together, these factors suggest that the organization has the potential to become the world's largest energy, economic and strategic hub. But after about a quarter of a century, the Shanghai Organization has not achieved such a position. The reason must be found in two important political and economic factors. Economically, the condition for the success of a regional pact is that the economies of the member states must complement each other in some way and that the economic prosperity and needs of these countries must be met within the organization itself. This is not the case with the Shanghai Treaty. In this globalized world, for example, China’s economy is more tied to the huge US market than to its allies in Shanghai cooperation organization. On the other hand, Russia’s great power in exporting energy resources and its income depends on its European customers rather than China. Politically, unlike EU member states that have a liberal democratic system and a common ideology, members of the Shanghai Organization have a different worldview and different governmental and ideological systems. The prerequisite of globalization in this age imposes a special international cooperation on countries that are not necessarily in line with the requirements of a regional treaty. For this reason, although the goals of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization have changed and expanded over the past twenty years, it seems unlikely that it will become a major player in the world scene.

A century after independence, Afghanistan’s independence in formulating and implementing its foreign policy is a topic of debate. Ever since its independence in 1919, the country has been directly influenced by great power rivalries and geopolitical and security dynamics in the region. This paper examines the effects of geopolitical developments in the region on Afghanistan’s foreign policy. Four periods can be distinguished in Afghanistan’s foreign policy in the 20th century, each period shaped by the necessities of changing region’s geopolitics, vis-à-vis great powers, as viewed by Afghan policymakers. The first was during the reign of the kings - from king Amanulah khan in 1919 to Mohammed Zahir Shah in 1973. The second period involved republican regimes, the presidency of Mohammed Daoud Khan 1973- 1978. The third period was the time when the communist regime was in power, from Nur Muhammad Taraki in 1978 to Mohammad Najibullah in 1992. Finally, it was the 1990s civil war and the rise of the Taliban. Afghanistan geopolitical region in the twentieth century changed in three phases. The first stage was between the two world wars when geopolitics was in transition; Russia, Great Britain and Germany were competing in the region. After the Second World War till 1991, the geopolitics of region was influenced by the balance of power between the Soviet Union and the United States. After the collapse of Soviet Union, once again, there was a transformation in the region’s geopolitics. Balancing and bandwagoning were two main strategies of Afghanistan foreign policy. Saul B. Cohen’s theory of the global system is used as the theoretical framework in this study. As a quasi-independent state, Afghanistan has been an interesting case for study in the geopolitics of the region, both during the stability and transitional periods. Throughout these times, Afghanistan foreign policy has tended to be neutral, adopting a balanced strategy in its relations with great powers which were present in the region. Whenever there was a deviation from this strategy, coup d’etats, upheavals, or foreign occupation have followed. In the aftermath of the September 11th attack, as George Bush’s so-called “New World Order” emerged, Kabul’s alignment with the United States increased, indicating the influence of the prominent position of the United States in the geopolitics of the region. In this article each period will be studied and observed separately in two cases; geopolitics of the region and Afghanistan foreign policy. 
The research is organized in three sections. The first section is statement of the problem, reviewing the existing literature and related concepts. The theoretical framework is organized in two parts. In the second section, the focus of the research is on the development of Afghanistan foreign policy and geopolitics of the region. The last part includes examination of Afghanistan foreign policy in twentieth century in light of geopolitical developments of the region.

