نشریه مطالعات بین المللی
سال هفدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 66، پاییز 1399)

For various reasons, North Korea is known as a special country in the world. The North Korea's political and legal system is organized under the influence of the socialism, the Johce, and the revolutionary achievements of Kim Il Sung (the first leader). Juche means self-reliance and has a special emphasis on man and self-determination. Inspired by the ideas of North Korea's first leader and relying on this concept, Juche's doctrine consists of three components: independence in politics, self-sufficiency in the economy, and self-reliance in national defense. The main purpose of this research, by using a descriptive-analytical approach, is to follow the effects of this doctrine on the political structure and nature of this country. The results show that despite the positive effects of this doctrine on the liberation of the nation from Japanese colonialism and the lack of influence of foreigners in the country, maintaining the stability of society, has not been able to follow the path of its goals. The Kim family is trying to exploit the components of this doctrine, to exercise its authority and dominance over the nation and society and to practically turn the country's political system into a hereditary, undemocratic and anti-human rights system. In fact, with the abuse of the components of this school, an achievement other than backwardness, violation of fundamental human rights, lack of development, international militarism and isolation have not worked for the nation.

The main sources applicable to the International Court of Justice set forth in Article 38 of the Statute include treaties, custom and general legal principles and Subsidiary sources include judicial decisions and doctrine and fairness if agreed upon by the parties. Judicial decisions, as one of the sources of international law, can be applied by the Court in the issues raised. The practical issue is to explain precisely the status of the legal nature of judicial decisions in the jurisprudence of the Court. There are ambiguities about the role of judicial decisions among sources and especially in judicial procedure. This descriptive-analytical research seeks to find this role and position. The main question is whether the judicial decisions of the International Court of Justice are considered as an independent source of international law or not. The purpose of this study is to determine the function and status of judicial decisions in the jurisprudence of the Court. International Justice concluded that judicial decisions retain a minor role among the applicable sources in determining rights; In the justifiable causes of the verdict and the arguments of the parties, they have a justification function and in no way, like other sources, they are judged, but they are more useful in strengthening the meaning and logic of the issued verdicts.

The Republics of Georgia and Armenia have today attracted numerous regional and international actors and regained their extraordinary historical significance. Georgia and Armenia, once the backdrop of Russia and the Soviet Union, and which have long been the scene of conflict and rivalry between regional actors, have now become the scene of rivalry between the major powers, each seeking regional presence, influence and provide as many benefits as possible. In order to better understand the importance of this region for the great powers, especially the United States and Russia, and the tendencies of Georgia and Armenia towards each of these two powers, the goals of these two powers in the South Caucasus region are examined. Leading research raises the question of which Eastern and Western powers have Armenia and Georgia turned to since 2008? In fact, this research descriptively-analytically examines the hypothesis that Georgia and Armenia have incentives to cooperate with NATO. In the meantime, it seems that the Republic of Georgia sees the presence of NATO as a prelude to Europeanization, preferably receiving more financial aid, and as a result, it can be said that among the two trans-regional actors, the role of the United States seems more prominent than the others. The United States has regional interests in Georgia and Armenia.

With the onset of the political crisis in Syria, regional actors have adopted different orientations based on their interests in relation to this country. Saudi Arabia saw the Syrian crisis as an opportunity to improve its regional position. However, Iran's influential role in the Syrian crisis has increased Iran's regional power, which has raised concerns among Iran's regional rival, Saudi Arabia. The purpose of this study is to investigate the roots of the formation of tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the face of the Syrian crisis, using balance of power theory. The research findings show that the governments of Iran and Saudi Arabia are somehow involved in proxy war in the Syrian crisis and are seeking to increase their influence and reduce the influence of rivals so that the pursuit of interests in Syria for Saudi Arabia in changing the government of Bashar al-Assad and for Iran in maintaining it. This conflict of interest and rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, has created a zero-sum game that has prolonged the crisis in Syria, and increased the difference between the two countries.

Strategic culture is often used in relation to factors that are closely related to the “Way of War” of countries but some analysts believe that strategic culture covers a wider range of issues. At a time when many analysts are talking about a chasm in the influence of factors of Iran’s strategic culture during the Islamic Republic, it is possible to see continuity too. The question is how Iran's strategic culture has influenced the construction of regional policy during the Islamic Republic? The final conclusion of discussion, by adopting a discourse and historical-comparative method and applying the theory of discourse analysis and constructivism, is that the discourse of the Islamic Republic led to a change in the Nodal Point of the ruling discourse in Iran, but at the same time, the effect of reproducing strategic culture factors along with three influential macro variables, it has led to the reproduction of the same policies towards countries and the regional system. From this perspective, the findings of this study indicate that a large number of Islamic Republic’s Regional Policies, rather than related to the type of the government in Iran, are influenced by the reproduction of factors of strategic culture like “The experience of being an empire”, “Historical loneliness”, “Being surrounded by enemies” and factors such these. In other words, their foundation is the reproduction of Iran's strategic culture but how they are used, have a close relationship with the Nodal Point of the ruling Discourse.

Looking at recent developments in international affairs and increasing the role of the media in streamlining the foreign policy cycle, a new arena has emerged in foreign policy which is called media diplomacy, which in principle influences the role of the media in world public opinion and policy change. The impact of global television on resolving political issues and using them as a tool to guide public opinion and put pressure on those involved in foreign policy (as a tool of soft warfare) prompted the author to highlight the effectiveness of international communication in information exchange and international political propaganda; provide a new reading of soft warfare at the level of international relations. Some thinkers believe that in today's turbulent world, global broadcasting by international television networks is essential. Today, global television networks, with the coverage of world news and international events, attract public opinion to the events they are interested in and induce their analysis and interpretation. According to the author, the international flow of information is such that technocrat countries gathering information and communication by creating myths, commercial and political propaganda, conveys their messages to many audiences at the national and international levels, and conveys the necessary political, economic and cultural information in line with their political interests.

One of the most challenging issues in US political history has been the issue of blacks. An issue that from time to time is generally accompanied by the murder, arrest and torture of some of them. Despite slogans, bills, and laws in support of black Americans in the House of Commons, the plight of American blacks continues to show deep divisions between the white and black populations. Among US presidents, even the presence of people of color like Barack Obama could not untie the knot of broad black challenges. Finally, with the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House in 2016, black Americans openly reached the brink of complete political isolation and the most economic deprivation and maximum cultural and social challenges with the federal government. This article is an attempt to provide a reasoned answer to the question: What was the situation of black Americans like under Donald Trump? The authors' hypothesis suggests that from the beginning of Trump's presidency until the end of 2020, the deprivations, challenges and discrimination of blacks in this country have intensified. The findings of article by using social gap theory and interpretive method (research method) show the deep challenges of blacks in political, economic and security could pave the way for two major crises in the United States.

The ICRC is the most prominent international humanitarian rights actor in charge of the protection of human beings in armed violence, but the organization's performance is flawed for three reasons: Deviate human rights from duty descriptions, focus on the classic concept of war, and rely on the principle of confidentiality of information to ensure presence in critical areas; Such an approach is useless in preventing international crimes and ineffective in restoring the situation of victims and establishing transitional justice. ICRC is very cautious in achieving its goals and sometimes does not expose violations of the rule to international public opinion, although it tries hard to resolve the issue in the field, but the main question is whether it will be possible to fix the shortcomings without modifying the organizational instructions? This article is based on practical and library research methods, criticizing the performance of the organization with regard to the spirit of international human, humanitarian and criminal law documents to show the shortcomings and the need to change the attitude and performance of the organization towards evolving tools and goals of contemporary armed violence.