فهرست مطالب

Journal of Iranian Political Studies
Volume:1 Issue: 1, Summer 2018

  • تاریخ انتشار: 1400/06/22
  • تعداد عناوین: 9
|
  • Seyed MohammadAli Taghavi Pages 1-2
  • Ali Abedi Renani Pages 3-14

    Alasdair MacIntyre’s Aristotelianism aims at the good of the agent, and is considered to give priority to the good over the right. Hence, this account of morality is taken as contrary to act-based deontology. In this paper, however, it is argued that MacIntyre’s distinction between the internal and external goods of practices places him close to deontology. This is because the rejected notion of happiness in Kant’s deontology fits MacIntyre’s notion of external goods, which, according to him, should not be our moral concern. If we accept practices as adequate contexts for the definition of some virtues such as justice, the resultant account of morality would approach a deontological one in the sense that the right is independent of its consequences. In this paper, MacIntyre’s Aristotelian distinction between internal and external goods are explained, and it is argued that the internal good of practices is conceptually close to deontological ethics.

    Keywords: Deontology, Teleology, Aristotle, Kant, MacIntyre
  • Hamid Hakim, Bahareh Eshragh* Pages 15-28

    Water crisis is considered in international politics as a multifaceted and complex phenomenon. Following events such as industrial development, population growth, climate change, global warming, etc., water and resources have been the focus of strategic debate more than ever before. This is particularly important in areas of water stress and hazardous areas of water scarcity and can be regarded as a serious factor in the relationship between states. Central Asia as one of the crisis-prone areas is no exception. The region is in a complex situation due to multiple historical, political, climatic and economic factors. Hence, tensions over water resources are likely to happen. The main question of this article is: what are the consequences of water crisis within the framework of Central Asian security relations? This research hypothesizes that reaching a consensus about water resources in the Central Asian is difficult, and water scarcity would lead to conflicts in region.

    Keywords: water crisis, Central Asia, cooperation, conflict
  • Hossein Nourani Pages 29-42

    Social media are now involved in many aspects of human life. People use social media to do business, find friends, have fun, and discuss social and political issues. As an important aspect of our lives, and just like many other topics, politics is widely discussed on social media. Politicians, activists, civilians, companies and terrorists have made politics a hot topic on social media. However, there is no consensus among researchers on how reliable social media data can be for political science research, and what would be the proper method of collecting and analyzing social media data. In this paper, various theoretical and empirical works concerning the relationship between social media data, specifically Twitter data, and politics are critically examinedto demonstrate how social media data affect politics and contribute to political research. The findings imply that social media data have significantly contributed to the field of political communication by offering inexpensive and easily-accessible information, empowering marginal social entities to participate in politics and internationalizing communication among political actors.

    Keywords: social media, Twitter data, political communication, online social networks
  • khalil Sardarnia, MohammadReza Chitsazian Pages 43-59

    The Middle East is the scene of intense regional and trans-regional competitions. The present study aims at investigating the possible scenarios regarding the future of Iran-Iraq relations. The most possible scenarios include cooperation, competition, and competition along with coordination. This study scrutinizes these scenarios by using historical evidence and focusing upon the geopolitical, political, economic, and identity-related variables. Although it is impossible to confidently prognosticate a scenario for the future relations of two countries, the signs of more cooperation and less tension in the relations of the two countries resulted from a variety of variables and reasons can be seen in the horizon. The most important indicators of possible competition include competition in the oil industry, political leadership, border disputes, regional and trans-regional activism, and environmental problems. On the other hand, the most significant indicators of cooperation encompass common security issues, convergence in the economic sphere, cultural and religious links, humanitarian aids and especially the perception of a common danger from Takfiri groups such as ISIL. Findings of the study indicate that the ‘competition along with cooperation’ scenario has the maximum likelihood of occurrence in the future of Iran-Iraq relations.

    Keywords: Iran, Iraq, possible scenarios, competition, cooperation
  • Seyed Ebrahim Sarparastsadat, Seyyed Ebrahim Sarparast Sadat, Morteza Dehqan Khalili Pages 61-76

    Developments in the Middle East have always affected political equations worldwide. With the beginning of the crisis in Syria in 2011, regional and international actors have taken different stances based on their interests. The actors are divided into two categories: opponents of the Bashar al-Assad’s regime including the United States, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Qatar and Turkey, and Bashar al-Assad’s allies including Russia and Iran. Following a realist approach to foreign policy, Russia has fully supported Bashar al-Assad, since the onset of the crisis in Syria. In this research, we examine the role and stance of Russia in the Syrian crisis, using the neo-realism approach. Russia, because of its security and politics considerations and particularly the fear of radicalization in the Caucasus, as well as the fear of losing Syria, as its last remaining stronghold in the Middle East, has supported al-Assad’s government. From a military and economic point of view, Russia regards the Syrian port of Tartus as an important base in the Mediterranean. Syria is also one of strategic areas for Russia's arms sale.

    Keywords: Russia, Syria crisis, strategic areas, neo-realism, ISIL
  • Seyed MohammadAli Taghavi Pages 77-102

    The roots of extremist movements in the Arab World must be found in the political and social circumstances of Arab countries over a long period of time, such as the sense of humiliation, failure and insecurity, which have led to the radicalization of some sections of Sunni Arab society. In this study, one of these factors is selected, and it is explored whether there is a relationship between the expansion of politico-religious extremism, and particularly the growth of the ISIS presence and activities, on the one hand, and the failure of the Arab Spring, on the other. Hence, the independent variable is the fate of Arab revolutions of 2011 to 2013, and the dependent variable is the extent of ISIS terrorist activities, before and after the Arab Spring. The study shows that there is a significant relationship between the downfall of the Arab Spring and the surge in ISIS power and activities and the influx of young Arabs towards it.

    Keywords: Arab Spring, ISIS, extremism, terrorism, the Middle East
  • Olga Alekseeva Carnevali Pages 103-115

    The question of the so-called ‘gray-zone’ or ‘hybrid’ wars has come to prominence in the recent years referring to conflicts wherein the level of violence (often fully absent) falls below the threshold of legal frameworks justifying formal military response. Examples are Russia’s actions in Ukraine and partly Syria and China’s actions regarding disputed territories in the South China Sea. Both are exploiting the zone of ‘ambiguity’ to achieve defacto ‘military’ or strategic objectives by non-military means outside of the range of ‘response options’ envisioned by ‘conventional’ strategic thinking. This article explores the challenges of strategic thinking about these ‘grayzone’ and ‘ambiguous’ conflicts seen as part of the broader challenge of thinking about asymmetric war. It addresses the problems of strategic, legal and conceptual enframing of these situations and provides a critical discussion of the existent conceptual tools and apparatuses.

    Keywords: strategic thinking, hybrid wars, asymmetric strategy, coercion, deterrence
  • josef kraus Pages 117-119

    Raihan Ismail, from the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies published a book, which is very interesting for scholars specialising in Shi’a Islam in general, or in Shi’a in Saudi Arabia. The topic of Shiism in the Wahhabi state has many dimensions, from religious beliefs and politics to economic and security aspects. It has been three years since the prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr, was executed by the Saudi government leading to a reaction from Shi’a communities all around the world. The Saudi embassy in Tehran and the Saudi consulate in Mashhad were burnt down. So, it is a very significant issue, and Ismail has made a very relevant move to introduce the topic to the expert community and its scholars.

    Keywords: Middle East, Saudi Clerics, Shi’a