نشریه دین و قانون
سال دهم شماره 38 (زمستان 1401)

Government decrees and religious and substantive laws in Shia political jurisprudence and the fundamental laws of the Islamic Republic have a mutual influence and impact on each other. Therefore, it is essential to examine the relationship between these matters. This research aims to answer the question of what the relationship between government decree and law is using a descriptive and text analysis method, along with a library research approach. The formation of an Islamic government and its preservation is based on the fundamental principles of Islam. The theory of guardianship of the jurist (velayat-e faqih) is one of the most advanced theories of political jurisprudence from the time of occultation until now. The legislative system in the Islamic Republic of Iran is based on religion and Islamic standards, and religious laws and regulations are supported by the Islamic system, ensuring their implementation. The relationship between government decrees and primary and secondary laws is that government decree is alongside primary and secondary laws as a third category of decrees issued by the ruler and the Islamic ruler. Government decrees symbolize the principle of legal sovereignty. However, there is a category of government decrees that goes beyond substantive law. It should be noted that some government decrees are issued to enforce primary laws, and some are issued to enforce secondary laws. There is also a category for cases where primary and secondary laws are silent. In these three cases, government decrees are issued in the form of substantive laws through legal channels such as the legislative authority and the approval of the Guardian Council. The fourth category is when we want to override a primary or secondary decree. Here, government decrees are issued through the Expediency Discernment Council. The fifth category is when the ruler issues a government decree without using these conventional tools, which is valid based on the constitution and takes precedence over other laws. In cases of conflict, the final opinion of the ruling jurist is the criterion and decisive factor, and in the implementation stage, it is the precedence and guiding factor over religious law and substantive law.

"Political trust" is a fundamental aspect of the relationship between citizens and the government. Before the revolution, this relationship experienced a declining trend. However, with the triumph of the revolution, the establishment of the Islamic system, and the presentation of a model emphasizing religious populism, this relationship has significantly improved. Despite these positive developments, there are substantial gaps in the stability and strengthening of political trust. Numerous problems and obstacles exist in the course of the revolutionary movement, causing political trust to be undermined and vulnerable. Therefore, the key question is: What strategies can enhance political trust between citizens and the Islamic system? In response, this article, employing a descriptive-analytical approach and analyzing certain religious texts, explores the obstacles to establishing political trust and proposes Islamic solutions. The presented solutions fall into three categories: intrinsic and belief-based, operational and practical, and persuasive and cognitive. The research results highlight strategies for fostering political piety, enhancing efficiency, combating corruption, promoting political transparency, increasing faith in the intellectual foundations of religion and the Islamic Revolution, generating political motivation among citizens, and strengthening media capabilities

In a legal system where judges are entrusted with the evaluation of evidence, the credibility or lack thereof of testimonies hinges on the confidence they instill in the judge. This evaluation is not uniformly applied to all pieces of evidence. Testimony, or "Shahadat," consists of certain, definite reports of a necessary right in favor of a third party, presented by a non-sovereign source. On the other hand, legal indicators are the circumstances that lead to the judge's knowledge and are derived from three sources: customary legal presumptions, societal customs and practices, and circumstantial evidence, all of which are considered by the judge with due diligence. If these indicators engender inner conviction and belief in the judicial decision, they can be regarded as judicial evidence and can form the basis for a court's judgment.Regarding testimony, the legislator has assigned the authority to evaluate it to the court in Article 241 of the Civil Procedure Law of Iran (CPL) enacted in 1999, while the Civil Code of Iran (CCI) enacted in 2013 remains silent on the evaluation of testimony. However, Articles 176, 177, and 197 of the Islamic Penal Code (IPC) enacted in 2013 elaborate in detail on the assessment of testimony by the court.This research, employing an analytical and descriptive method, delves into the issue of how to resolve conflicts between testimonies and the legal and jurisprudential requirements, as well as the judge's knowledge resulting from legal indicators, from the perspective of Imami jurisprudence and Iranian law. The research concludes that judges possess extensive discretion in determining the conditions and assessing the value of testimonies, but this discretion is contingent upon the fulfillment of the legal and jurisprudential requirements for testimony

