محمد باقر حشمت زاده

One of the dimensions of the relative decline of the United States is evaluated in the emergence light of new economic powers as serious competitors of this country in the present era. The economic hegemony of the United States, after years of crisis in the international political economy, has been seriously challenged by emerging economies in recent years, and this has greatly affected America's ability to influence international affairs. In the meantime, China, as the most populous country in the world, has become a serious competitor for the position of the United States in the world power hierarchy, due to its huge political and economic capacities and recently its growing military capacity. Therefore, the question which is raised is as mentioned below;
 what are the strategic consequences of the rise of China for the hegemony of the United States? The research hypothesizes that China's growth in relative power on the one hand has led to an increase in its willingness to play an extensive role in the international system, and on the other hand, due to the decline of America's relative and its reluctance to cede part of its extensive role, it has provided serious challenges for the hegemonic leadership of this country in the international arena. Using the analytical descriptive method and within the framework of the power cycle theory, this article examines the effects and consequences of the rise of China on the hegemony of the United States and the international system and discusses the different challenges between the two countries in different areas and their prospects.

This study investigates the factors affecting the financial costs of the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections and its consequences on the democratic process. In this regard, the financial expenses of the candidates of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of the tenth election of Rasht city were examined. The research method was the survey, and two questionnaires and semi-in-depth interviews were used. The study's statistical population was all citizens over the age of 20 living in Rasht, whose number is approximately equal to 625,500 people. Cochran's formula was used to estimate the sample size, and the sample size was 384 people. The results showed that the most important factors influencing the methods of financing parliamentary elections in Iran are voters 'political knowledge, citizen's relationship with the representative, citizens' attitudes toward the type of electoral system, number, and variety of sponsors and their motives, type of political system and status. Economic community. Almost 95% of the respondents emphasized that the short-term interests of the citizens, especially their sponsors, prevail over other matters and that there is a kind of institutionalized supportive relationship. The findings also suggest that current laws should be reviewed, and the experiences of other countries should be used to reduce the adverse consequences of financing and spending political money.

The present article seeks to answer the fundamental question of what is the place of the tools of public diplomacy and soft power in formulating the strategy of Iran and Turkey towards Syria and its developments? The hypothesis to answer this question is that Iran has always maintained the tools of public diplomacy based on soft power in its strategy towards Syria; But from 1999 to 2011, Turkey maintained its soft diplomacy based on soft power towards Syria, but with the beginning of the Syrian developments, Syria's strategy gradually turned to a hard power strategy. Because Turkey, according to the doctrine of Ottomanism, sought to expand its strategic depth in the region, and the developments in Syria encouraged Turkey to achieve this goal by establishing the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria and expanding the Brotherhood axis. Therefore, Turkey faced the Assad government in the developments in Syria, and it was natural that the foreign policy strategy of this country would change from soft power to hard power. But Iran seeks to maintain its position in the region and Syria, so it has always expressed its support for the Syrian government and people, and public diplomacy has continued in Iran's strategy towards Syria. Therefore, the developments in Syria have also had a negative impact on Iran-Turkey relations. In this article, the descriptive-analytical method is used to collect data from library and documentary sources and in order to refine and systematize the research findings, the concept of public diplomacy is used.

Despite great progress in theorizing on the causes of war during the second half of the 20th century, our understanding of international conflicts remains at an elementary level. However, Power Cycle Theory, compared to other related approaches, has raised hopes for a clear and methodical causal explanation. This theory puts decision-making about wars in the context of the rise and decline of the relative power of states and tests the effect of long-term nonlinear changes or critical points in the relative power of a state on its tendency toward large-scale wars experimentally. The question is whether there is a significant correlation between the occurrence of these critical points on the power cycle and the occurrence of war between the great powers? The research hypothesis is that the probability of a major war is higher in critical periods than it is otherwise, because of sudden shock caused by the changes in the balance of power and the role and dominance of uncertainty, as well as misunderstanding and miscalculation among the statesmen. In this study, the statement will be tested. The relative capabilities of the great powers have been assessed using the updated data from the “Correlates of War Project” (COW) during the interval 1816-2012. Moreover, the timing of critical points on each countries power cycle is compared with the occurrence of war between the major powers. The findings support the hypothesis that war is more likely to occur during critical periods than it is during normal periods.

The economic growth of Asia Pacific region since the late years of twentieth century, has led to a shift in distribution of geostrategic power in the world, and in economic dynamics from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. In the meantime, the rise of China and its increasing power in various areas has become one of the most important phenomena of international politics in recent decades, and has created various debates on its effects on the post-Cold War international order. One of the theoretical approaches that seems to provide a good understanding of this topic is power cycle theory. In the framework of this approach, the question is now how can the future trend of China's rise in the power cycle and its consequences on international order and stability be evaluated? The research hypothesis is that China's growth rate in relative power, as it enters the first inflection point in the power cycle, will soon experience a declining trend in the face of systemic constraints, and by creating a huge shock to its expectations for future security and role, it will potentially challenge the existing world order. Emphasizing the importance of the bilateral relations between China and US in terms of the scope of its effects on international system, this paper will investigate the indicators, and challenges of China's uprising in different domains as well as the factors affecting the stability of the international order, and its future prospects.