The mugger crocodile is one of the most vulnerable species in the recent IUCN Red list classification. Most of the populations of the species are in decline and extirpation due to the threats caused by human activities. Nowadays, species distribution modeling plays an essential role in their conservational biology and ecological studies. However, considering the lack of such data on the mugger crocodile in Iran, this study was conducted to evaluate the suitability of the crocodile habitats in the country. Material and The watersheds of the Sarbaz and Kaju rivers in the Makran area are the westernmost part of the distribution range of the mugger crocodile, located in the southern part of Sistan and Baluchestan Province. Modeling the suitability of the crocodile habitats in this area was conducted using maximum entropy. The environmental variables of elevation, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), temperature, rainfall, and the distance from urban and rural settlements‎, roads, and rivers were included in the study. To eliminate high correlation variables (<0.70), Pearson correlation test was used. By using Moran’s I, the lack of spatial autocorrelation between the presence data of the species was assured. Sensitivity and evaluation of the relative importance of each variable were done by the percent contribution and permutation importance of each variable. Also, the response curves of the variables and the jackknife test were calculated. Maximum training sensitivity plus specificity (MTSS) and equal training sensitivity and specificity (ETSS) were used as thresholds to classify the suitable regions. The amount of AUC was more than 0.8, indicating excellent ‎‎performance of the model. Based on the percent of contribution and permutation ‎importance of each variable and the results of the jackknife test, ‎the distance from the rivers, temperature and elevation were the most important variables. The threshold values of ETSS and MTSS were 0.52 and 0.18, respectively. According to the thresholds, the suitability of the habitat was classified into two suitable and unsuitable classes with an area of 312 and 1629 km2, respectively. Comparison of the thresholds in classification showed that ETSS is more accurate. Considering that the major part of the suitable habitats is located outside of the Gandou Protected Area, revision of the borders of the protected area is proposed as a suggestion for management for the conservation of this species. The study of the effect of dams on the crocodile habitat suitability in the area showed that dams increased the habitat suitability, but their negative impacts, like the loss of nesting sites, should be noted. Also, the fragmentation of the suitable habitats was obvious in the study, and considering the migration behavior of the species, corridors should also be included in conservation plans. Distance from the river, as the main variable determining the suitability of the mugger crocodile habitat, is affected by climatic fluctuations and the water amount. Conflicts between the crocodiles and local people for resources (water and food) as well as the immigration of crocodiles between separate habitat patches would be more severe in the warm seasons and drought situations. Therefore, in addition to revising the area of the protected area and conservation of the habitats, increasing species monitoring, public education and participation of local communities in the conservation actions would be essential.

The main goals of this research are predicting the suitable habitat distribution, identifying habitat selection of brown bear and the main effective factors in Central Alborz Protected Area on spring and summer when they have yearling cubs. Identifying core areas, as source populations, have a key role to conserve of the species. The results are showed as a predicted map of suitable habitat patches distribution and priority of influence factors, according to the species fundamental niche. The required data are a set of species occurrence coordinates (presence points) according to the field observations and study areas’ environmental parameters layers. In this study we used Maximum Entropy Model for habitat modeling in central Alborz protected area. The presence data were gather from field surveys. The AUC values is 0.89 indicating good performance of the model. Jackknife graph showed that annual precipitation is the most effective parameter and vegetation is the most individual parameter. The predicted habitat of species showed a seasonal pattern of distribution. This results can be used to manage and conserve species in suitable habitats according to the species response to the environmental factors.

Alborz province with area about 5833 km2 located in west of Tehran province. In a long term study of the lizards in this province which lasted 2 years (2015-2016), 13 species of lizards, Paralaudakia caucasia, Trapelus agilis, Phrynocephalus persicus, Darevskia defilippi, Lacerta strigata, Eremias persica, Eremias fasciata, Eremias papenfussi, Ophisops elegans, Mesalina watsonana, Bunopus crassicaudus, Ablepharus bivittatus and Eumeces schneideri, belonging to four families, were collected, recognized and reported from the area. We also built 13 distribution maps for lizards of the Alborz province. We recorded two new distribution records for lizards of Iran in the area, we found an isolated population of Lacerta strigata in the north of the province which extends altitudinal distribution of the species more than 900 m in Iran. We also found an isolated population of Eremias faciata in south of the province, this record is the westernmost record for this species in Iran and extends the known distributional range of the species about 200 km westward.

In order to reach sound herbivore management, understanding of vegetation associations with herbivores, specifically where the populations of the species of interest are depleting is crucial. Hence, in this investigation, effort was made aiming to determine the current habitat status of roe deer species (Capreolus capreolus) for conservation purposes. During 2012 and 2013 in three distinct seasons, presence and absence of roe deer sign data were recorded on random transect lines. Moreover, vegetation parameters including: density, canopy cover of oak trees, Importance Value, diameter breast height (DBH) of the oak trees, and the edible plant species in Bozin and Markheil Protected Area were measured. Vegetation analysis was carried out using T-Square and plot sampling techniques. Data was modeled by performing Generalized Linear Model (GLM) approach and the best candidate model was chosen based on the least value of the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). Additionally, a chi-square equivalent assumption was tested to compare the differentiation rates of roe deer presence between the seasons. From the generated models, the presence of roe deer demonstrated a strong correlation with canopy cover and DBH, but no significant correlation appeared for the other factors. At the same time, 27 edible plant species were identified using pellet group analysis. Finally, the density of oak trees and the composition of understory scrubs may potentially influence the population dynamic of roe deer in the area. Further the community based research survey and conservation measures need to be accomplished for enhancing the viability of this overlooked species.