The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, considering the status of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majlis) and its supervisory authority, has envisaged the competence to address complaints about the functioning of the three branches of government by the people. Currently, this principle is implemented within the structure of the Islamic Consultative Assembly through the establishment of the Article Ninety Commission. In various sessions of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, based on the needs and demands of the representatives, ideas have been proposed to transform this commission into a court by changing its supervisory competence to judicial competence. The goal of this research is to examine the arguments for and against this idea based on a thorough analysis of Article Ninety of the Constitution and the nature of this institution's authority. The analyses suggest that there is no legal vacuum regarding the competence of the Article Ninety Commission of the Constitution. The solution to enhance the position and performance of this commission lies in promoting a culture of awareness among the people about the constitutional capacities of the representatives, including this specific commission.

The administrative system is a coherent and purposeful set of major governmental and state institutions and organizations that operationalize the missions, duties, and programs of the government and state to achieve specific goals. The administrative system covers the management of public affairs in economic, social, cultural, and political dimensions, providing public services and having a broad spectrum. It is a foundation for the development and progress of any society, contributing to the realization of government and state goals and facilitating progress programs if it is healthy, strong, and efficient.
By examining the historical and analytical aspects of existing administrative systems in various countries in recent centuries, three paradigms (or fundamental frameworks) emerge: Public Administration, New Public Management, and Good Governance. The first part of the report provides a general overview of these three paradigms. The characteristics of the Public Administration paradigm, which is largely based on a classical and top-down model, include: the exercise of government authority over all sectors and the geographical scope of the country, the dominance and influence of hierarchical structures throughout the country, uniform regulations and working methods, separation of politics from administration and limiting administration to executive roles and functions, and strict judicial, financial, and political controls in governmental authoritarianism that has not been fully realized as an ideal model in any country. The paradigm of New Public Management can be considered as anti-thesis to the Public Administration paradigm. New Public Management inclines toward the market, downsizing the size of the government, decentralization, outsourcing services to the private sector, and deregulation. This paradigm is based on the market, economics, and applying private sector management and commercial techniques in the public sector. However, the implementation of New Public Management has led to serious issues such as significant harm to the interests of vulnerable groups and low-income groups, a deepening class divide due to privatization of many public goods such as education and healthcare, an increase in service fees in the public sector, labor market adjustment policies in the government sector, and a reduction in government monopolies, leading to corruption and hidden work. These issues have given rise to the emergence of the Good Governance paradigm. In Good Governance, there is a moderate approach from the perspective of absolute government and pure market orientation. Instead, a systematic and balanced thinking is the basis for organizing affairs. In the desired governance structure, the economic, political, and social capacities of the country are allocated and distributed appropriately with fair distribution of political and administrative power and fair distribution of financial resources among the three branches of government. The "government" acts as the helmsman of development, determining the shortest and fastest path to development based on information. The engine that sets the development ship on this path is the entrepreneurs of the "private sector," and these two, in collaboration with the structures of "civil society," will be able to shape the sustainable development cycle. Responsive and transparent financial resource management of the country is stated as one of the goals of social and economic development and the promotion of democratic values, controlling corruption, paying attention to human rights, and accountability. In this paradigm, many of the values of the two previous paradigms have been highlighted and redefined. However, these paradigms and their operational patterns remain ambiguous.

Social harm is any individual or collective behavior that does not fit within the framework of moral principles and rules of formal and informal collective action of the society and entails legal prohibition or moral and social obscenity. The reduction and management of social harms in the first place requires the development and approval of appropriate laws and policies that are appropriate to the cultural, social and geographical context of each region, Indubitably, the approval of laws and regulations on the one hand requires understanding the conditions of the status quo and culture and norms of the society. On the other, it requires creating and developing favorable conditions in managing and reducing damages. In the legislative and executive structure of Iran, despite the approval of various laws and the assignment of various tasks to the responsible institutions, there has not been significant success in this field, as it should be, and beyond that, we have also stagnated in some cases. The lack of a specific plan or any strategy has not only created problems in the field of legislation, but has also created many implementation problems, including parallel actions of the responsible institutions. Taking advantage of the field research and library research method, the present study analyzes the legislative and executive actions of the institutions responsible for social harms in structural and formal arena.