The present study analyzes the regional policies of Saudi Arabia from years 2003 to 2017 in confrontation and encounter with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Saudi Arabia, which was known as a conservative country and protective of existing status in the region until 2003, changes were made in their regional policies after this period and they adopted offensive and active politics and started to confront and encounter with the Islamic Republic of Iran at an increasing rate up to now. Oil that has always been Saudi Arabia’s main income plays a key role in consolidating the foundations of this country's economy and providing the necessary conditions and facilities to pursue foreign policy strategies and goals by Riyadh. For this reason, Saudi policies in the region versus Iran, in three periods of (2003-2006), (2006-2011) and (2011-2016), will be analyzed. According to this research, the main question is why Saudi’s regional policy from 2003 to now has been increasing at an alarming rate? To answer this question, first we analyze and assess Saudi Arabia’s offensive policies after 2003 and Saddam's fall until 2017. This study is written with an offensive realism theory in mind, using library and internet data and by the analytical descriptive method

Expectation has an important role in oil price fluctuation and it seems which one of the important factors is for changing supply behaviour however oil price changes. Identification of mentioned expectation could help us for partly and continuously control the oil market situation.one of the important factor that could have effects on future oil price expectation is volume of current reserve oil and specifically OPEC members reserves. For OPEC members not only high reserve oil is prestige but also give them chance for having more OPEC production share however after applying market sharing system based on production for OPEC members in early 1980s,volume of reserve oil considered as a main benchmark and after that started increase reserve oil competition among OPEC members. In this paper tried study transition s of Iran’s oil reserves and its effectiveness on the oil producer’s countries’ information and also its accuracy. According to some statement reserve oil extra announcement could create chaos in oil market. Based on this study there is no any relation between increasing of oil reserves and oil production changes in Iran as one of the OPEC member's country and it seems extra reserve oil announcement more than reality is a hidden competition among members for getting more credit.

Good Governnaace Theory has attracted the attention of many communities since 1990s as the favorable development and management pattern. Despite the introduction of this theory in Iran and the correspondence of its main indices with Iranian belief and legal bases, rarely a serious movement has emerged to fulfil good governance in Iran. Though this matter is related to politics, there are some obstacles to execute it in the state and political system. Through reviewing previous studies with documentary method, this article shows that the main challenge of good governance in Iran is that it deals with applicable political culture, so that for each good governance index there are political culture indices that prevents the fulfilment of those indices. For removing these obstacles, more attention should be paid to political culture and practical measuresshould be taken with the focus on the role of thestate to reform political culture.

Expectations play a key role in crude oil price fluctuations. It seems it is the prime effect on the diversified supply behaviours and eventually the actual oil price alterations.
Therefore, having studied the main influences on the expectations, the nature of the oil market and its potentials can be clearly and consistently deduced.
One of the significant essentials with a high impact on the prospective oil price expectations is the current oil reserves volume, specifically for the OPEC members, and the very limited improved oil reserves volume.
The vital importance of the oil reserves volume for the OPEC members, in addition to the prestige, is to obtain a larger share of the total OPEC oil supply. In the early 1980s, while establishing the system of allocating national supply quotas for OPEC members, the “reserve volume” was defined among the main criteria. Hence the start of a competitive behaviour for exceeding reserve volume reports among the members.
This paper tries to investigate the actual impact of this non-real information on the major strategies and policies of OPEC.
Based on this research, there is no considerable correlation between the reserves volume increase and crude oil supply fluctuations for most of the OPEC countries. Accordingly, the exaggerated oil reserve reports are the consequences of a hidden competition among members to leverage a better and higher position in the organization, and a larger share in the oil supply.

Correlation between sports and politics in modern history is clearly visible. Today, it is impossible to separate politics from sports and politics is connected with several indicators to sports. In the contemporary world, sports, government and politics are linked to each other. Today ,sports is presented as an important social factor. The role of sports in the social sciences, political science and international relations has been in deep scientific attention. This article is a descriptive-explanatory and tries to understand the social and political effects of sports. This article uses Gramsci's theory of hegemony and shows the role of sports in the building and consolidating national unity of government. This article shows the role of sports in nation building, social control, social integration. In this study we have used the method of data collection and electronic library. This article has a theoretical framework that can be used in the future studies of the relationship between sports and politics.

Nationalism and citizenship have been studied in recent years in the light of abstract sociopolitical contexts and they have affected each other in a way that nationalism will face serious problems unless citizenship is realized. Any attempts to define or explore the concept of nationalism will directly affect citizenship. If we try to provide a culture based definition، it will lead to a limited abstract version of the concept of citizenship. However، on the other hand، a politico-historical definition may extend the dimensions of nation-making processes and facilitate the democratic developments. The implementation of cultural nationalism policy in the first Pahlavi era is a good example of military confrontation with ethnic groups in an attempt to eliminate subcultures. The current study tries to analyze the relation between nationalism and citizenship in the light of aforementioned concepts.