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union، the newly formed independent states believed that the root of their economic problems lay in the communist economic policies and leaned towards free market economic system. The movement of such nations during the economic transition period has a close relationship with globalization. Globalization itself has close ties with players in the international economic arena. Countries that have the highest potential for attracting these players can make the most profit during this process. In this essay، we examine the indexes of foreign direct investment، foreign trade، labour'' remittance، social development in Kazakhstan. By studying Kazakhstan Qualitative and quantitative statistics، we concluded that Kazakhstan was more successful in attaining the indexes of globalization and these indexes had greater effect in the social development of the said country than other countries in Central Asia. Kazakhstan، by having greater economic freedom has experiences social-economical development

Understanding American NGOs and their role in the U.S. foreign policy requires the study of their nature and activities. The historical role of foreign assistance in promoting U.S. foreign policy goals, on the one hand, and the influence of activities and programs of American voluntary agencies in the form of foreign aid on the other hand, have made inevitable that a link established between U.S. foreign policy and American voluntary agencies. For this reason, since the World War II, these agencies have played an important role in the U.S. efforts in international development. Therefore, these agencies have been a function of U.S. policies and undergone many ups and downs. In practice, these agencies implement a job requested by the U.S. government as a part of its foreign policy. This article, which covers the beginning of the World War II to the end of the second George Bush presidency, tries to understand the link between American NGOs and the U.S. foreign policy. The findings of the research show that whenever the public budget has increased, these agencies have become more dependent on the government and thus, they have become more coordinated with the U.S. foreign policy. Also, it was shown that during the activities of these agencies, lasting about 70 years, whenever the government needed to further its policies through foreign aid, it allocated significant budget to these agencies. This has affected the performance of these agencies reflected in consistency between agencies and government.

Since the advent of Islam in Central Asia، several types of empires ruled on the region; the Arabs Empire (Umayyads and Abbasids)، the Ghaznavid، the Seljuks، the Mongols، the Tatars، and the Russians. The Abbasids actual power did not last more than a century and a half and gradually independent states emerged at the eastern parts of the empire. The role of caliphate system was then limited and gave legitimacy to those states. In this article، the governance in two types of these empires has been compared. This research is based on primary sources، Persian classical texts، as well as researches on the mentioned dynasties. This article addresses the question: “what are the most important distinctions between the two empires?” Access of the Abbasids، Ghaznavids، and Seljuks to power، their administrative systems and militaries have been examined and compared. Three differences among their administrations، i. e.، the degree of concentration in the empire، military force، and the plurality of the ministries، have been examined in the study.

After the collapse of Soviet Union and the end of Cold War، during the 1990s، there were different periods of peaceful and strained relations between the United States and the Russian Federation. George Bush’s coming to power in U. S. and Vladimir Putin’s in Russia in 2000 marked a new era in U. S. -Soviet relations. This era started peacefully and after 11 September، Putin’s support for the US increased. He also continued his support for America’s war in Afghanistan. But، as USA considered Russia’s regime oppressive and non-democratic، U. S. -Russia relations became strained. Tensions heightened by later events and culminated during Russia-Ossetia war in 2008. In fact، Washington-Moscow relations from 2000 to 2008 slowly deteriorated. This article suggests that one major reason behind the increased tensions between the two countries was Russia’s resurgence on the international scene. It provided Russia an opportunity to react more forcefully against the US’s unilateral policies. This، in turn، induced America’s response to Russia’s actions، resulting in a period of tensions in U. S-Russia relations.

What paved the way for the establishment of the foreign policy of the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran? This paper seeks to analyze the phenomenon of the construction of the enemy image in the diplomatic history of Iran from 1798 to 1921 and assess its historical roots as it can be useful for the understanding of the attitudes of Iranian policy makers towards the West. The authors’ proposal is to explain the construction of enemy image in a historical context in the cognitive structure of Iranian political leaders towards the great powers in the 20th century until the advent of the Islamic Revolution in February 1979. In doing so, the authors have proposed the following hypothesis: With the continuation of Iran’s diplomatic relations with Western powers (Great Britain and Russia) under the Qajar dynasty in 1798, a process took shape which gradually led to the construction of an enemy image in the cognitive structure of future Iranian statesmen in the Pahlavi era, underpinning their political relationships with contemporary powers. The authors’ findings include the notion that the historical process in question under the Qajar Dynasty involved a combination of military domination, political influence and economic exploitation by the aforementioned powers.

In almost all the literature that examines the economic and political situation in Central Asian countries and the former soviet nations as a whole, Turkmenistan is referred to as a country with a closed economic and political system. In the economic aspect, this system is known with the government’s tight control on the various economic sectors, a very weak private sector and a totally planned and single-product economy. During Safarmurat Niyazov’s reign, all of these features were clearly visible in the Turkmen economy; but since Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov’s coming to power in 2007, some signs of change appeared in this process. However, what is at the stake is the extent to which the practice of these new policies and changes has been successful at providing a basis for Turkmenistan’s transition to another level and reaching a new sustainable principle and foundation. In the economic aspect - which is the main focus of this article - the issue could be raised as to what extent Berdymuhammedov’s reformist acts have been successful in moving Turkmenistan toward economic development? On this basis, by adopting the “modern liberal” approach as the basis of the analysis, this article tries to answer the question that whether Turkmenistan’s economic reforms in the Berdymuhammedov era have resulted in the economic development of the country. This article claims that although many of Berdymuhammedov’s acts could be classified under the notion of “economic reforms”, regarding the retain of government’s top status in the economy, the lack of infrastructural reforms and the structural and institutional problems in Turkmenistan, this is not possible to speak about economic development in this country.

After decades of neglecting the role of culture in international relations, in recent years again attention has been paid to this factor. Nevertheless, once the discussion about the role and place of culture in international relations and politics arises there are different and at time misleading interpretation about the concept. The aim of the present article is to identify the links between culture and international relations. For this reason the article examines different texts which have focused on the subjects of culture and international relations. The study shows that although the scope of culture includes cultural policy priorities in foreign policy and thus cultural relations of nations, it is far from being limited to that. The impact of culture on foreign policy decision making, the role of cultural differences, as in looking into international system, in making misunderstandings, disputes and conflicts cover some other aspects of the relevancy. Finally the classification comes to an end by reviewing Ned Lebow’s cultural theory of international relations.

The Russian Federation supplies an important part of EU’s energy needs. In recent years, EU has shown a special interest in the Caspian region’s energy; the signing of NABOCO Pipeline protocol on July 13, 2009 is a sign of this interest. What are the reasons for EU’s interest in the Caspian region’s energy? This paper proposes that the increasing energy needs in Europe, limited domestic resources, dependence on the Russian federation, and EU’s growing doubts over Russia as a provider of stable energy have contributed to this new energy policy. The paper is based on official statistics and those of specialized energy institutions, as well as analysis of economic and political developments in Europe and the Caspian region.

Sectarian extremism is one of the growing, destiner and determining phenomena in our world today. It has had an increasing role in shaping national, regional and international events and today’s interpretation and analysis of the political, security, social and economical events without consideration of these events and it’s various dimensions would be helplessly imperfect and inadequate. Sectarian extremism in Pakistan emerged in the late 1970s, grew in the 1980s, and continued in the 1990s. Understanding the cause and spread of sectarian extremism in Pakistan has a significant importance in haltering this phenomenon. Whereas many of the accomplished studies have focused on textual-discursive aspects, or subnational and national factors, this article combines the national and regional levels of analysis to study the effects of sectarian extremism in Pakistan in the time interval of 1979 to 2001. First, we define sectarian extremism, and introduce Pakistani religious sects and relevant approaches in its study. We, then, examine the effects of Islamization program in Pakistan, the Islamic revolution of Iran, the Afghan jihadi movement in the 1980s, the Kashmiri struggle, and the rise of Taliban in Afghanistan in the 1990s on sectarian extremism in Pakistan. Our argument is that national and regional factors are the main causes of sectarian extremism in Pakistan.