The leaders of the Soviet Union adopted atheist and anti-religious policies toward Muslim nations during decades of ruling over Central Asia; the polices that posed a threat to the existence of Muslims. Following the outbreak of Second World War, the government of the Soviet Union was forced to revise its hostile policies toward Muslims and establish Muslim Religious Department also known as Muftiat Department to regulate religious life of the country’s Muslims. The article’s main question is “what approaches were adopted by religious scholars to counter the threat posed by the Soviet Union against survival of the Muslim Community?” The paper shows that this group of scholars introduced Islam and Socialism as two compatible schools of thought that could coexist despite their differences. The article’s main question is “what approaches were adopted by religious scholars to counter the threat posed by the Soviet Union against survival of the Muslim Community?” The paper shows that this group of scholars introduced Islam and Socialism as two compatible schools of thought that could coexist despite their differences.

Freedom and security are the two main desires of all societies. Therefore, providing security necessitates a powerful and centralized government. Such a powerful system needs to be monitored and reviewed; otherwise it will lead to despotism. Hence people will tend to have freedom and that will cause different social movements. It is important to remember that liberal societies need to have people who take responsibilities, are well-informed and shape an organized community. If these things do not happen, they will face chaos.In this article the author has masterminded a new model for analyzing the developments of contemporary political history of Iran based on freedom and security demands. This is named a “Pendular Model” which intends to answer this question: “What is the meaning of freedom and security? And how these phenomena have influenced the developments in the contemporary political history of Iran?”As an answer to this question, the author has come up with the hypothesis mentioned below and analyzes it with a descriptive and explanatory approach.The hypothesis: Freedom and security have the fundamental role in the development of contemporary political history and the Islamic Revolution of Iran and will influence the future of Iran.

This research, deals with examining the ideological representation of Iran in the language of some American news television channels.On the basis of presumptions of Cultural Studies, the discursive and ideological components behind these media texts and their impacts on “othering” of other discourses are serious matters,which should be seriously considered in examining media texts. Among existing media texts, news media have a unique position in representing the outside world. The examination of some samples of political documentaries about Iran in the prominent American news channels, shows that in these media, Iran and the political Islam is represented as the “other” for the West. Three theoretical traditions, namely Cultural Studies, Postcolonial Studies and Critical Discourse Analysis have been used in order to examine the hypothesis. In this sphere, the concepts of language, representation and ideology are at the heart of theoretical debates. The approach is microanalysis, and then it moves towards grand discourse analysis. Van Leeuwen’s Critical Discourse Analysis is used for analyzing the language of sampling texts.

Representatives of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela came together in September 1960 to find a way and prevent repeated decline in oil prices announced by big oil companies. The meeting gave birth to Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) some half a century ago. the organization was a political reaction to an economic stimulus because oil revenues had turned into the most important source of power and legitimacy for oil-rich countries. Representatives of member states make decisions about output ceiling of the organization and members’ quotas, thus determining price of a vital international commodity. Since consumption of oil and energy is a basic component of wealth generation and because wealth and economy are necessary conditions for power and security, there is a fundamental link connecting oil, wealth, power, security and politics. Considering its huge capacities in terms of energy reserves, production, exports, and surplus output capacity, OPEC has turned into one of the most effective organizations in international political economy during the past 50 years. This paper studies interaction between this organization and other political and international variables through an international political economic approach using a descriptive – explanatory method. Findings show that for OPEC decisions to have optimal effect, they should keep a wise distance form power and politics. The same findings also prove that optimal performance of the organization is a function of the distance between its decisions and power and politics. Therefore, assessment of opportunities and threats in the past half a century can provide good grounds for the formulation of efficient strategies to increase efficiency of OPEC in the next half a century.

During the last decades, the Persian Gulf region has been through many crises.As a result, main oil consumers such as the USA have tried to reduce theirdependence on the region due to security considerations. This has led to aproduction and export rate not consistent with the region’s sizeable oil reservoir.However, as oil consumption increases over time, the Persian Gulf reservoir willbecome a more important source meeting the world’s oil demand in the future. Thissituation creates important opportunities and challenges for the region. In this articlethree different scenarios are reviewed.

Human being possess the highest dignity among creatures. He is the main reason of episteme and cognition and the main subject of knowledge as well. Owning a heavenly spirit and an earthly body, human being is a two dimensional unique creature. As he/she becomes the subject of research and knowledge, the foundations of human sciences take shape; raising basic questions about man is the point of departure for this field. When these questions are answered with the help of certain axioms and substantiated assumptions and application of especial methods of research in human science, anthropological episteme are yielded. This knowledge is the most important knowledge after theology. To achieve this knowledge one should be acquainted with different sorts of information about all creatures. Since this field deals with human being and for the cause of making his life better and prosperous, it gains an extraordinary importance.Despite this substantial importance, this field has not found the due place in the society, compared to other sciences and disciplines. The root cause of this problem lies in a vicious circle of vulnerabilities and abnormalities of this field. The optimal strategy to uplift and advance the social science is to break this vicious circle. It seems that this fundamental weakness and the status of this discipline is the main reason behind its isolation. However, the theorists believe that the indifference of authorities to the productions of this field has resulted in its weakness and isolation.