Saudi Arabia is one of the most important states in the Middle East which was constructed on an identity basis inspired, to a great extent, by Wahhabi sect. Wahabbism has played an important role in the process of the evaluation and continuation of political life in this country, and is the most important source of political legitimacy of the regime. This article poses the question that whether this factor (identity) has an impact on Saudi Arabia's foreign policy. The hypothesis is that the diplomacy of Saudi Arabia since its establishment has been based on struggling against threat and the nature and source of threats have determined Saudi's foreign policy towards other countries while the element of identity has been widely neglected by the Saudi officials. This article has been written based on a genealogical (historical-analytical) approach and its most important scientific finding is that Saudi Arabia's foreign policy is most affected by its security concerns and considerations.

Wild boar is distributed throughout Iran except highly arid areas. In recent years, however, population size of wild boar has increased primarily because of reduction in population size of natural predators such as leopard. Conversely, changes in land-use practices and increase in foraging of livestock in natural habitats has led to reduction of food resources and consequently, has forced the species to graze on plants, grown in agricultural fields. This has resulted in conflicts between conservation of wild boar and preservation of interest of local people. In this research, ecological niche factor analysis was used to develop habitat suitability model for wild boar in eastern Alamut hunting prohibited area and to determine factors, in particular, anthropogenic factors affecting species distribution. Results indicated that wild boar showed a tendency of moving towards villages, agricultural fields, river banks and areas of lower altitude. Forty villages were located inside or near the suitable habitat, as predicted by the model, of which 27% consisted of agricultural fields. This suggested a high conflict between wild boar habitats and interest of local people. To improve conservation status of eastern Alamut, it is important to reduce the conflict between wild boar and local population through management plans.

Brown bear (Ursus arctos) is one of the most important carnivores in Iran. However, information on its habitat associations is scared. Based on Ecological Niche Factor Analysis (ENFA) method, a summer habitat suitability model was developed for this species in the southern part of Alborz Protected Area. Our results showed that, brown bears prefer higher altitudes and northern aspects in their potential habitat. Water resources and presence of domestic animals found to be important predictors for bears occurrence while they avoid rocky terrains. Habitat suitability map illustrates those most favorite parts, located in northern parts of the protected area, including around 10% of total habitat.

Islamic Republic of Iran enjoys close and amicable relations with small and Christian Republic of Armenia. On the contrary, the ties between Iran and seemingly significant Shia Republic of Azerbaijan are frayed. While Tehran’s close relationship with Yerevan is widely attributed to geographical and economic isolation of Armenia, Iran-Azerbaijan unfriendly relations have stemmed from suspicion and lack of trust. From a historical perspective, Iran Russia special relations are based on rivalry between Russia and Western powers, rather than real and common interests between these two neighbors. Russia that still has a significant influence on the south Caucasus region tries to limit Iran ’s economic influence in Armenia and Georgia. Moreover, Armenia’s efforts to enhance its foreign relations with the West and Russia signal that Tehran may not rely on its long-term close ties with Yerevan.

The republic of Uzbekistan is the only country in Central Asia and the Caucasus that has pursued a changing approach in its foreign policy. Uzbekistan''s foreign policy has always oscillated between accompaniment and opposition towards both the US and Russia. This raises the question that what is the main reason of this lack of consistency in Uzbekistan''s foreign policy and what are the regional and international consequences? To answer this question، this article tries to study the reasons of this changing policy at both domestic and international levels of analysis in the framework of James Rosenau''s consistency theory. Accordingly، the article argues that Uzbekistan as economically undeveloped society and politically closed society as well as being a small power (in the international system)، two variables of personality (authoritarian character and approach of Islam Karimov) and international environment (differences in the Central Asia and the US-Russia rivalry) are more influential than other variables of role، government and society in shaping a changing foreign policy. Adopting this kind of foreign policy by Tashkent، may cause important consequences including undermining Uzbekistan''s prestige as a reliable ally، aggravating differences between Uzbekistan and Central Asia countries، weakening the Collective Security Treaty Organization، divergence in Shanghai Cooperation Organization and intensifying competition between China and Russia on the one hand and the US on the other hand in the Central Asia which in turn has played an important role in the unstable conditions in the Central Asia.

The American support for Isreal has been one of the main reasons for the creation and survival of the state of Israel. This paper looks at the “special relation” that exists between the United States and Israel. After a review of the continued support of successive American administrations of the state of Israel, the paper examines the various financial, military and free aid granted to Tel Aviv since the birth od the Zoinist state in 1948. The paper also shows that popular support for and public opinion in favor of Israel had remained strong since then.